Hello everybody and anybody out there!

Just a short note to say that we are discontinuing this blog so you won’t see any new posts on it. This isn’t because we’ve fallen asleep over our keyboards, it’s because we are hopefully going to be launching another platform soon that will keep some elements of this blog as well as adding some spice!

Change starts with us. Right?

Bye for now.

Moyo was in full knowledge of the looting & servitude that is going on at ZBC but he chose the protectionist route of shielding the perpetrators by sending them on ‘PAID LEAVE’ under the guise of avoiding undue influence. Secondly, these hefty salaries did not even alarm them on taking office because they gave indication that the woes at the broadcaster were known for a long time. The only assumption for their laid back approach based on the turn of events is that these amounts of loot are not material enough to trigger speedy reactions. And those salaries are most likely far much lower than the value of diamonds they are smuggling at ZMDC etc. Thirdly, a minister for the people does not wait for an embarrassing hunger strike to salvage starving souls that are his direct mandate in his office. I wont praise the exposure of the grand theft at ZBC because everyone knows that Muchechetere and his entire junta guard were appointed as revivalists of a stumbling regime in 2008, their project is done now. It is not a secret even to a grade one child that this is an old offloading strategy of this incumbent government. Announcing these figures is just an incidental and deceptive strategy for them to appear dead on to service delivery yet they are still in the business of expending people and protecting the crown. I view this whole approach as corrupt & populist and trying to correct these parastatal wrongs using corrupt means is just as cancerous as corruption itself in Zimbabwe

As the countdown to year-end begins lest we forget the bumpy road we traveled throughout the year in 2013.

We are now in December, it’s summer, and the heat is unbearable but political tensions have cooled down. There’s been a lot to write home about but very little to be proud of. The year ends under a dark cloud of poor service delivery. We spend most of the day without electricity while condemned to consume unsafe rations of water from local authorities.

In 2013 we saw the sailing in of a new constitution but questions still remain unanswered on whether to decentralize or to go the devolution path. The year was full of drama especially coming from the August House as some of the elected legislators were caught with their hands in the cookie jar of the Community Development Fund. This didn’t come as a surprise as their intentions were clear from the first day that they took office. And for their efforts spent on heckling and trading insults in Parliament, they were rewarded with hefty ‘sitting allowances’; very expensive cars and some even demanded residential stands as exit packages.

It was a competition to break the world record in flying hours as political parties in the inclusive government globetrotted to drum up support for their different causes at the expense of the ordinary taxpayer.

As the political game turned out to be nasty in 2013 we were subjected to hurling of insults and obscenities. Fellow countrymen and women especially from the Civil Society were accused of unpatriotic behavior and prison became a second home for human rights defenders.

We endured threats of election every day during the life span of the inclusive government and by grace the year 2013 brought an end to these threats. In politics its either you win or lose and the most difficult part is moving on. Up to now the debate on “credible” or “free and fair” rages on but a few still have the energy to engage.

A new government took office but the challenges have remained the same.

The announcement of the national budget was postponed owing to the liquidity crunch and as if that was not enough to kick start a new five-year term in office we got a taste of another Operation Murambatsvina some urban dwellers bracing for government’s clamp down on the so-called illegal structures.

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

Terms of Reference for Consultancy Service: Impact Assessment of Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA)
Deadline: 22 November 2013 (17:00 UK time)

Womankind Worldwide is an international women’s rights charity working to help women transform their lives in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We partner with women’s rights organisations who are challenging discrimination and violence.

We are tendering for proposals to undertake an Impact Assessment to examine the impact achieved for women and girls by our local partner the Zimbabwe Women Lawyer’s Association (ZWLA) over a period of 10 years.

The Impact Assessment will examine and provide strong evidence on the impact achieved, i.e. positive, negative, intended and unintended, on direct and indirect beneficiaries, analyse ZWLA’s contributions and identify specific factors that have enabled or disabled positive impact to occur. The Assessment will also review the relevance of our work, assess effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability of ZWLA’s programmatic interventions and organisational development processes and document lessons learnt and best practice.

Please use this link to see the Terms of Reference, which include the application process.

Please send your electronic applications to Mariela Magnelli at: Mariela [at] womankind [dot] org [dot] uk

In Harare police have taken to setting up informal road blocks in places that cause congestion. I say informal because there is seldom any warning that one is approaching such a road block – unless backed up traffic counts as notification. There are no police signs anywhere to be seen.

Armed (and it’s no accident I use this word) with a lime green reflective vest and a receipt book, police in Harare camp out at comfortable locations and fund raise for themselves. Official fines are seldom raised, tickets seldom issued, but money certainly changes hands.

If the police force has any commitment to public safety or public good they should institute a system whereby reflective vests emblazoned with ‘POLICE’ and receipt books used to record fines should be strictly controlled – as one would weapons.

Ask anyone and they will confirm that crime in the capital is on the up. Gone is the quiet thief who strikes whilst you’re out or asleep. Common is the brazen thief who wants to catch you unawares at your home or carjack you on the road. They can be brazen because the police force has little interest in Real Policing.

Two current favourite policing activities are:

a) Stopping kombis (privately run transport operators) on any pretense and delaying them long enough to secure a bribe. Usually the driver will get out of his car, walk back to the police officer, shake his/her hand and start to negotiate.

b) Stopping cars on behalf of the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation’s licensing inspectors.

In both of these scenarios, the police have no interest in using this opportunity to check that a driver is licensed to be at the wheel, or that the vehicle is roadworthy. As long as you have a Radio Licence or will pay a bribe, you can drive a vehicle!

I think the collective term for police has traditionally been a ‘posse’ or something similar. These days it would be more apt to pick from one of the following:

An obstruction of police
A huddle of police
A den of police
A swagger of police