Photo credit: New York Times

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” – Nelson Mandela

Today the world mourns the death of an anti-apartheid icon and former president of South Africa. A man who tirelessly dedicated his life to the struggle so that the nation of South Africa could be liberated from racial oppression. Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela the first black president of South Africa is now at peace. The man who was once considered by the apartheid government to be the number one terrorist in South Africa in the 1950s has left behind a legacy of peace.

Mandela fought for a democratic, non-racial South Africa where both black and white people could live in harmony. After spending 27 years in prison, in part on Robben Island, Mandela served a five-year presidential term and then he retired from politics when the world was still expecting a lot from him.

Many African liberation icons have failed to emulate this feat. Mandela’s death comes at time when the African continent is not at peace as many people have lost lives through civil wars.

Mandela lived a lifetime of struggle which inspired a generation of activists and his has been an inspiration to all who are oppressed.

Above, how the New Yorker chose to depict Mandela.

And below, From Africa Is A Country.

Songs for Mandela

This is the South African edition of our selection of Songs for Nelson Mandela. Last night we posted the international edition and many of our readers asked if we’d forgotten about the many South African musicians who’d written music about him. We didn’t. Here is a selection of South African music about Madiba or in tribute to him. It’s a bumper playlist, and in no particular order. Of course, we couldn’t include everything from the vast and varied music inspired by Mandela and the liberation struggle. Enjoy and feel free to post your own favourites in the comments. More

This statement in itself is refreshing, given Zimbabwe’s tendency to make even public information inaccessible to people (take the recent examples of polling stations and local government election results). And his comments came at a discussion on ZimAsset, which explicitly lists ICT and e-Governance (including getting the Registrar General’s office online by this month!) as one of its goals.

This afternoon, my experience showed just how far Zimbabwe has to go to honour this pledge, if indeed government is sincere in offering it.

The City of Harare 2014 Budget is currently under review, and the proposed tariffs for 2014 are available for public inspection. The idea is that, since it’s residents who will have to pay the fees, residents should be able to inspect the fees before they are finalized, and also should be able to register any complaints about them. Residents have one month to do this, and this year the complaints submission phase ends at close of business on 11 December 2013. (If you’re a super keen outraged resident type, find more details about how to do this on the tariff document.)

So this afternoon, I went to my district office and asked to see the income and expenditure budget. “You want to see it here?” The receptionist asked me. Yes, I told her, and she handed me a 37 page document. She could not photocopy it for me, and I was not allowed to take it away to make a copy of it and return it. So instead, I took a picture of each page, and pasted these into a PDF document.

This is a ridiculously inefficient way to do things. The City of Harare 2014 Budget is available on their website. Why not make the tariff schedule available there too? And, what about a completely radical suggestion – Make the documents spreadsheet friendly and easily computer readable, so that people can actually analyse the data more easily, not just consume it. The way it stands, you can’t even readily tell if the tariffs they are referring to are monthly, quarterly, annual, or what.

Even more worryingly, the tariff schedule is a tiny fraction of what someone would need to know to assess concerns with the city budget. It lists what will be charged for city services – but not how many people might consume them, or how often. And it tells you nothing about expenditure. Even the budget speech, which is publicly available, is vague on detail particularly when it comes to expenditure.

When I phoned the city council to try and get more information, it was not readily available. I was referred to the health department, if I wanted more detail on the health licensing fees, and I was told to go to Cleveland House in person to ask any questions about advertising charges (the woman at Town House told me their phones don’t work). If I wanted more detail on the actual budget estimates for income and expenditure, I could come to the Chamber Secretary’s office, again in person, in the hopes that maybe they could help me.

In Section 288, the Urban Councils Act requires a city’s Finance Committee to “draw up and present for the approval of the council estimates in such detail as the council may require of the income and expenditure on revenue and capital accounts of the council for the next succeeding financial year.”

The same section also states that “Copies of the estimates approved in terms of subsection (1) shall be available for purchase by any person at such charge as may be fixed by the council: Provided that the charge fixed by the council shall not exceed such amount, if any, as may be prescribed.”

I find it hard to believe that the 2014 Budget Speech, which is available on the City of Harare website, represents the “council estimates in such detail as the council may require.” The document is readable, but it’s not detailed. Someone applying for a bank loan or developing a business plan would provide more detail on where their income would be coming from and how it would be spent.

So why does the City of Harare not treat its residents (read its revenue base) with the same respect?

How daring this Gaza Primary School in Chipinge has become, milking us of our cash.  Students last week were told to ask parents for $20 for a trip to Mutare by plane, thus we paid happily. Two days before the trip, students were told its no longer a trip to Mutare but above Chipinge in a plane, well as such. Later, we were refunded $10 and it was now said it an educational trip to see a landed plane. It didn’t go down well with us parents so we complained, and asked for our monies back. Some were refunded but some were told to go hang. We let them be. They went on to hire an 18 seater combi to carry our kids to the aerodrome 2 and a half kilometers away to see three 2-seater gliders that had landed, and to be told lies about planes by the riders. No child ever touched the gliders let alone boarding it and this cost us $10 per child.

