Every morning, I dread getting to the Newlands shopping centre area where – it would seem – vendors of all nature are waiting for me to make my way past them so that they can sell me whatever they have on offer for the day.

Don’t misunderstand me. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a bunch of guys trying to make a decent living out of selling their wares. In fact, that is a noble gesture.

But sometimes, it’s all about how a person tries to persuade you to buy into their business that is all wrong.

These guys obviously have zero appreciation of the fine art of selling. As they crowd around me with their pockets of strawberries, or sunglasses or whatever else, I develop a deep sense of dread at the conversation to ensue.

“Sisi, buy these strawberries/ sunglasses/ sweets, please,” one will say.

“I don’t have money today,” I will respond.

“But sisi, just one dollar,” he will continue. “I promise you won’t regret it.”

“Sorry, not today,” I will respond, hoping that this will conclude the conversation.

Far from it.

Rather, these responses seem to provide them with the fuel to carry on and on until I have to completely shut myself off from responding to them and disappear into the nearby office complex.

I know these are desperate times and everyone is looking for a means to survive, but these guys actually put me off buying from them.

Why?

Because their techniques are more about harassment than selling.

Because they do not appreciate the fact that I perhaps do not need to buy strawberries or sweets or air time daily!

Take the one who sells tennis rackets.

Each day, he lurks around the corner waiting for me to pass by so that he can spring his rackets on me and try to convince me that I need to buy one.

“But I don’t play tennis,” I once told him.

“So get it for your child,” he responded.

The cheek and nerve for him to even insinuate that I had a child old enough to be able to hold a tennis racket!

A good salesperson knows to not make assumptions about their customers, especially ones that can backfire in their face!

As a result of his statement, he has served himself a life ban from my service – even if I one day decide to emulate Serena Williams’ ferocious forehand.

But most importantly, a good salesman knows that hounding his potential customers like prey won’t encourage them to buy anything. It will only make them more resolute to never buy anything from him, thereby shutting out all possibility of him ever attempting to make a follow-up sale.

I cannot help but notice, in great wonder and sometimes exasperation, how some politicians, who are now well past their sell by dates, now spit out the phrase ‘regime change agenda’ with all the  innuendos and insinuations that it is either treacherous or outright treasonous for a Zimbabwean to even think of regime change.

Recently, when confronted with a quite innocuous question from a journalist, the Head of State and Government, and Commander in Chief of the Defence Forces, His Excellency, cde Robert Gabriel Mugabe angrily cut him off, “now you are asking a regime change agenda,” he snapped.

The basic idea underpinning the concept of democracy is that ordinary Zimbabwean citizens have a fundamental right and should be entitled to freely decide who should govern them. In other words, the right to change a regime if they so wish. The process of translating that choice to reality is accomplished by way of voting, which is often done periodically, to enable ordinary people to make a clear statement about their leaders.

Another tenet of democracy, consistent with the first above, is that potential leaders must be able to, through various – peaceful means, present themselves, and their ideas through manifestos to the people – marketing themselves as the best leaders to govern and make policy decisions for the country. In this noble battle of ideas, whoever has the better idea should, ordinarily, following a vote to confirm them, be the new leaders of a new regime taking the country in a new, and hopefully better direction. The primary purpose of an election is to change or renew leadership. Even in situations where the incumbent is retained, the process of an election would have offered the public an opportunity to reaffirm his leadership.

This vital process, which I will, with Fungai Machirori’s recent, brilliant blog in mind, refer to as the nation’s shedding off of its old skin of failed policies and broken promises to reveal a new skin of hope and expectation, has been suppressed in Zimbabwe for the past 3 decades. Leaders are in denial – attempting to do the impossible – to defy nature. They vainly attempt to banish all evidence of the passage of time, tucking away strands of white hair and sagging skin, tragically locking the nation in a time warp. Imagine the snake clinging to its old skin, refusing to shed it off and make way for newness, for rebirth and revival?

For these leaders, elections are but a mere formality, their objective must never be to deliver regime change, but to endorse the status quo. Since elections are not really meant to deliver regime change, then it follows that it is not necessary to ensure free space for the contestation of ideas and free space for leaders of different political formations to market their vision for the country. The very concept of democracy would become, as a colleague is fond of saying, anathema to defenders of the indefensible status quo.

