Scatterlings of Africa, I call your name and Asimbonanga are some of the songs that come to mind when I hear the name Johnny Clegg also known as “The White Zulu” because of his admiration of the Zulu culture.

During the apartheid regime, Clegg teamed up with Zulu street musician Sipho Mchunu to form the first inter-racial South African band they called Juluka. The band’s music was a fusion of pop, rock and traditional zulu rhythms.

Annoyed by the explicitly political songs of Clegg and Juluka, the apartheid regime banned their music on radio but this never detered them for singing out on the injustices taking place then.

In the song, Asimbonanga, they called for the release of Nelson Mandela and paid tribute to three martyrs of the South African liberation struggle: Steve Biko, Victoria Mxenge, and Neil Aggett.

I’m glad to write that “The White Zulu” is back with his much awaited new album titled ‘One Life‘. In the album, Clegg continues to write thoughtful and political lyrics.

One of the new songs on the album is titled: The revolution will eat its children (Anthem for Uncle Bob).

Commenting on the song, Clegg writes: “Revolutions around the world have always resulted in some form of social engineering accompanied by the inability to factor in that inevitable dark aspect of human nature – the lust for power.”

Some of the lyrics for the song are:

He’s a leader, talks of freedom
He knows the power of the Big Idea
He’s a dealer, he’s a seeker
Of the power that comes from fear
He gave his life to the party machine
Holding on a secret dream
He knows better than anyone
Power comes from the barrel of a gun…
And he’s rising up against them now
And he’s rising up in country and town
Rising up against them now, rising up

Chorus
The revolution has eaten its children
I see the river of dreams run dry
I’m so thankful I got to love you
You are the reason I survive

While the South African government continues with its “Quiet Diplomacy” on Zimbabwe, Clegg warns, “the revolution will eat its children” while people stand by and look.

Fiery Financial Gazette columnist, Mavis Makuni has commented on the recently published document entitled The Zimbabwe We Want: Towards A National Vision for Zimbabwe. In her article Men of the cloth who would rather sup with the devil she says

The church leaders involved in this subterfuge should ask themselves why the government of Zimbabwe is prepared to listen only to them when it has done everything under the sun to close democratic space and crush dissent in all other respects. These clergymen must surely be aware of the heavy-handed manner in which the government has dealt with opposition party and civil rights activists who have tried to promote the ideals the nation is now being urged to focus on in the church-initiated blueprint.

Meanwhile the Editor of the Zimbabwe Independent, Vincent Kahiya discussing the same Church document says in his Editor’s Memo headed Bigoted criticism

I took time this week to read through the National Vision discussion document prepared by three ecumenical groups in Zimbabwe and presented to President Mugabe last Friday.After reading the 50-page document, titled The Zimbabwe We Want, I was left in no doubt that some of the critics of the initiative by the churches, especially those having a go at individual prelates, had not read the whole document. The attacks were bereft of substance largely because the critics have not focused on the contents of the document but have elected to critique the process by which the paper was created.

Kubatana is also receiving response from some of our subscribers. Mike says

The attempts by elements of the church to go it alone, ignoring their erstwhile partners in civil society, to engage with the criminal and illegitimate regime are reactionary, collaborationist and counter-productive. The fawning attitude demonstrated towards mugabe by Trevor Manhanga are an insult to those who are struggling for a new Zimbabwe. The bishop is deluded if he thinks that mugabe is capable of engaging in genuine negotiations; mugabe only uses such initiatives to distract, delay and divide. He has no intention of addressing the crisis in this country since that would require an end to his denialism and an admission of culpability.

Nduramo in his email to us makes reference to a point Mavis also raises, namely that of the lack of “national” consultation in the preparation of a “national” vision document. He says

The “Zimbabwe We Want” vision document re-affirms the Government’s desire to be in control at the pulpits every Sunday. The ‘WE’ in the ‘Zimbabwe we want’ is a fallacy representing ZANU (PF). Who is the ‘WE’ refering to in this case, when millions of Zimbabweans were not consulted?

No sane Zimbabwean can be surprised by reports that municipal police looted food intended for victims of Murambatsvina. After all they are only following their masters’ example. Given the fact that Town House is occupied by an illegal clique of thieves, it is to be expected that a culture of thievery should establish itself all the way through the Municipality. Two things however stand out. One, what on earth was an aid agency giving food or anything else to the very perpetrators of the crime against humanity that was Murambatsvina? How naive and idiotic is that? One can just imagine some ignorant expatriate murungu saying “I have a good idea, let’s put the nazis in charge of aid to the Jews”. Who is more culpable, the perpetrators of monstrous crimes or the collaborators who help prop them up? At least we know that the thugs are evil but when supposed humanitarian agencies indulge in ignorant actions (usually saying “well we must help the people” and “we don’t get involved in politics”), it becomes hard to tell the difference. Two, the suspension of the whistle blowers, while no surprise, is meant to deter other honest and professional municipal employees from coming forward. I would suggest that honest municipal employees use alternative routes to report such cases and go directly to the media or to CHRA who will be only to happy to expose the culture of theft and incompetence that is the main if not only achievement of Makwavarara and her cronies.

