The front page of The Herald today reads: Minister Arrested. My first thought? Who now.

According to The Herald:

National Healing and Reconciliation co-Minister Moses Mzila-Ndlovu (MDC) has been arrested on allegations of failing to notify police of a meeting held on Wednesday at a primary school in Lupane. . . . Mzila-Ndlovu, the deputy secretary general of the Welshman Ncube-led MDC, was arrested yesterday morning in Lupane on his way to Victoria Falls where he was supposed to address a national healing meeting.

The following statement from ZLHR shares a bit more information about the arrest, and the arrest of Father Mkandla, who was arrested for convening the healing service Mzila-Ndlovu allegedly didn’t tell the police about.

The Church under attack in Zim as police arrest pastor and MP

Police in Lupane have arrested a Catholic Priest, Father Marko Mabutho Mkandla and Bulilima West Member of Parliament Hon. Moses Mzila-Ndlovu for allegedly convening a meeting without notifying the police.

Father Mkandla, who is represented by Nosimilo Chanayiwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) and Nikiwe Ncube of Webb, Low and Barry Legal Practitioners, who is also a member of ZLHR was arrested on Wednesday 13 April 2011 and charged with contravening the country’s tough security laws.

Police charged Father Mkandla with contravening Section 25 of the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) after he allegedly convened a healing service at Silwane Primary School in Lupane, Matabeleland North without notifying the police.

The police also charged Father Mkandla with contravening Section 31(a) (i) of Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for allegedly communicating falsehoods prejudicial to the State and violating Section 42 (2) of Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, that is causing offence to persons of a particular race or religion.

Father Mkandla was also charged with contravening the Censorship and Entertainment Control Act for allegedly possessing pornographic material. Although the police record at Lupane Police Station showed that Father Mkandla was released on Friday 15 April 2011 and transferred to Bulawayo Police Station, his whereabouts were not known late on Friday.

On Friday 15 April 2011, the police arrested Hon. Mzila-Ndlovu. ZLHR lawyers attended to the Bulilima legislator and will attend to him again on Saturday 16 April 2011.

Meanwhile, an Associated Press story puts the two incidents together and helps make more sense of the whole thing. Except that none of it makes any sense. Arrest a priest for holding a healing service. Arrest the Minister of National Healing for attending it (and when he’s on his way to address another national healing meeting)? You can’t make things like this up, they’re so absurd.

A friend of mine recently experienced a night in remand prison in Mutare. In the same cell as her was a woman who had been on remand for 4 months. She could not raise bail of $20. My friend paid the $20 bail.

Here’s some information from the Southern African Parliamentary Support Trust:

Thematic Committee on Human Rights

The Thematic Committee embarked on fact-finding visits to Mutare Central Prison, Mutimurefu Prison (Masvingo) and Whawha Prison to assess the conditions under which the prisoners were kept. The fact-finding visit was an eye-opener to Senators as they witnessed for themselves the deplorable and inhumane prison conditions. Below are some of the common highlights of the Committee’s findings;

• Uninhabitable conditions characterized by overcrowding and dilapidated infrastructure

• Plight of inmates with HIV and AIDS

• Erratic water supply

• Inadequate food provisions and poor diet

• Plight of Children of inmates

• Tattered uniforms and bed linen

• Shortage of learning materials (e.g. textbooks etc)

The Mutare Central Prison also houses refugees from five different countries including the DRC, Ivory Coast and Congo. These refugees asked Committee Members to talk to their embassies so that they could be returned to their home countries. The Committee also heard that a number of people have been on remand for a long time. The prison officials cited fuel and transport constraints as some of the reasons for the delay in getting the prisoners to court. In addition, the Committee heard that the prison also houses some mentally ill inmates.

Easter is almost upon us, where did the time go? It seems like we’ve only just taken down the Christmas tree! On the home front the kids and I are busily preparing maps of the garden for our Easter egg hunt, cards for the Easter bunny, cards for everyone who will be joining us for Easter lunch, a birthday card for cousin Stoff whose big day is tomorrow, a welcome home banner for granny who has been in Edinburgh for 6 weeks welcoming the newest addition to the family. Welcome Sean Thomas – although I had hoped you’d give your mother as hard a time as my first baby gave me – colic for 3 months, bags under the eyes and a trigger-happy temper, usually directed at dad. I am all artsy-fartsied out! We’ve done the paper mosaics, the painting, the pointillism (or something like it), the wax and paint, the fabric – I don’t have an original thought left in my head.  All this before I put the menu together. Both my husband and I are hospitality trained so the competition to be inventive is fierce when we decide to entertain. This doesn’t happen often, typically only 4 or 5 times a year; just imagine the production!

Can I also mention, before you think what a weed I am, that parallel to this artistic and culinary explosion, that the gate has stopped working. Beeper, electrics, lights and all. The roof over the spare bedroom collapsed (bringing down the fascia boards and the gutters and breaking several tiles – which, I discover are no longer in production, and I am blithely told to re-do the whole roof, it’s only about $30,000 – pocket change!). Then I drove over Daniel’s bicycle (one fairy wheel badly damaged, mom’s reputation irreparable – oh the accusation in those eyes!). And my oven has stopped working (I suspect sabotage).