To ensure that the ideals of genuine democracy are defeated various instruments are deployed by incumbent regime. When the risk of losing power is deemed low, then the regime would simply fiddle with figures, rig here and there and ensure and outcome that restores prevailing balance of power. For good measure associates of the regime are deployed to oversee the counting of votes. For this reason, in African politics the counting of votes is much more important than the actual voting itself.

The bottom line for all these shenanigans being that power must be retained at any cost. While alternative democratic voices are denied space in national media to articulate their views, the incumbent regime is granted full coverage to propagate its ideas, which, often enough, it does not do but devotes its attention squarely to denigrate, demonise and abuse those advancing alternative views.

Where the risk of losing power is deemed greater, then there is no hesitation to deploy the threat of violence and violence in an attempt to alter the workings of democracy in the incumbent regime’s favour. On June 27, 2008, the day of the ill-fated one-man presidential runoff election, I offered a lift to a ‘war veteran’ who gave me an insight into this thinking. Quite unbidden, he commented on the election process,

“Holding elections is utter madness, how can people think that, by merely putting an ‘x’ on a piece of paper they can remove a president from power? How can a pen and paper have such an effect? We (presumably talking on behalf of so-called ‘war veterans’) will not allow people, just with the index finger (the one dipped in indelible ink as an indication that one has voted), to effect regime change. If that happens we will take our guns and go back to the bush.”

I believe the ‘war veteran’ gave and accurate diagnosis of the disease plaguing Zimbabwe – that the incumbent regime does not respect the concept of democracy and its corollary of regime change. After realising that indeed the wish of the people, as reflected in the March 29, 2008 elections, was for the country to renew its leadership and try fresh ideas, patrons and benefactors of the old regime quickly moved stop any peaceful transfer of power. Instruments of coercion were quickly activated to crush any dissent and ensure that the status quo is maintained at all costs.

The present arrangement, which primarily retained the status quo, albeit with a modicum of space at the high table for the true victors in the elections, derives its authority, not from tenets of democracy, but from undemocratic negotiations that the main political parties entered into in order to deal with a crisis triggered by a refusal to peaceful transfer power in accordance with democratic principles.

Although this arrangement dealt a severe blow to the development of our embryonic democracy, it by no means crushed the ideals of this enduring ideology. Even within ZANU-PF the institution, there is now a realisation that chickens of authoritarianism are now coming home to roost. Media reports indicate that elections in both ZANU-PF’s youth and women’s leagues were characterised by chaos and violence. Quite ironically, reports indicate that Mugabe pleaded with the youth league to respect election results and appealed to losers to magnanimously accept defeat in polls!

The creature called power-sharing government is only transitional; it can never replace the concept of true democracy and the right of every Zimbabwean to fully participate in the election of leaders of their choice. This fundamental right to regime change is recognised in article 13 of the African Charter of Human and Peoples’ Rights and in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights whose article 21 provides that Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives, and more importantly, further that, the will of the people (as expressed in periodic, genuine elections) shall be the basis of the authority of government.

Relentless propaganda against regime change seeks to create the false impression that it is wrong to seek regime change, or to seek leadership renewal. It is not. It is a natural process that cannot be stalled indefinitely. It is a reality that, though it is temporarily denied, will surely come to pass.

Despite the hype about the liberation struggle and all, ZANU-PF came to power through the ballot box. In 1980 people were free to make a democratic choice. Likewise, Zimbabweans today should have the freedom to choose whosoever they wish as their leader. The right to regime change is a fundamental right that must be respected and be cherished by all.

Temporary setbacks and spanners being thrown in the works by elements resisting change cannot be reason enough to lose faith in the enduring power of the idea of democracy. Rather, it these challenges should spur activists on and strengthen their resolve to ensure that they exercise their right to vote, defend their vote, and ensure that the vote is counted and counts.

I positively detest snakes. To me, they are slithery, slimy and plain creepy creatures.

But right now, as I write, they are the only things that I can think of.

No, I do not want to dwell on their flashing forked tongues or hissing venom – that could give me nightmares for the rest of this week! Instead, I would like you to consider one of their most interesting attributes:

The fact that they periodically shed their skin.

