I’ve just watched this amazing video of Egypt’s 25 January Day of Anger protests. In the face of an oncoming water cannon one man turns and stands before it, blocking the spray and inspiring others to also stand up to it.

If I got rid of my demons I’d lose my angels
- Tennessee Williams

With the objective of obtaining information about the implementation of the Global Peace Agreement and to provide support to civil society organizations in disseminating information on the Inclusive Government to as many Zimbabweans as possible, the Mass Public Opinion Institute (MPOI) conducted a public opinion survey in Zimbabwe.

The survey, which was conducted in August 2010, had a sample size of 1000 people and it focused on the following issues:

- Performance of the Inclusive Government

- Media

- Inclusive Government’s policies and priorities

- Constitution-making

- Parties’ commitment to the Inclusive Government

- Macro and economic evaluations

- Performance of State Institutions

- Partisan Affiliation

In its efforts to restore the economy, results show that 48% of people interviewed think that the Inclusive Government is doing well in terms of restoring the economy. A lot of people felt that the economy had improved in the past twelve months and one in ten people think the economic condition had deteriorated.

But on free political activity, 35% had a negative view on the government’s performance.

In 2010 COPAC embarked on constitution making consultations around Zimbabwe and a lot of people acknowledge that they heard about COPAC but in terms of giving education to people on the constitution, people felt that COPAC failed dismally as 69% of people say they did not receive education on constitution making process.

From the observations, 51% of the respondents had a negative view about the trust they have in the security forces as protectors of human rights. 32% view the performance of the security forces in a positive light saying that they are executing their duties in a fairly good way.

The much publicized Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act has gained popularity especially among males, recording 32% people saying it’s a good policy.

Though a lot people can receive radio signal, in some parts of the country some people still can’t access a TV signal. With ZBC still exercising its monopoly on the airwaves and the continued bombardment of political messages from ZANU PF the survey showed a lot of bias towards one party in terms of fair play on campaigning material being played on radio.

To measure the response on political affiliation, MPOI asked: If you were to vote for a Parliamentary candidate of choice, which party will that candidate belong to?”  Since this issue is very sensitive most people in the survey were not comfortable to have their views shared in public. 24 % of people responded saying their vote is their secret and 17 percent did not want to comment. In this category MDC T commands 32 % and ZANU PF has 18 % though when asked who has real power it came out that the President still has a lot of power in the GPA

According to each sector touched on by the survey it shows an information gap where people who profess ignorance on issues related to the Inclusive Government also lack the freedom to express their views in public.

I believe the organ on National healing and reconciliation still has a long way to go in making its work known by people since only 11% of people interviewed think the organ is doing a good work as compared to 67% who are not sure.

I attended a presentation by Dr Ruth Walkup on ‘Getting the Foundations Right for Leading in a Changing World’. She took us through the evolution of work from the days when people worked to survive, to the days of trade and the era of industrialisation. We have witnessed dramatic technological changes in all sectors of the economy from the 1960s and these still continue.

I will give the library as an example. A card catalogue, which was the entry point to the library’s physical holdings, was used back then. When one visited the library they had to manually go through a card catalogue on their own, select the book they wanted by using entries of title, author, subject or date of publication. They would then find a reference number for the book that was done using the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) for them to pick out the exact book. But now things are different; you can access a library catalogue on a computer and online using Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC). Where one goes through the same search process but this time it is done electronically which means it less tiring and less time consuming. Now we wonder what the future will hold and what libraries will be like. Are we going to be using voice recognition technologies where we just say an author’s name and ‘voila’ all his/her publications are revealed to us on a big screen on the wall, and we just click the book we need?

We just wonder, but whilst we are still in the wondering zone we need to go acquire some life skills.  Dr Ruth walkup emphasized that we need to be self-aware; that is we need to know ourselves, our passions, strengths and weaknesses. Also we should take time to reflect on ourselves, looking back in the past in order to understand it and do things better in the future. You cannot do away with communication skills, information literacy skills and decision-making skills. Engage yourself in Life Long Learning (LLL) where you continue to upgrade your professional skills. Imagine the Librarian who does want to take a course in computers, where will they be when people don’t visit the library physically but rather ask him/her queries through IMS, Chat or Email. We need to be creative as we face change in order to create opportunities for ourselves and break new ground.

Through inner dialogue we actually get to “know” ourselves better and increase the likelihood of achieving our highest potential.

To conclude Dr Walkup gave us a quote by Alvin Toffler, “The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.”

In the office we’ve been speaking about the value of public opinion and public confidence – and how difficult it can be to regain these precious intangibles once they’re lost. In addition to public confidence in a person, organisation or political party, there is also the question of confidence in a process and faith in social institutions. When you go and vote – despite the risks and your own sense of fear – and that vote is then disregarded for a political settlement instead of an elected outcome, what damage does this do to your faith in the country’s democratic institutions? How can this ever be repaired? And until it’s repaired, what point is there in continuing to hold elections?

We shared Upenyu’s piece Why should I vote? with our email subscribers today, and I include one of the replies below. What’s the difference between apathy and laziness? And between apathy and a calculated assessment that because one’s action is disregarded, it makes more sense not to act.

I have voted consistently since I became eligible to vote and my first vote was cast in the referendum of 2000. My father always says you should not complain about the state of affairs in your country if you do not do something. So I figured I would make my voice heard through the ballot since I was not brave enough to march in the streets or be a war vet.

I am fast losing hope in the power of my voice being heard through the ballot. I went to vote in 2008 with heart pounding and ID concealed so that the youths who were beating drums and chanting slogans at a nearby party office would not know that l was going to cast my vote without being vetted. Two years later after the formation of the inclusive government and the performance of both parties in govt, I am tempted to agree with Upenyu and throw in the towel. I guess l will just leave everything in God’s hands and hope for the best.

Lazybones.