Any legitimately-elected Council is going to have a Herculean job shovelling all the manure out the stables when they move into Town House. Given the fact that the rot permeates every pore of the diseased carcass that is zanu-pf’s administration and the lengths to which they will go to prevent exposure let alone submit to judgement, it will require men and women of impeccable credibility and determination to get the job done. Given that sooner or later there will be municipal elections in the city despite the machinations of Chombo and that zanu-pf has as much chance of winning Harare as Mugabe has of winning the Nobel peace prize, let us hope that the MDC will give a little more thought to the selection of council candidates next time around, unlike 2002 when many were political opportunists, future sell-outs or frankly just incapable of running a bank account, let alone supervising a modern city.

Local government is not an extension of central government despite what Chombo would like to believe. It is the closest most citizens ever come to government and it is the institution that most affects our daily lives. We require councillors with capability, integrity, vision, fortitude and commitment, not arbitrary party flunkeys looking for an easy path to parliament and ‘real’ power. We want and deserve councillors who are ‘of the people’, who have a proven track record of community service that goes beyond political rhetoric and grandstanding.

I noticed a small article entitled Musician to become Zim ambassador tucked away on page 20 of last week’s Mail and Guardian newspaper. It looks like the Zimbabwean government is going to give our musical icon Oliver Mtukudzi ambassadorial status with full diplomatic credentials in a bid to revive our country’s flagging tourism industry.

The mind boggles. About a few things actually. First that there should be any confusion as to why our tourism industry is all but dead. I mean it’s hard enough for Zimbabweans to drive around their own country because of the scarcity if fuel. I can’t really imagine how tourists would cope. They’d probably hire a car and merrily set off only to find that every fuel station they pulled into didn’t have any fuel to sell.

Then of course there’s the rampant gold panning taking place in the beautiful Chimanimani mountains in the Eastern Highlands.

And let’s not forget the poaching of wildlife in Zimbabwe’s national parks.

“On the one hand, Zimbabwe is trying to promote tourism, and on the other it is destroying any chances of reviving it,” said the Zimbabwe Conservation Taskforce in its latest monthly report.

Second, I can’t quite fathom how Oliver Mtukudzi can even consider accepting this dubious “honor”.

Mtukudzi said, “I never thought they would go that far. I have been marketing the country as a tourism ambassador, but if that recognition can go to the extent of getting a diplomatic passport, that will be great,” he said.

I certainly hope that Mtukudzi won’t gleefully grab an ambassadorial passport and continue to “promote” tourism in Zimbabwe while remaining silent about the root causes of the crisis in the tourism sector.

I’m keeping tabs on the anonymous advertisements about the Domestic Violence Bill being placed in the state-controlled press in Zimbabwe by opponents of the Bill. Yesterday, I saw this advert in The Herald

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL “IGUYU”

KUNZE: very nice because it sells itself as fighting against wife battering and child rape.

Mukati masvosve

1. It promotes infidelity by refusing husbands the right to confront nor to reprimand even the most wayward wife.
2. It promotes sex before marriage and AIDS by fighting against virginity testing.
3. It allows for the destruction of clans by opposing appeasements of avenging spirits (Ngozi).
4. It puts rape and the most minor dispute at par and in the hands of police and the courts.
5. It deliberately ignores the cause of domestic violence.
6. It does not condemn n’angas who recommend child rape as “prescription” for AIDS and riches.
7. It introduces NGOs as the new extension of families by appointing them counselors and complainant’s representative replacing relative and elders.
8. It undermines the capacity and dignity of adult women by bringing in complainant’s representative without their consent.
9. It was made in Europe for Africans.
10. Only NGOs were consulted and are familiar with its contents as opposed to ordinary Zimbabweans.
11. It out dates the Bible (1 Timothy 2 vs 11-13 and Mathew 18 vs 15-17)

“Iguyu – refers to something that looks nice on the outside, but inside it’s rotten.

Engage The Editor of The Herald about these advertisements by writing to theherald@zimpapers.co.zw

Something to write home about is a book to buy.

It’s a compilation of reflections and stories from journalists covering Africa published by Jacana in South Africa. Many famous journalists contributed their work free of charge, donating all royalties to two special funds: The Miguel Gil Moreno Foundation and the Kerem Lawton Fund. Contributors include CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Charlayne Hunter-Gault, the BBC’s Fergal Keane and Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Greg Marinovich.

Alexander Joe, a Zimbabwean-born photographer who is now based in South Africa is also a contributor to Something to write home about. Below is an excerpt from Alexander Joe’s story called All black people look alike:

During the Rwandan genocide, the Red Cross invited the media to accompany them in a convoy carrying food into Rwanda from Burundi. Two French women journalists and myself, a black photographer, accepted their offer.

When we got to the Red Cross in Bujumbura they refused me permission to accompany them. I was told by a white Red Cross worker that it was too dangerous for me as a black person to enter Rwanda.

“If the Tutsis don’t kill you, then the Hutus will,” he said. In his eyes all black people look alike, despite the fact that I come from Zimbabwe. A Rwandan or a Burundian black person could see from a mile away that I don’t come from the same region.

So the two women and I decided to go into Rwanda on our own. At the first check point of Hutu militia we came across, they immediately started shouting “Belgium! Belgium!” at my two white colleagues.

It was quite ironic for me that now to black people “all white people looked alike” to the Hutu militia during the genocide all white people were the Belgian enemy, and if it weren’t for me, my white friends would have had a hard time. The Hutus could see I was from a different part of the continent without me even having to say a word.