According to the experts, this activity takes place due to hormonal responses and is associated with growth. And usually, snakes shed their skin 4-8 times per year.

In case you didn’t know, we humans also shed a load of skin. But unlike our reptilian friends, ours doesn’t come off in the perfectly intact shape and form of our old selves.

Maybe if it did, we would look with more awe and amazement at our ability to grow out of what we once were, and into the new beings that we continually change into.

This explains my current fascination with snakes – the fact that they leave their old confinements to grow into something bigger and better (and of course, scarier!).

And also, the fact they can keep a reminder of that activity, which is the cocoon shape that trails them as they undergo the process of renewal.

I am in that same process of renewal, shedding away who I once was to become bigger and better. And when I look back in my mind at who I once was, at what that cocoon shape I am leaving behind looks like, I see all the errors, trials, tribulations and sorrows that I do not want to experience as I grow into a new wiser version of myself.

As I shed the old and grow into the new, I am excited and scared alike.

Will I fit into my new skin? Will it wear and tear and cause me to bleed? Will I want to run back and fit snuggly into what I once was?

I do not know the answers, but I know that growth into self-awareness and enlightenment is well worth the effort.

Instead of growing a thick callous uncaring layer, why not shed that and open yourself to growth and revival?

Author and playwright Steven Chifunyise never fails to tickle the funny bone in me. Last night I was at Theatre in the Park, excited at the thought of getting a dose of political satire from his new play, Heal the Wounds and equally excited about the opportunity to unwind in the cool breeze of the evening while breathing in the garden’s fresh soil and grass. While we waited for the play to start, the breeze was indeed cool, but it also transported the stinks of urine and other forms or human waste thanks to the vagrants who often use the park for ablution facilities. Thankfully the play was not as disappointing. It featured two brothers who, because of their different political orientations, could never be imagined as friends but at some point find themselves working and sitting together in a committee of national healing and reconciliation.

Sophisticated terminology, concepts and all, they are seen trying to sell the idea to their elderly rural parents who seem skeptical of the Global National Unity and the process of healing. Forgiveness is the gospel they both vociferously preach and believe to be the only ‘practical’ way forward to achieving healing and forming the basis of national development.

The parents believe that it is so simple for the people in Harare to just forgive and move on because they didn’t lose any cattle and their houses weren’t razed for perceived differing political orientation. The parents use an old metaphor to ask their sons how any healing is possible if lots of people in the village were still walking around with axes stuck in their heads. Of course the ‘masalad’ sons took the literal meaning, discarded it as ludicrous and soon started to argue between themselves about which party did what, in the violence of 2008.

Their short display of ‘disunity’ invites the mockery of, and convinces the old men that nothing reasonable was being done in the ‘committee healing national’ as one of them kept confusing it. The long and short of it all was that this process is out of touch with the people and is not being done in as inclusive a way as it should be, that is by involving all stakeholders. The gospel of forgiveness that is being preached by politicians, some of who were themselves responsible for the atrocities surrounding the June 2008 elections, (abductions, rape, torture and murder), is just not enough for ordinary Zimbabweans.

The old men towards the end of the play prescribed 10 panaceas that they felt needed to be presented to the committee in order to allow real discussions about national healing to begin. In short, they described a number of transitional justice mechanisms, some of which are not practical, and seem very silly to the sons, but actually do lie buried deep in the hearts of many.

The emotional weight carried by most Zimbabweans from the many violent episodes since independence are the axes Chifunyise refers to. They are a constant reminder, which cannot be wished away, and they lie so deep they cannot just die a natural death at the prompt of forgiveness, especially coming from the highest offenders. Known offenders need to apologize in public; property-grabbers have to return the cattle, chickens, wives and whatever else they stole, to their rightful owners. In the rural areas, some people live with the reality of seeing their livestock in the stock pens of their neighbors.

People want to freely bury and mourn their dead, have a chance to be heard, to tell their story and to create a record so that there is a certain measure of closure. They want a commission of inquiry; but nothing like the joke that was the Chihambakwe commission of the 1980s. Insulted chiefs want to be apologized to. So do parents whose sons and daughters insulted them because of differing political views.

This all sounds petty, but could it be that the real journey towards true healing begins at the grassroots level and that the answer lies in each one of us finding a way of shedding the axes that we each carry in our heads?

