From Comrade Fatso, one of Zimbabwe’s best spoken word poets:

Mdhara we ma Sweets/Mr Candyman

They call him Mr Candyman, Mdhara we ma Sweets
Trodding all over town with bags of tricks ‘n’ treats
His scream like seventy sirens silencing the streets
He’s known to break into dreams and steal your signature while you sleep
His feet are bandaged with the people’s hijacked hopes
His hands hard as dogma hanging like hanging ropes
His bag filled with al the sleepers souls he stole
His eyes murky and deep like puddle that’s pothole
His goal is to teach the children to undream
Exchanging hopes for sweets is his sugar-coated scheme
Hawking his goods in this land half-full, half-empty
Telling people that his sweets are their sovereignty

Mdhara keeps tricks for his enemies and treats for his friends
For friends read vendors who lick his boots with no end
But then again no vendor ever truly made it
As soon as they got close to him their goods would be confiscated
One hawker though comes to mind
He became really popular -  Blaz we Airtime
Who sold cellphone credit and dreams to the poor
Let the people talk and talk some more
Everyone was connected and the people were enthralled
They texted his name, spoke of him when they called
Insisting he was inspired to change their world
All across the land they spoke his name
Blaz we Airtime had brought the winds of change

Mdhara got the message and read the text
Realised this time of air could be the end of his sweet success
This new network could knock him to the pits
So he reached deep into his dark bag of tricks
Invited Blaz to join him at his stall
A rickety cardboard box called ‘The Sweet Juice Up Mall’
Blaz’s customers came hour after hour
But soon the deal became sickeningly sour
Mdhara kept eighty percent of all profits made
Decided the prices, made sure Blaz’s pay was delayed
Soon Blaz ran out of credit
The people couldn’t top up and they couldn’t get his messages
They sent him a please call me back hoping he hadn’t become a traitor
He replies “Your dreams are currently unavailable. Please try again later”
Finally Mdhara got him arrested for hawking hope without a licence
The police pounced and kicked him for his kindness
As Blaz is dragged away he screams “Mdhara, one thing. Where’s your name from?”
Mdhara replies “The people long ago asked me for change.  I gave them chocolates and chewing gum”

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In this issue:

Up Close
Top officials tell-all in exclusive interviews. It’s all about party makeovers and sprucing up the leadership.

Do’s and Don’ts
If you are being criticised for lacking strategic direction, read this. Get advice on how to lead your party in a confidence-inspiring way.

Astrological Guide
Find out what life, politics and health have in store for you until 2013.

Tell Aunt Charlene-Rae
There’s nothing like a secret meeting with your trusted agony aunt to get things off your chest and all over the Net.

100 Ways to Stop being a Weak Political Operator
This list will put an end to your friends mocking you and making fun of your leadership style.

Quiz
Take the Tic-Toc Test. In a few quick steps you can calculate how long you have to live when old age and ill-health are taking their toll.

Sizzling Sex Secrets
You won’t believe who’s in bed with whom! Includes sensitive issues discussed during pillow talk and long lusty liaisons.

Free Give Away
A chic wrist band inscribed with the inspirational slogan ‘Leak Strong, Not Wrong’.  A reminder not to get caught on the wrong side with your pants down. You can never be sure that a leak taken in private won’t become a public spectacle.

Inside/Out with Marianne Knuth, founder of Kufunda Learning Village
Kubatana.net

Describe yourself in five words?
I’m a woman that loves to connect with other people’s passion and spirit.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
To listen to my heart and not to look for answers from outside.

What’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever done?
I think I suppress those memories (laughs).

What is your most treasured possession?
My Tingshas, they’re Tibetan bells. We use them for dialogue and circle work. Sometimes to mark the beginning with a sound and then people can just sit and be, and we always end with it. It’s marking space in a way that’s more sacred.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Probably losing hope, related to that, losing faith in yourself and your ability to escape whatever situation you’re in. To think that there’s nothing more you can do and you don’t have that internal resource to rise above whatever is challenging you.

Do you have any strange hobbies?
No I don’t think so. I like to run, do yoga, meditate, and read.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
One of my teeth sticks out, but when the dentist said I could have it changed I realised that I would lose my capacity to whistle, so I decided not to.

What is your greatest extravagance?
A really nice glass of red wine and Lindt dark chocolate.

What do you have in your fridge?
Freshly milked cow’s milk, and I just went to the Doon Estate Market on Sunday, so I’ve got the most incredible bream paste. Otherwise there’s the usual yoghurt, juice . . .

What is your greatest fear?
For some reason the thing that jumped into my mind was that Marianne Williamson quote about how our greatest fear is not that we’re inadequate but that we are powerful beyond measure. I mean I don’t go to sleep thinking, ‘I’m so afraid that I’m powerful’ but I have noticed that there are times when I have an opportunity to shine, that I’m afraid of taking away attention from someone else. Another worry is that this constant source of energy and belief that everything is possible, what if that dries out, and that would be the worst possible thing that could ever happen.

Are there times when you feel that flame flicker?
I’ve just come out of four years that’s been an all time low. I think I made rational choices which was alright, but it wasn’t coming from that place of inspiration, where I know if I work from that place anything is possible. Returning to Zimbabwe was a part of listening to my inspiration.

What have you got in your pockets right now?
I don’t have anything in my pockets.