In a week that shall always be remembered as consequential for the vindication of  Zimbabwean human rights defenders and civil society organisations, on 26 November,  Harare Magistrate Rumbidzai Mugwagwa delivered a verdict of not guilty in the Beatrice Mtetwa  trial where charges of contravening Section 184 (1) (g) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act.

The Prosecution had alleged that Mtetwa, a fiery and prominent human rights lawyer, had defeated or obstructed the course of justice. She was arrested on 17 March 2013 and had been defending the matter  in court since  10 June 2013.

According to the Forum’s Court Report, The Magistrate gave reasons for her judgment saying that  Mtetwa had done nothing to interfere with the investigations the police were conducting. She cited that the police testimony was contradictory and it did nothing to put the Mtetwa to her defence.

The inspection in loco conducted at the premises where the arrest was effected also served to cast the State’s case in doubt and bad light as it was established that there was no way Mtetwa could have interfered with what was going on in an area of the house where she could not see what was happening; whilst guarded and  in handcuffs  in a vehicle outside the premises.

The Magistrate castigated the police for presenting contradictory testaments when they are professionals whose work relies on observation. She also made it clear that it is not an offence to take photographs and in any case after forensic examination, Mtetwa’s phone was found without any evidence that photographs of the scene had been taken. The Magistrate found that there is no evidence that  Mtetwa stopped or interfered with the search and returned a verdict of not guilty.

In addition to the Mtetwa case, on 22 November the same Magistrates Court acquitted Abel Chikomo, the Forum’s Director on charges of running an ‘illegal’ organisation. The details of the case and our analysis can be accessed here.

Both the Mtetwa and Chikomo cases  are reminiscent of the infamous Glen View 29 case, in which Justice Bhunu chided police officers for their unprofessional conduct in arresting human rights campaigner Cynthia Manjoro and MDC-T youth assembly president Solomon Madzore and other activists as they did not have credible evidence linking them to the commission of the offence. In that case the judge said the police had arrested Manjoro as an inducement for her boyfriend to surrender himself to the police in connection with the commission of the offence. The Judge made these remarks  on 19 September when he passed a not guilty verdict on 21 of the Glen View 29 activists who include Cynthia Manjoro, Solomon Madzore, Stanford Maengahama, and others.

Given this pattern where the police arrest human rights defenders and the judiciary takes a different stance, albeit, very late, could this be the beginning of a new era in the Zimbabwean Judiciary? The jury is still out on this. There is more to be said about Zimbabwe’s justice delivery system.

In the office block where we work, there are about 30 offices, each with maybe 4 employees. So that’s about 120 workers, plus their various visitors, clients and passers through at the café and hair salon downstairs.

For the past ten days, there has not been municipal water. The borehole which the owners sunk for the building last year is dry. For a few days, the pump to the water tanks was broken. The building manager ordered a water delivery which lasted for about three days. Meanwhile, he’s struggling to get another delivery, and the water companies he phones tells him there is a backlog. No one has municipal water, and everyone is trying to order some.

Where does the bulk water we order come from? Some comes from legitimate sources, but some is pumped out of residential boreholes and city water recharge sources, further compromising the city’s water supply.

Like the recent Human Rights Watch video and report say – Never mind the quality of Harare’s water, even the supply is in crisis. Signs like this one at the toilet in our office block are the order of the day. We know there isn’t any water. We know to use it sparingly. But what we don’t know is when that’s going to change, and how.

Meanwhile, last weekend students at Eveline Girls High School in Bulawayo held a peaceful demonstration to protest the lack of electricity at their boarding hostels.  Eight students were taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station and detained for around four hours.

Moral of the story? Demonstrate against non-existent sanctions and you won’t get arrested. But demonstrate against all-too-real failures at the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) and you will.

Never, has so much been owed by so few to so many.

My name its Vincent Tichafa Musewe, I am an African who by God’s design, was born here in Zimbabwe so that after I am gone, this place will be a better place because I have lived. After all that is true leadership.

I therefore must share with you my idea of Zimbabwe. It is not what I see today.

We must revive our economy as a matter of urgency but more important, we must tell a new story about our beautiful country. We must invest a new narrative, a new paradigm so that out of our bosom, may be born a new beginning where all Zimbabweans regardless of race can live up to their full potential.

We must hurry and be gripped by the creation of those circumstances we desire most without being cowered or being afraid. After all, fear is a mental construct.

We must create a country where all are free to pursue their dreams without limit; a country whose unimaginable wealth can be utilized to eradicate poverty and lack; a country whose resources are applied to the benefit of all and not to the benefit a few men and women simply because they have access to arms of war.