The horrific terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center in the United States on September 11, 2001, shocked and enraged the world’s conscience. Events of that day are permanently etched in the memory of mankind. I, too remember how the world stood still as the news slowly filtered to the four corners of the world. I remember that the Daily News, (it had not yet been banned then) even ran a second, special edition of the paper detailing the 9/11 attacks. I also, with tears and much pain, remember another cowardly and dastardly act that was committed on the same day several thousands of miles away, in Zimbabwe’s small town of Chivhu, at little known Mboe primary school. Mboe primary school is in Chikomba district, which, on September 22 and 23 was scheduled to hold a parliamentary by-election to fill-in the seat left vacant following the death of ZANU-PF MP, war veterans leader, Chenjerai ‘Hitler’ Hunzvi.  On Monday, September 10, Mboe Primary School Headmaster, Felix Mazava, 47, returned from holiday at the nearby town of Marondera to prepare for the new school term. A truly committed teacher serving his country, Mr Mazava had elected to work at the remote primary school in the middle of nowhere, a choice only the dedicated, qualified teachers make.

At the end of the day, as Mr Mazava was closing his makeshift ‘office,’ his son came running to tell him that there were 7 men in two white pick-up trucks who wanted to talk to him. It was getting dark. Fear was written all over his son’s face. Campaigners for the ZANU-PF candidate, a one Makokove, in the by-elections had on several occasions threatened to deal with Mr Mazava for trying ‘to be too clever’ by bringing MDC influence into the small-scale farming community which was wrongly presumed to support ZANU-PF. Mr Mazava thought that he could amicably talk things over with the ‘visitors.’ He went to the road to meet the visitors who promptly set upon him, fists and boots flying, before bundling him into one of the trucks and driving off at high speed.

His son, who had witnessed the abduction, immediately set off running in the opposite direction, never stopping for the entire 13km -distance to his grandfather, Mavheneka Matsongoni Mazava, to raise alarm and seek help. Meanwhile, Mr Mazava’s abductors drove with him for some 20km to Masasa communal area, where they stopped and started interrogating him about his alleged support for MDC. They bludgeoned him, stabbed him and kicked him for several hours.

Mr Mazava cried out and appealed to the thugs to spare his life. The thugs did not relent. He cried out to people sleeping in their huts to come out and rescue him. No-one dared come out. None came to his rescue. For supporting MDC he was kicked and stabbed repeatedly. During the vicious and frenzied attack his arms were broken in several places, his ribs too. Finally he died just as dawn was breaking on Tuesday morning, September 11, 2001.

His attackers, after killing him, searched and stole all valuables from him, including school fees he was due to pay for his daughter at a mission school in the district, put a ZANU-PF card on his forehead and dumped his body in Masasa. Later that Tuesday morning, his father, following tip offs from Masasa villagers, recovered his body and took it for burial.  He died and left behind a wife and four children, the eldest daughter, then barely 18, was in her first year at university. Suddenly and violently, their world had been thrown upside down, they were in turmoil.

Today, as I remember Felix Mazava, I wonder why died. For what cause did he have to meet such a cruel and violent death? What justice is there for him? What justice for his widow and young children? Soon after Mazava’s killing, police spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena said ‘police will investigate.’ Today, 8 years later, nothing has come of that investigation. Today, 8 years later, scores more have met a fate similar to that of Mazava, with no justice.

Where is Zimbabwe’s conscience? What kind of society is it that we live in, where people, young people even, to advance a political cause, can shed blood without batting an eyelid? Where people live in the shadow of fear? Where people are forever whispering and looking over their shoulders? Where there is no freedom whatsoever?

As I remember the needles and cruel death that Felix Mazava suffered, and which many more continue to suffer, I am convinced that a political party that either explicitly or implicitly condones use of violence as a means of propagating its message is not worth supporting. It is the sacred duty of every citizen not only to not support such a political party, but to actively campaign against the use of violence of any form as an aid to propagating ideas or to winning votes.

There is a political party in Zimbabwe whose legacy, the way I see it, has made human life cheap. Human life has lost its sanctity and its inviolability. For a mere vote, life is dispensed of. For daring to speak your mind, life is snuffed out of you. For daring to defend your property from marauding, jobless and homeless invaders, you risk paying the ultimate price. It is as if, in the eyes of the powers that be, Zimbabwean life has been hit by inflation and has lost almost all of its value. As if to confirm this strange scenario, life expectancy in Zimbabwe is officially the lowest in the world.

