Zimbabwe ISO leader Munyaradzi Gwisai and five other activists have been found guilty by the Zimbabwean government of “inciting public disorder”, after they organised a film showing and discussion at the Labour Centre in Harare about the Egyptian uprising in February last year. The conviction gives the Zimbabwe government a green light to persecute and prosecute ordinary people for watching a film, conversing about current affairs, or discussing events as they unfold in another country.

The ISO activists will be sentenced today and face up to 10 years’ imprisonment.

You may well ask what any of us can do in the face of this authoritarianism. Whilst it may be difficult to show your outrage publicly for fear of reprisal – which is very real – we urge you to continue to inform yourselves about the human rights situation in Zimbabwe and other countries, like Egypt and Syria.

The fact is thousands of Zimbabweans were watching footage of the Egyptian uprising last year. And thousands of Zimbabweans were discussing those events at the office, in their homes and over cold ones in pubs. The majority of people discussing the Arab uprising probably all agreed on one thing: that similar events were unlikely to happen in Zimbabwe. But still we all carried on discussing and arguing. Debate and discourse is a central part of all our lives.

We have a fundamental right to freedom of expression.

Kubatana urges you to use exercise it whenever and wherever you can.

We are all Munyaradzi Gwisai.

Call for Consultants: Strategic Think Piece on Food Justice and the Rights of Women Smallholder Farmers in Zimbabwe
Deadline: 26 March 2012 (close of business)

Oxfam Canada is calling for Expressions of Interest from consultant/s to undertake the work detailed in associated terms of reference. The assignment is to write a Strategic Think Piece on Food Justice and the Rights of Women Smallholder Farmers in Zimbabwe, which will guide the work of Oxfam in Zimbabwe on this theme. Consultants are hereby invited to submit an Expression of Interest to undertake this assignment. The EOI should outline:

1. The consultant/s experience on this theme and demonstrate their capacity to undertake this assignment
2. A very clear methodology that the consultant will use
3. The time frame
4. The consultancy fees

The EOI should be submitted to: hildam.oxcanzim [at] gmail [dot] com

Or delivered to:

Number 1
Ringwood Drive
Strathaven
Harare

Find out more

Call for Consultants: A Review Of Traditional Mechanisms Of Violence Prevention In Transitional Justice – Church And Civil Society Forum (CCSF) / NANGO
Deadline: 26 March 2012

The study seeks to interrogate the role of local traditional and national mechanisms of violence prevention within the context of transitional justice and the influence of such mechanisms of policy relating to national healing and peace building in Zimbabwe.

Please click here for full terms of reference and how to apply

Call for Consultants: A Study On The Role Of The Church In Violence In Zimbabwe – Church And Civil Society Forum (CCSF) / NANGO
Deadline: 26 March 2012

The overall objective of the study is to investigate the role of the church in violence in Zimbabwe and to generate information on possible strategic partnerships and linkages between the church, civil society, government and other key stakeholders to promote a peaceful coexistence. Such information will assist in informing the national healing and peace building framework in Zimbabwe.

Please click here for full terms of reference and how to apply

A Study On The Gender Dynamics Of National Healing In Zimbabwe: Church And Civil Society Forum (CCSF) / NANGO
Deadline: 26 March 2012

The study will highlight critical and strategic information on gender dynamics of national healing in Zimbabwe.  The study will analyse gender dynamics associated with  peace building interventions and assess the impact of actions taken so far in promoting gender in national healing. It is also expected that recommendations from the study will provided concrete basis for evidence based lobbying and advocacy for the development of a national healing and peace building framework in Zimbabwe.

Please click here for full terms of reference and how to apply

Development Of A CCSF Violence Early Warning Mechanisms: Church And Civil Society Forum (CCSF) / NANGO
Deadline: 26 March 2012

The study will classify the forms of violence that have taken place in Zimbabwe, their likelihood to recur, highlighting the best responses to avoid these occurrences and what should be done in the event that violence erupts. It is also expected that recommendations from the study will provided concrete basis for evidence based lobbying and advocacy for the development of a early warning response mechanism for CCSF.

Please click here for full terms of reference and how to apply

Harare magistrate Kudakwashe Jarabini yesterday delivered a ruling in the Munyaradzi Gwisai and five others’ case in which they are accused of inciting public violence. Mr. Jarabini found the accused guilty on charges of inciting public violence. Before he found the accused guilty, Mr. Jarabini addressed the court and he said, “It is not an offence to view video footage, the motive behind viewing of the footage of events which took place in Egypt and Tunisia on that particular day was not for a good cause and was meant to instill feelings of hostility against the government.”

Gwisai is jointly charged with fellow activists Welcome Zimuto, Hopewell Gumbo, Antonater Choto, Tatenda Mombeyarara, and Edson Chakuma. The charges arose from a meeting, which was convened at the offices of the International Socialist Organisation – Zimbabwe Chapter in Harare in February 2011. Forty-five people were arrested during the meeting and later charged with treason. Treason charges were later dropped and 39 people were released in March after spending close three weeks in prison.  The state later preferred a lesser charged of inciting public violence after High Court Judge Samuel Nyakudya ruled that the case against Gwisai and his colleagues was weak.

