We’ve just included this poem, by Mgcini Nyoni, in our Kubatana newsletter:

Not Yet Uhuru

A retreat to the falls
by the pot-bellied  ones
As we drown
in sky high
telephone bills
zesa bills utility bills
Government of National Unity
they say
NATIONAL UNITY?
Thanks for your loyalty
My  friend here has a ministry!
Over a glass of imported  vodka
they say how does the new merc go?
Over a cup of black  tea we mutter
How the heck am I gonna  raise a thousand Rands
for  the child’s school fees?
Not Yet Uhuru
we shall sing.

It reminded me of the resolutely unacceptable way that Zimbabweans are being treated by the politicians who suggest that they are “for the people”.

Whilst the formation of the Government of National Unity is spawning expensive retreats and the purchase of new vehicles, ordinary Zimbabwean citizens have to beg and borrow and wheel barrow containers of water from homes that have bore holes, to where they live in daily thirst.

Apartments, houses, offices in the city centre and dwellings in our suburbs do not get water on a daily basis. Our dams are full but the infrastructure to deliver the water and the chemicals to clean the water are lacking.

Mugabe trashes farms and calls on the international community for aid while he lives in the lap of luxury in one of the poshest suburbs in Harare, where he’s got water in his tub and where his lawns are kept quite green.

Sell the fucking cars; stop retreating and get water to the people.

Last night in an effort to fall asleep I took a gender mentality quiz from a recent FEMINA publication. The quiz was titled, “Do you think like a man”. The questions got more interesting as I got to understand what the author considered ‘male behavior’ that ‘normal’ women supposedly shouldn’t ordinarily display.

You had to strongly agree, agree or disagree with listed statements in the quiz. Some of them were: I can programme the remote control for my TV all by myself (of course I can!). I understand how a parliamentary system works. I know the basic rules of most sports including golf and tennis. I didn’t cry when I watched the Titanic (me, I didn’t really.) I know what an AC/DC transformer is and silliest of all; the angle between the floor and all four walls of any room is probably 90 degrees. Duh! I scored a lot of strongly agrees and at the end of the quiz, fell under the category of uber-male, i.e without any hint of womanly thought and susceptible to the same kind of weaknesses of the male mind in being unable to empathize with others and communicate needs effectively. What utter rubbish. Just because I understand a few things makes me male minded? I was surprised certain things were considered a preserve only for male species.

Anyhow, there was probably an element of truth in some of the things because for instance, here in Zimbabwe, how many women actually understand or even want to understand how the parliamentary system works, let alone the constitutional reform process that is currently staring at us?

At a Gender Forum meeting I attended recently, it was noted that a trend developed amongst women during the 1999 consultative processes. The women tended to boycott such processes because they simply either did not understand the processes and the constitution itself or recognize its immediate relevance to their lives. Some women are generally ‘technophobic’ and far removed from the language used in the constitution. Others simply do not care probably because they do not think their participation would make any marked difference anyway. These factors have presided over the oppression of women for a long time.

The chance to once and for all do away with the authoritarian 1979 Lancaster House constitution that has been amended at least over 15 times is here, and it would be such a disservice if women did not grab this opportunity to advance their interests especially in line with the many loopholes that dog the current constitution.

I believe it is up to civil society to point out to many an ignorant woman that a constitution determines how they are governed, and that our current constitution does not provide for things like reproductive health and sexual rights or guarantee women’s equal access to ownership and control of property. It also has sections like the S111B that prevent the automatic application of international human rights treaties like CEDAW. This would be an opportunity to lobby for the inclusion of women in parliamentary sub-committees and also ensure that the lack of a guarantee of security of a person’s bodily and psychological integrity is done away with, especially in view of the fact that there is a lot of justice outstanding from the violence that accompanied last year’s harmonized elections.

I believe it is up to all of us as individuals to take it upon ourselves to encourage and educate our neighbors about partaking in this critical process and attend consultative meetings. It is about time we set the precedent for our own possible Obama-like election hopefully to be called in 2011. The South Africans have just had something of a democratic election, and they boast one of the most democratic constitutions on the continent. It would be nice for once to stop wishing and thinking  when we too shall see democracy skate across our land. Only we can make it happen if we start by being or neighbor’s keeper.

I learnt last weekend that Thabani Zikhali, better known to most of us as Fela, died. I remember Fela fondly from meetings and discussions at the ISO offices – sitting on those wooden benches in the office, or outside in the car park. And I’m sad, and angry to lose such a good, strong, capable, confident, powerful, energetic, useful, motivated, activist. Fela fought for social justice and better basic services like access to water, health care and sanitation. Little did any of us suspect that it would be exactly this collapsed health care system that would fail him. Political violence has taken its toll on Zimbabwe – but perhaps an even greater threat is the health crisis. This is Comrade Fatso’s tribute to Fela. May he go well.

