Everywhere you look Zimbabwean streets are littered with rubbish. The vlei in Newlands looks as if it is actually a dump. In the shopping centre you see bins with more rubbish around them than in them. To be quite frank, the streets are filthy.

Something needs to be done. In Zimbabwe we have an extremely high level of unemployment. Is it too much to ask the municipality to employ people to clean the streets?

Seeing as the various authorities responsible for removing the waste are incapable of doing so, the ball is now in our court.

“Rotary is organizing a Clean Up Harare Campaign, set for July 3 2010.  They are in need of “big black dust bin bags”. A roll of 20 costs between US$3 and US$5 in the shops.  If there is anyone who is keen to donate a roll” your co-operation will be appreciated”.

This was a call to action that we included in our last Kubatana newsletter.

There are many different methods we can use to draw attention to this issue. One of which is a peaceful march or protest. We could take to the streets with banners and signs expressing our grievances. Another form of protest against these unacceptable conditions could be the use of a bulldozer or some sort of “earth moving equipment” (that the municipality seems incapable of using) to remove the rubbish and dump it right outside the municipality. I am aware that this is not a solution to the problem however I do feel it will certainly get the municipality to take our grievances seriously.

Another form of protest that may be effective is if we all went on strike and instead of going to work we could clean up all the rubbish ourselves. Once all the rubbish is collected we could then march with our large plastic bags full of rubbish and dump it all outside the municipality.

The responsibility is on YOU, on ME, on US, to write letters to the municipality and various other authorities complaining about the lack of service in regard to the removal of rubbish. Many people walk past this filth everyday and do nothing. Sometimes they even add to the litter!

Do you want your country to look like a wasteland? The onus is on us; the people, to make sure that those in positions of authority fulfil their responsibility to the community. Do not sit there and complain – instead, do something about it, because it is very clear that if we sit around waiting for the municipality to do something it will not get done.

One of the problems with Zimbabwe is that we are far too tolerant, we do not complain, we do not go on strike, we accept these inadequate services. The time has come for us to stop tolerating this “RUBBISH” (excuse the pun) and do something!

Two weeks ago I was Cote d’Ivoire or bust. But then they had that shocking exhibition of poor sportsmanship on Sunday, and I was heartbroken. So my orange jersey has been hanging limply in limbo. Can my love for my team trump my principles of justice? Not bloody likely. I might even find myself rooting for North Korea on Friday. . . Hmmm. No. That’s not very likely either.

But as I get ready to cheer for Ghana tonight, this LA Times article from Robyn Dixon spoke to me: Africans cheer for their teams, their continent, despite a lack of faith

Despite disappointment over the performance of Africa’s World Cup teams, the competition here appears to be bringing out a keen sense of Pan-African pride, a border-transcending spirit and attitude that one would almost surely not encounter on most other continents.

When any of the six African squads has scored a goal, shouts of joy have erupted across the continent, in exuberant food and beer joints like Mama’s Place in Lagos, Nigeria, in shops converted into mini-screening rooms in the narrow streets of Freetown, Sierra Leone, in the pubs of Nairobi, Kenya, and in open air, vuvuzela-infested parks in the townships of Johannesburg.

The idea of South Koreans rooting for Japan or the French cheering on England may be far-fetched. But in Africa, even those who don’t normally follow the game are praying that at least one African team will make it to the quarterfinal in the first World Cup on African soil. Or even to the round of 16.

Read more

In April 2010 the  President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma, announced to the public that he is HIV negative.

“By publicising the results of his test, Mr Zuma said he hoped to promote openness, and to eradicate the silence and stigma that accompanies this epidemic.”

During  his 2006 rape trial he admitted to having unprotected sex with an HIV positive woman. He then explained  he had a shower afterwards “thinking this would reduce the risk of being infected”. While I admire Zuma’s openness and willingness to get tested in order to promote his “campaign” to “get 15 million people tested during the next year, and provide drugs to 80% of those needing them”, I still feel that the message he is sending out, perhaps unintentionally, is: lead a promiscuous life, have unprotected sex and at the end of the day your HIV test will be negative. While Zuma’s public campaign against the prevention of  HIV may be admirable, I feel his personal conduct totally contradicts and undermines his campaign. What message is he trying to send  to the public?

Living and studying in South Africa at the moment, I have realised that there is a huge problem with violence and especially violence of a sexual nature such as rape. Thousands of women are raped each year in South Africa and it is quite clear that something needs to be done.