Some people seem to have forgotten that simple truth that, no matter how glorious it may appear to be, there is no political or other opinion worth shedding blood for. There is none. This is not the stone-age. Regardless of whatever claim to whatever legacy, there is no party or person worth killing for. I believe we should strive to create a society an idea alone, persuades people, where the strength of a political party directly corresponds to the strength of the ideas it puts to the people, and is not based on the size of its militia or its ability to control and unleash instruments of violence and repression. Life is precious; it must be regarded as such.

Unless more and more people openly and absolutely reject violence and embrace freedom, Zimbabwe will remain shackled to the past, unable to face the future with confidence and hope. One can declare that Zimbabwe will never, never, never, become a colony again, But already, the majority of Zimbabweans are colonised by a crippling fear of a minority that itself is colonised by a wounded and tortured psyche that believes in violence and coercion as legitimate pieces of the political chessboard. To echo the words of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), Zimbabwe, ‘choose love.’

In memory of Felix Mazava and thousands of other people robbed of their lives for the cause of freedom, I make this rallying cry to all democracy-loving, love-loving and peace-loving Zimbabweans to get up and make a stand. I believe that was Felix’s dream. May the soul of this gallant son of the soil and this unsung hero in the battle for democracy and freedom, rest in eternal peace. And may his death not be in vain.

Is it just me, or do other people read the MDC’s recent press statement entitled “MDC condemns grab of Meikles assets”, with deep cynicism?

Peta Thornycroft, writing for IOL said:

Zimbabwe’s government has effectively expropriated the country’s largest public company, Kingdom Meikles Africa Ltd, under a much criticised so-called anti-corruption law.

Kingdom Meikles was “specified” last Friday in the Government Gazette under the “Prevention of Corruption Act”

This means the company, also listed in London, and all its subsidiaries cannot make any transactions without the approval of an investigator appointed by the government to examine allegations of corruption.

The group represents hundreds of indigenous investors and employs thousands of Zimbabweans.

The specification law was established by President Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF administration, but the action against the Kingdom Meikles group was, surprisingly, endorsed by the Movement for Democratic Change’s co-minister of home affairs, Giles Mutsekwa.

The “specification” order in the Government Gazette was signed by the two ministers, Zanu-PF’s Kembo Mohadi and Mutsekwa.

The MDC’s press statement, in response to this action says:

The MDC condemns the inclusive government’s mafia-style grab of the assets of the Stock Exchange-listed Kingdom Meikles Limited group of companies.

We urge the inclusive government to be serious in creating an atmosphere of confidence, investment and goodwill. No serious investor will pour in their money in an economy where a government can grab their assets in the wink of an eye. Seizing people’s assets is inimical to investment, economic growth and development.

The co-Ministers of Home Affairs Hon Kembo Mohadi and Hon Giles Mutsekwa have more pressing issues to attend to than seizing the assets of private companies. Zimbabweans want to see a professional police force that enforces the rule of law without fear or favour. They want to see perpetrators of violence brought to book. They want to see a corrupt-free police force which professionally discharges its duties. These are the issues that must grab the attention of the ministers rather than the unbridled pursuit of private property.

The MDC is a party of excellence. We believe in delivering real change to the people of Zimbabwe. We believe in restoring people’s dignity, security, prosperity and basic freedoms. We want to give the nation hope for a new Zimbabwe and a new beginning.

The MDC make it sound like:
a) they’re not a major partner in the inclusive government
b) Giles Mutsekwa doesn’t hold a senior position – Secretary for Security & Intelligence – within their party

Come on! They are and he is.

One of the major problems with this inclusive government is a complete lack of transparency. What are we to make of politicians who earlier criticized the perks of the political elite, only to grab them for themselves at the first opportunity offered? Politicians who beat each other up at election time then go drinking and making business deals together in between elections.

The MDC can’t have it both ways. Either they are part of this stillborn beast called the inclusive government – and accept responsibility for its actions – or they are not, and they extricate themselves from it before it consumes them boots and all.