What is your favourite journey?
The journey of creating Kufunda. The journey of coming home and creating something. It wasn’t a matter of choice. Every cell of my body was directing me back home.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Ghandi was a real inspiration for me, now I think he’s a little bit too austere. I think we can do good in the world and enjoy life at the same time. A lot of my heroes are people who have chosen slightly different avenues than what we see as traditional success, but that are so full of life and vitality and inspiration. There are people who are creating similar things like I’m doing at Kufunda, but all around the world. There’s Manish Jain from Shikshantar in India. His mission is to create learning societies. There are two women in Greece, Sara Whiteley and Maria Scordiales, their enquiry is around living wholeness and they’ve created a beautiful centre in Greece where people gather a few times a year, and they do work in Europe and apply their work to real issues and problems and they bring a feminine way of negotiating to the corridors of power.

When and where were you happiest?
In the early days of Kufunda, when I was letting purpose flow through me, and also when I was at university. I became president of an international student organisation called AIESEC. That for me was the first real lesson that anything is possible.

What is your biggest vice?
For all this talk about collaboration and needing each other, I’m not very good at asking for help. I’m good at creating process where people can work together, but when things get stuck, I still think that I have to figure it out myself.

Interviewer: Do you have a stubborn streak?

Somewhat. Which is probably why collaborations are so important for me because I’m still learning it (laughs).

What were you like at school?
I went up to O level here and I was very studious and hardworking. Then when I went to Denmark, I kind of stayed like that, but suddenly there was this big world and I was free. I was exploring life and doing all sorts of other things that my parents didn’t think were as important as book learning.

What are you doing next?
Right now I’m in a place where I’m doing things that inspire me, whether it’s at Kufunda or elsewhere and I want to write about the last ten years of my life and see what comes out of that. I’ve been so busy for such a long time, and it feels so good to have time for an afternoon to write.

ZESA Holdings Group Stakeholder Relations Manager, Mr Fullard Gwasira clarified the new electricity tariffs In a telephone interview. He said that the 31% increase in tariff was not an increase in the overall charge to ZESA customers and the new tariff is structured as follows:

- The first 50 kWh had increased to 2.35c
- 51kWh to 300kWh will be charged at 11c
- Any usage over 300kWh will be charged at 15.c

Mr Gwasira said that with the new tariff they expected the average customer bill to be charged at 9.34c/ kWh. Since ZESA has removed the fixed monthly charge, this will translate to a marked reduction in charges to the customer, as long as they remain within expected usage parameters.

ZESA has changed its tariff scheme because the company is unable to sustain its operations. In the period 2009 to present the commodity prices of water, diesel and coal, all of which are required to generate power increased, but ZESA was not been able to raise its tariffs in order to compensate. Electricity in Zimbabwe was subsidised by the government through the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe, however, since dollarization, the RBZ has been unable to support ZESA operations leading the power supplier to operate at sub-economic levels. Other factors affecting electricity tariffs include the strengthening of the Rand against the US Dollar, as ZESA purchases power from South Africa and Mozambique, both countries are members of the Rand monetary Union. Further there had been no inflation adjustments to the price of electricity.

Mr Gwasira went on to say that on the 1st January 2009 ZESA had written off customer bills that were unpaid prior to this date.

View the tariff schedule here

Shame, poor Tendai Biti, for all his well meaning it seems his partners in Zimbabwe’s economy, our so called captains of industry, are only in it for short term profits and themselves. It wasn’t that long ago that Zimbabweans were making trips across the border to Musina and Francis Town en mass to buy their monthly groceries. And now our so called captains of industry are doing their best to revive what had become a dying means of survival.

The logic behind a reintroduction of import tariffs cannot really be faulted. According to an analysis in the Financial Gazette, there had been an improvement in the supply of basic goods on the market, and local producers needed protection from government to allow their industries to grow. But before the ink had even dried on the Minister’s midterm fiscal policy, retailers, local manufacturers and even hoteliers practically fell over themselves in their rush to increase prices.  By the end of July not only had the prices of the commodities listed by the Minister increased, but also the prices of those that were not listed including bath soap, detergents and hotel accommodation.

Let’s be honest, the quality of Zimbabwean goods has decreased so much that they would be unable to compete on an open market. My most favourite thing to snack on is potato chips, and in the 90s I was a Willard’s tomato flavoured chips loyalist. Yet when Willards potato chips returned to supermarket shelves, my favourite flavour had a bitter after-taste and was far more expensive than imported Simbas or Lays. So I stopped buying them. In terms of cooking oil, I’ve found that the cooking oil I used to buy in Mbare during gore renzara, that had been pressed from soya beans and sun flower seeds left food without any strange tastes or smells after frying unlike the locally produced cooking oils I’m now supposed to start buying. And, it’s all very nice that a certain locally produced soap lasts and lasts, but it would be nice if the manufacturers reduced that soaps percent content of perfumes, because it’s scent also lasts and lasts. And how about diversifying that product range to include shower gel and body lotion.

In a post about the launch of the ‘buy Zimbabwe’ campaign, blogger Zakeo Zakeos observed:

… it amazes me that some people still choose to have seminars and such without consulting me first. Because if these learned gentlemen had taken 2 minutes to brief me that they are concerned about Zimbabweans not buying enough local products, I would have given them one devilishly simple but amazingly effective strategy: Stop making shit.