Zimbabwean security sector is undoubtedly one of the most intelligent in Africa but at the same time undoubtedly the most biased and civil manipulative. The one thing our security and intelligence have done very well since 18 April 1980 is to protect and retain political thrones for the blue bloods in the country. I believe their primary role is to protect the civilians but all the experiences of ordinary people of Zimbabwe at the hands of our National security has left me terrified and so dreading of their capabilities. When they are working to get any of our aristocratic oligarchs in power, they leave no stone unturned but they failed the simplest drill to ensure that Rebecca Mafikeni of the Glenview 29 gets released to receive medical attention. They have managed to silence us on the death of Christpowers Maisiri and declared it void of foul play. They have managed to give lame testimonies and delay court procedures only to keep Morgan Komichi under incarceration but have failed to open up investigations into the massive diamond looting in the country and only waited for the president to give them leads. No one from the urban land invaders has been reported to have been arrested to face justice so far but anyone who is deemed to have taken an opinion against their masters is very quick to be apprehended and face their unjust laws.

Our security sector is a regime security. I have not found anyone ordinary proclaiming faith in their ability to protect us. Money has always been protecting us in Zimbabwe, if you cannot offer a meal for an officer then you might have to think of getting your protection from somewhere else. Recently the Ghananians plus much more criminals in Zimbabweans have got away with serious crimes, not because they had good defense attorneys but because they had good connections in the security sector. Life is highly expendable in this scenario. Survival and safety mostly is dependent on one’s material possessions and relations rather than the simple fact that we are all citizens of Zimbabwe.

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I feel sorry for the Zanu PF Councillors. These are the bedrock, the foundation, the feet on the ground, the basis of the ruling party (again, after five years as the Opposition Party). These guys (or girls) did the footwork, went out and met the people, and got elected, even if some urban areas (yes, I am speaking as a local Harareite) where the challenges to be overcome were tremendous.

And yet… we have only just seen the results of the poll. Kubatana managed, after some prodding by me and much effort with ZEC, to get a spreadsheet today (Friday the 13th). I see 40 MDC and 6 Zanu PF in Harare. Despite being a part of the great victory, their party holds them in such disregard that they took 6 weeks to get their ZEC to allow someone to see their results! Talk about disdain for the electorate. How about disdain for the elected?

Six weeks after the elections, and we have just seen the new (very old) cabinet. But still not seen who is the party. There seems to be only one member of the ‘ruling again’ party, and his election has been announced, and contested, and accepted, and no longer contested, and analysed, and evaluated by investors, and reacted to by the market, and discussed, and rediscussed. And a bit more. But still, aside from the top, who won the posts? Do they deserve nothing but disdain?

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Centre Director: Legal Resources Foundation
Deadline: 20 September 2013 (close of business)

Due to an internal promotion, the Legal Resources Foundation, a local legal services NGO, invites applications from suitably qualified and experienced persons for the post of Centre Director based at Masvingo.

Duties and responsibilities
-Administering the programmes and activities of the Centre
- Supervision and management of Centre staff
-Preparation of regular reports on Centre activities
-Engaging in fundraising, including drawing up funding proposals and budgeting

Qualifications and experience
-Applicants must be registered legal practitioners with at least five years’ post-registration experience
-Background in civil society, particularly a legal services NGO, and computer literacy will be great advantages
-Applicants must be self-motivated and have a demonstrable ability to lead a team, and to work with minimal supervision.

To apply
Applications, accompanied by comprehensive curriculum vitae, should be sent to: The National Director P. O. Box 918 Harare

Or they can be sent by email to: pa [at] lrf [dot] co [dot] zw

Applications received after the deadline will not be considered.  Only short listed candidates will be responded to.

The MDC is over. Ran three times. Their leader lost every time. They took power last time, became the ruling party, and managed to do nothing for democracy (plenty for themselves as individuals). They took the major cities every time – and again failed to make a serious democratic change every time.

And they deserved to lose. Not that the real loss is by as much as the reported margin. But they failed to campaign. Throughout their time as Ruling Party. Shocking loss of focus on the big picture. They deserved to lose.

They lost when they became a political party. Changed form being a ‘movement’ for democratic change, to the political party ‘Movement for Democratic Change’. A movement is a broad based, social, economic, cultural opinion. A voice, capable of saying all things, including all points of view, embracing all methods, being all things to all people. A Movement. A movement can be anti. E.g. the anti-apartheid movement. The anti-poaching movement. The anti gender violence movement. A political party is an organisation whose aim is to take and retain power. It does need discipline. And it needs an objective. What to do with the power it takes. The MDC had none of that. No discipline. No objective (and ‘anti’ is not an objective, it must be ‘for’). And it lost it’s broad base of support – although it did have massive support.

However, the struggle for democracy has thrown up many organisations. And they have all moved further along the road to democracy than the organisation that came before it. The Forum, and ZUM, both got further towards democracy (real democracy) than those previously. There is a wave effect. Started small, and each succeeding opposition movement goes further towards unseating the one party state than the one before it.

So maybe the next one…

Elections in Zimbabwe came and left so many unanswered questions diffusing victory celebrations for those who won. Every political party engages in elections to win and sometimes the result is not always a favorable one especially when the playing field is biased. Whilst losers lick their wounds and go on soul-searching missions, victors embark on a difficult task of fulfilling election promises. The benefits of winning an election are you doing what you want in your own time even when it harms the nation.

International observers endorsed the recently held election and this has raised questions as to whether the Zimbabwe problem had become a burden for far too long for the regional bodies. At the same civil society in Zimbabwe failed to expose the irregularities in a compelling way to the international community. The blame cannot rest on the shoulders of the civics alone; key political players in the inclusive government had a critical role to play in ensuring, for example, a clean voters roll and the fulfillment of a variety of reforms before engaging in elections. The “participate and protest later” strategy adopted by opposition political parties saw ZANU-PF reigning supreme.

The outcome of the just ended election provides an opportunity to reflect on the role of civil society in Zimbabwe. As calls and accusations of election rigging quickly die a natural death, the new political dispensation offers a great opportunity for success to those who failed in the last election as compared to those won. Of late civil society organizations have been accused of being political appendages to certain political parties. Civil society in Zimbabwe is being criticized for failing to push for a peoples’ agenda. Principles and benchmarks were abandoned during the run up to the July 2013 Harmonized election as some members of civil society became aligned to certain political parties.

At a lively debate dubbed “July 31 Election Outcome: Challenges and prospects for democratization in Zimbabwe” hosted by the Zimbabwe Democracy Institute in Harare panelists from civil society reflected on the just ended election and strategies of moving on as a genuinely people driven movement. Instead of spending time antagonizing over the outcome of the elections civil society was urged to utilize the new space created to regroup, organize and engage the new government in order to reclaim its rightful place in the Zimbabwean political landscape.