” I see no iota of evidence that any Zimbabwean ever contemplated a Tunisian and Egyptian revolution,” Nyakudya said in his ruling.

The case was referred back to the magistrates Courts for trial after the accused had been granted $2000.00 bail each by the High Court. Defence led by prominent human rights lawyer Alec Muchadehama successfully sought for an adjournment to today to prepare for mitigation. Under section 36 of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act, public violence attracts a prison sentence of up to ten years, a fine or both.

A couple of days later my boss sent me back to the shop with the hope that I would find the problem (no water and water leakage) rectified. So I call the shop first and the lady sang a slightly different tune, “the water problem is much better but please do bring the torch”. I got a torch, which I held onto with my dear life, we (my boss and I) both knew why. I then went to the shop and offered to go down to the basement. I couldn’t risk them dropping the torch, which they were not obviously going to pay for if damaged. What I saw down there was an eyesore! The walls were rotting; water on floor was more like floods if you ask me. The other products were soaked in water and the smell was really bad. I should have just carried one of the Fix this.Please campaign stickers and stuck it there. With the number of clientele that comes in on a daily basis one would expect that some of the money would be channeled towards fixing the building. But hey I got my products and was happy to leave the building and their problems behind me!

Taking photographs on Friday at the House of Smiles showcase I was reminded of Dr Watch Ruparanganda whom I interviewed last year about his book Genitals Are Assets. In our pre-interview conversation he spoke about how there was little space for the girls who live on the street. As the streets were a means of making money these, and other public spaces were largely dominated by boys.

During the event dance trainer Rahim Solomon mentioned how hard it was to get girls who lived on the street to participate in their workshops. They had been lucky and had found three, as compared to over 28 boys. It was easy to see why the girls would be reluctant to participate; their only performance was dominated by boys, who stormed onto the stage to dance. And during ciphers they didn’t have a chance to dance at all.

Our discourse about feminism and the girl child largely centres on those who live somewhere, with family, or their parents, even in orphanages, but we never speak about creating a space for young women who live on the street. It does seem as though they have become invisible, even to those us who are supposed to be defending them. It is very difficult to speak of someone’s rights when the greater imperative is survival, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

Coming home to Avondale, from an AGM on the east side, Thursday night, down Churchill, in the dark. And it seems smoother coming up to the intersection with Second Street where it changes to Aberdeen Road. A notorious black spot for smash and grabs, where the thieves disappear over the metal fence into the University grounds easily.

But no, the robots are working, and they are the big new LED ones. Moreover, all the street lights are working. At the intersection, and up and down Second Street! I start to feel my pockets. Have I driven to another country? I haven’t got my passport with me! The next day I am going thorough in the day light, and I see why it was so smooth. All the pot holes have been filled and surfaced. Shocks like this when you are driving can lead to serious accidents! Things getting fixed! This place is definitely under new management.

But there are still shudders from the past. I got a ZESA bill last week. Again, shock! Not the size of the bill or anything (mine is quite reasonable), but just to get one. My last was May last year. Now I can go places and open accounts showing proof of residence. Almost like new management is taking us to a real country again.

But, the shudder of the past. Nicely printed at the bottom of the bill is the statement “ELECTRICITY is in short supply, Use it sparingly. ELECTRICITY SAVED IS MONEY SAVED.” Well, I think I do a good job of keeping things switched off. Lights off when I am not in the room, everything turned off when I leave the flat, fridge and freezer doors always shut and they seal well.

On my way home Thursday, going into Gun Hill (Arden road here) there is another new thing. A billboard, with electric light inside! “to advertise here…” So I have to wonder, is this not a bit like the rhino horn story? We are being reminded it is a scarce national resource. Yet, the people who remind us of this fact are busy selling it to someone who will not use it sparingly. The billboard will be on for 12 hours a day, and a billboard is hardly a national priority. We must all sit in the dark and eat cold meals to preserve a scarce national resource, sot that they can sell it to someone to advertise… restaurants?

There is some disconnect here. The rhino horn story. It is expensive because it is scarce, so we must kill it all quickly before it becomes extinct! And yet, by killing it, are we not making it extinct? They (ZESA / rhino poachers) are great with the plans to make money, but not so great with the plans to supply the product to make the money with. Short term long term disconnect.

Which reminded me, while walking to DSTV in Avondale, and stepping over downed lines. (I do not know if they were electricity or power lines, but they were cables, dead, and on the ground.) It all reminded me of the stories, several years ago, from whoever could not provide electricity, or connect their phone. “Ah, sorry, but we have no cables. They have been stolen. If you want to be connected, you will have to buy new cables/lines.’ Who remembers being given that story/explanation/line? So the question is, “if the line is so valuable that people steal it, and in so short supply that clients have to purchase their own, why is it just lying on the ground?”

Is it because the thieves are just so much better at it than the telephone or power company? The thieves can go and steal it from up on poles faster than the company can pick it up off the ground? Or was the story just a big lie? Was the explanation fed to them by the management who told them what colour the sky was in their world that day? And being good employees they just repeated what they were told to tell the people. People who were believed to be stupid enough to ‘realise’ that this explanation was correct? Well, since we are under new management, maybe the stories will change as well. But I hope, that since we are under new management, that the people will have found their voice and will tell the management, regularly and loudly, that we the people are not really that stupid.