Die For The People

Today we paused for a moment of silence. Silence amidst the echoes of cholera cries, mutinous outbursts and beaten trade unionists. We paused for a moment, calm in the chaos of our struggle. We stood by a red dust Warren Hill grave side to remember our Comrade Fela. A comrade who tirelessly fought in the trade unions, the Zimbabwe Social Forum and the residents associations. A founding member of the Uhuru Network and The Amandla Centre. A comrade who died from the injustice he fought so hard against. A collapsed health care system that failed to give him basic treatment.

We stood. We cried. We paused for a moment of reflection in the whirlwind that this struggle for justice can be. Because this is what it can be sometimes. Life or death painted in stark red soil. Each shovel-load of soil by each comrade onto his coffin was a reminder of the urgency of the struggle we are in. Each speech about Fela’s life was a call to uprising.

Fela died as he lived. Determined. Dignified. His death was poetic. Because he fulfilled the destiny of his name: Fela Nabantu. Die For The People.

May our comrade rest in peace.

I recently read Time Magazine’s special issue on Heroes of the Environment. More than I expected to be the case, I found the heroes inspiring. It’s fascinating to see 30 examples of what people all over the globe do to protect the little patch of earth they live on as well as the earth we all share. I can’t pick a favorite hero because the first one was my favorite, then I read the next one and that was my favorite and so on.

I did wonder if it was by accident that the only two black heroes happened to appear one after the other. The first was Liberian Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor who states the mission of his NGO is to look at environmental issues “from a human perspective. It’s not about greenery. It’s about people whose lives have been affected by the unsustainable and destructive exploitation of resources.” Siakor was able to draw attention to President Charles Taylor’s use of logging profits to fund his war, which, in turn, was integral in the 2003 UN ban on the export of Liberian timber and in developing the war-crimes charges against Taylor.

The second black hero is Van Jones, an African American, who is working to stop what he calls “eco-apartheid”. The Time reporter describes Jones as the “vanguard of a necessary change in the green movement. In the past, environmentalism in the US has been a mainly white and white-collar phenomenon, one that had little resonance among working class and minorities.” Jones’ organization is predicated on the idea that building a green economy could represent a job creation program for minorities and the working class.

Both of these heroes interestingly direct attention to the devastating ways political corruption, political violence, class differences, and poverty disproportionately affect the human condition. Issues we tend to think of more through the lens of economics as opposed to through the lens of environmentalism. In Zimbabwe, the human condition is suffering terribly. Journalists, analysts, bloggers, and passengers on combies are quick to speak about this through the lens of economics. For example, the introduction of US$ products is a hot topic and most speak about this in very technical economic language: it’s messing things up. I mean how can it be good to have an economy that’s partially US$ and partially ZWD. It’s not right, the volume of US$ a Spar clerk will handle in one day only to then receive their salary in ZWD.

As heroes of the environment, Silas Kpanan’Ayoung Siakor and Van Jones help us better understand the full impact of US$ products in Zimbabwe. The emergence of US$ products is the result of political corruption and they exacerbate class differences and poverty. Equally, US$ products are impacting the environment in Zimbabwe. Walk 100 metres on any street in Harare and I guarantee you will see 100 empty beer cans. That litter did not exist when this country was producing and selling locally brewed bottled beer. I mean who would toss a bottle with a deposit attached to it. In the end, the economy of Zimbabwe is unjustly sending people to the poor house and the economy of Zimbabwe litters likes nobody’s business.

As the SADC troika jetted into Harare yesterday to try (unsuccessfully) to make some headway in the stalled talks, a variety of different Zimbabwean civil society organisations gathered to protest the delays and demand a resolution of the country’s political crisis.

Read about some of these actions here:

• Riot police descend on women protesters – Women’s Coalition
• Police ruthlessly crush protest by youth activists – Youth Forum
• 23 injured, 7 arrested and 4 abducted after a ROHR demonstration – Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe
• Image Gallery – Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe demonstration

Zimbabweans are speaking out. It’s time SADC also took a stand on these stalemated negotiations.

Tonight Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu will be spending their 12th night in jail since leading a 16 October WOZA protest to demand that government address Zimbabwe’s nation wide food shortages.

The two were denied bail by Magistrate Charity Maphosa at the Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court. I phoned the Court this afternoon, and spoke with Magistrate Maphosa. I was hoping to hear some quiver in her voice that revealed even a pinprick of remorse for the fact that, thanks to her decision, these two women are still in cells. But she was unflappable. She refused to explain her judgement — and referred me to the Clerk of the Court to read her decision in full. When I pressed her further, she suggested that I speak with “the people behind these things,” as she was “just doing her job. She hung up on me before I could ask who, or what, exactly, she meant.

Phone Magistrate Charity Maphosa on +263 9 71051 and see if you have any better success getting her to explain herself. If you do, let us know!