Sometimes everything seems to go wrong and it is hard to keep your focus on the things that are really important. So I will try to keep my eyes on the prize – a gathering of friends and family, my children’s squeals of delight as they find their eggs, and a feast to mark the end of Lent – which I have started with a plate full of treats from friends down the hallway. I am eyeing the Cadbury’s Easter egg lasciviously … but I shall force myself to finish my cornflakes first. Must be my Catholic upbringing.

What does it mean to be Zimbabwean? If propaganda and political rhetoric from Our Dear Leader and his cohorts are to be believed it means winning a medal at some sporting event while, say, swimming or playing cricket for Zimbabwe. For those of us who are under achievers, or lazy, it means being black. I cannot help but feel that Zimbabwe is further away from resolving its racial issues than it was at Independence. Being born-free, and a member of the generation that attended private school without there being a quota system that mandated my presence, being Zimbabwean meant simply a love for my country and the things that make it unique. That is not to say that we weren’t aware of the cultural difference between races – we were.  But back then, it was ok to discuss them, to explore our individual identities within the context of our group identity as Zimbabweans, now it’s considered racist.

I think Zimbabwe is far from being post racial. I think there are those of us who in our heads, there are friends who I hang out with, who are definitely post racial in their outlook, but I think we’ve still got a lot of issues to deal with. There’s no doubt about it…racial issues and class issues. I’m not sure, but I think the last ten years have in some ways dragged us backwards, and in others have dragged us forwards. Dragging us backwards, there does seem to be more racial tension here now than there was when I was growing up. It’s definitely because of all the hate propaganda, the political propaganda that gets spewed in the state media. In how it’s dragged us forward, I think it’s made those who believe in Zimbabwe have to fight for it, be they black white or coloured, and that’s hopefully brought people closer together. At the same time Zimbabweans in the Diaspora, black, white: all these middle class kids who’ve gone abroad, connecting with their Zimbabweans identity. They grew up here and wanted to go away as quickly as possible, and then they go over there and try to find their identity and realize what connections they’ve got back here. There are interesting things that come out. You’ve got white kids in London who’ve got an mbira punk band and things like this that you end up appreciating what you have when you’re far away [from home].
- Comrade Fatso.

Read the full interview with Comrade Fatso here.

Tired of life in Harare, a friend and I decided to take a weekend trip out of town to Mwanga Lodge and Bally Vaughn Animal Sanctuary. Happily we ran into these three Zebras, and found the answer to that question people always ask about them: they’re white with black stripes.

Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has a tendency to use funeral speeches to attack some target or other, typically The West. There is even a name for this. Type in a Google search for “Mugabe funeral rant” and you’ll be amazed with what you find – for example, the Sabina Mugabe rant (“‘To hell’ with Europe and America) and the Joseph Msika rant ([The West] are not the people to deal with).

Yesterday, he gave the Menard Muzariri rant. According to AFP:

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe on Thursday condemned gay “filth” in Europe, as he lambasted Western powers for maintaining their asset freeze and travel ban on him and his inner circle. “We don’t worry ourselves about the goings-on in Europe,” he told thousands at the burial of deputy intelligence chief Menard Muzariri, who died Monday. “About the unnatural things happening there, where they turn man-to-man and woman-to-woman. We say, well, it’s their country. If they want to call their country British Gaydom, it’s up to them. That’s not our culture. We condemn that filth.”

I haven’t heard about the upcoming referendum to change the name of the United Kingdom to British Gaydom, but clearly when you’re in the diplomatic circles you have more inside information on these sorts of things.

Read the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) statement about the Muzariri rant:

Statement on President Robert Mugabe’s threats at the burial of Menard Muzariri

Statements by President Robert Mugabe castigating gays and lesbians at the burial of Menard Muzariri at the National Heroes Acre on Thursday 14 April are nothing new and only serve to reinforce our call for constitutional protection of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Intersex people that has been met with state sponsored homophobia of alarming levels.

It is time for the Zimbabwean government to reflect seriously on its thinking around human rights including those of its lesbian and gay citizens and Government should be implementing measures which proactively encourage a culture of meaningful human rights protection in this country.

Statements by the President are a contradiction of article VII of the Global Political agreement in which the President pledges to promote equality, national healing, cohesion and unity. The President should strive to “create an environment of tolerance and respect among Zimbabweans and that all citizens are treated with dignity and decency.”

Activists in Zimbabwe are not puppets of foreign forces, as government would have everyone believe: we want a responsible government that is responsive to the needs of all Zimbabweans and we are fighting for our own good and for our own benefit as citizens of Zimbabwe.

The President needs to provide leadership in overcoming Zimbabwe’s challenges in areas such as violence, unemployment, education and health rather than fostering antipathy and intolerance.