About two months ago, my friend and I were running in Grahamstown South Africa. We run the same route every day; it is an 8km route around Grahamstown and is the prescribed running route for all the schools in Grahamstown. As it was Saturday my friend Jenna and I decided to run later and have a bit of a lie in. We started our run at 7am and were coming to the end of our run when we were attacked by a man with a knife. The man got on top of me with the knife and proceeded to rummage through my pockets for valuables.  It was clear that neither me nor my friend had any valuable possessions on us. But still this man continued to hold me down with the knife and that is when I seriously believed I was going to be raped or murdered. Eventually we were able to get  free and run away. This incident occurred less than a ten metres from a main road and less than a hundred metres from St Andrews school in an upper class residential area in broad daylight. When are you safe? Never.

I believe that the concept of the “female condom with teeth” does not solve the problem of rape. When do I wear this condom? I could be raped anywhere at any time. Every time I go out I would need to wear this condom, because to be quite frank there is a high chance of being raped in South Africa regardless of the time or place. The idea is good but it creates more problems for the victim because not only is she being raped by a man but she is stuck to him until the police or medical services remove the condom. She is completely at the mercy of a man who is likely to be extremely angry and as a result act in vengeance.

Also, this female condom with “teeth” does not address the issue that many women are in fact raped by lovers or potential lovers.

But at least someone is trying to find a solution to this problem. Since the incident I experienced I run with a taser and pepper spray, and this helps me feel not completely defenceless as I previously was. If the female condom with teeth helps to make some women feel safer, then let them wear it.

The players hate it, the fans love it. It’s the Jabulani ball!!! The Jabulani ball – the official match ball for the FIFA 2010 World Cup – has been a major attraction at the Melrose Arch in Johannesburg.

Fans from all over the world have been gathering at the Arch. I bumped into the ‘Messi’ twins from Argentina and a Fernando Torres look alike.

The 2010 mascot Zakumi is also an attraction amongst the visitors.

You can read more about Jabulani here

So there’s this thing that we Africans do that is a little bit funny, but also actually quite a serious issue.

Let me set the secenario for you by introducing you to the imaginary Mr. Y and his wife, Mrs. Y who will help me illustrate my point.

The Ys are a family who earn enough money from their combined salaries just to get by each month, as well as take care of their three young children. Mr. Y works with an NGO where his pay is lukewarm, and Mrs. Y is a nurse in a public hospital. Her pay is definitely cold.

So you would think that the Ys try by all means to live within their means right?

Far from it!

Rather, they rent out a house in some  plush suburb (though they are three months behind on paying up and the landlord is threatening to take them to court) and their children go to that private school up the rolling highlands where the red-hot fees ensure that Mr. Y can never save enough money to fix that dent on the bonnet of his car.

Speaking of his car, Mr. Y drives a C Class Benz – black in colour, tinted windows with reams gleaming that seem to make time slow down with each revolution of the fine specimen’s tyres.

Oh, and doesn’t Mrs. Y just love to drive that Benz to church on Sundays and ‘humbly’ remind Jehovah’s children how blessed in the blood of Jesus  she is to be in possession of this stunning vehicle.

If only they knew that it wasn’t actually her car, or even her husband’s. Nope. The car belongs to Mr. Y’s brother who’s fled to the UK and entrusted the keys to his most prized possession to Mr. Y. whose old tired jalopy is now hidden from public view, locked up in the car shed.

So you get the picture, right?

This is a story about a family that on first appearance seems to have it all going on BUT is actually living a horrible lie.

What for?

Esteem in the eyes of society, of course. Hey, you gotta show that you’ve done something right with your life and the Ys are just trying to ‘keep up with the Moyos’.

I remember an American friend visiting Zimbabwe once asking me a very interesting question.

“Why do so many African families have this fixation with flat screen TVs and leather sofas ?!”

She just couldn’t get why everyone either had those two items, or was saving up towards them.

It got me thinking.

Why is that so many people own terribly expensive phones, and yet can’t even afford to load air time onto the things every month? Why is it that every woman worth her salt in society owns a microwave or washing machine and often never actually uses them?

Like I said before, it’s all about APPEARANCES. When purchased for all the wrong and misguided reasons, these things become status symbols that people use to say, “I’ve made it, unlike you!”

Such reasoning reflects an innate fear of inadequacy that many of us have. You must have a legacy, you must show up all those people who said you wouldn’t amount to much, you must have something to show for all that suffering you endured growing up in some rural area reading for your exams by candlelight.

It’s really sad that in African cultures, we tend to gauge success by trivial things like possessions. And it’s sad too that so many young people strive for that ideal with such singular purpose that they lose sight of the real dreams for their lives.

Who cares what the neighbours think? They will talk regardless of what you do, or don’t do; own or don’t own. A life lived on behalf of the perceptions of others about you is not your life, especially if you really don’t like leather sofas anyway!