My ideas and inspirations in creating a new Zimbabwe are based on one undeniable truth; that any nation that does not create freedom and liberty for its citizens to live up to their full potential will in turn, never attain its own full potential. The people must come first and their happiness and development must therefore be nourished, protected and preserved so that our country can truly become what we imagine it to be.

The dignity, security and prosperity of every Zimbabwean enshrined in our constitution were not fashioned to be applied at the whim of our leaders, but these are non negotiable rights for everyone born Zimbabwean. It is a non negotiable instrument that cannot be returned to sender. We must demand that this government meets its obligations.

In my opinion, no economic blue print no matter how clever and intelligent it may sound can ever create the conditions necessary for progress until the values of those that lead us change. Economic blue prints hardly excite me simply because we have had so many of them. Let us therefore be careful and not be complacent because the days are dangerous.

To our politicians:

I do not care how many degrees you may have; how many doctorates and academic accolades you may lay claim on, if I see young Zimbabwean girls in South Africa or in Harare becoming prostitutes to make a living so that they may feed their children back home.

When I see small burnt children at a hospital that cannot treat them because there are no medicines, I don’t care what car you drive.

When I hear that Zimbabweans are fighting off animals for fruit so that they may have something to eat, I do not care where you live or what designer suit you are wearing.

I care less for the sophisticated English words you may use in justifying your entitlement to power when I know that my brothers and sisters in the Diaspora must take three jobs so that they may survive and also look after their siblings at home.

When pensioners who worked for half of their lifetime cannot buy food, I am not impressed by the way you walk or talk.

I care less for the balance in your bank account when I hear that a large number of young mothers are dying from cervical cancer or that two million Zimbabweans will go hungry this season. When I see desperate youth wonder how each day will turn out because they are unemployed.

What use are your degrees in history, philosophy, rocket science, medicine, politics if those degrees lead to wide spread poverty, depression and hopelessness? What use are they when we know we in Zimbabwe have some of the largest mineral resources on earth including vast fertile soils yet we are facing an economic calamity? They are useless.

Never, in my opinion, has so much been owed by so few to so many.

The Zimbabwe I seek to create will have none of this.

Unfortunately I do not see this Zimbabwe I dream of coming tomorrow. I know, however, that it is buried deep down within my soul and it was born the day I was born in Highfield. God willing, it will surely come to pass in my life time.

All we need is now is hope and a strong belief in our potential but this hope must be underpinned by action; action to do what we can from where we are with what we have to create the circumstances we deserve.

We must accelerate the creation of a new Zimbabwe that is not limited by the imagination of those that only seek personal benefit but a Zimbabwe of unlimited potential underpinned and fashioned by the free spirit of the people of Zimbabwe.

It will take a while but I am convinced that one fine day, in the steal of the night it will come.

Don’t give up!

Vince Musewe is an economist and author based in Harare. You may contact him on vtmusewe [at] gmail [dot] com

I found the meeting, and the conversations I had with participants afterwards, both illuminating and infuriating.

Harare’s water situation is in a crisis. It was good to hear Mayor Manyenyeni acknowledge that, but as he also noted we are at least five years away from a solution – And a lot longer if the behaviour of both Harare residents and leadership doesn’t change.

Issues of urban cultivation, litter, development on wetlands, watering of lawns, the city’s decrepit infrastructure of pipes, siltation in Lake Chivero, the proliferation of boreholes and bulk water abstraction are all contributing to a dire water situation for Harare. According to one person I spoke with after the meeting, Harare’s water system will collapse within the next ten years unless large scale changes are made. It simply won’t be able to keep up with the growing demand and the steadily reducing supply.

There are some very basic things each of us can do to make a difference, like

• Don’t water your lawn, and speak with your neighbours, workplace and others about the negative impact a green lawn has on all of us
• Shower into a bucket and use that “grey water” to then fill your toilet cistern
• Place bricks wrapped in plastic (so they don’t crumble) or 500mL plastic water bottles in your toilet’s cistern so it uses less water with each flush (especially for older toilets, which typically had larger tanks)
• If it’s just urine, don’t bother to flush – Every flush of the toilet wastes a lot of water
• Don’t litter. The plastic you throw out on the road will likely get taken into a storm drain in the rains, and make its way to Lake Chivero, where it adds to the pollution choking the city’s filtration system
• Look into rain water harvesting. At a large or small scale, effectively capturing the rain water that does fall and bringing it back into the household for use would reduce the demand on both boreholes and the city’s water supply

But in addition to individual actions, there is a massive need for collective action. Speaking at the meeting, Councillor Mutizwa (Ward 9) said that local government’s concerns about some wetlands development projects had been overruled by national government, despite legislation like the Environmental Management Act which protects wetlands. In order to change Harare’s water situation, local and national government needs to be engaged. The Wetlands Survival Forum was set up to try and coordinate groups around the water issue – so support its efforts and get involved with it where you can. You can like them on Facebook to follow their activities, or email wetlandssurvivalforum [at] gmail [dot] com to get involved.