A country whose politics makes a tradition of tragic deaths through suspicious automobile accidents can only have very little to claim as an “open society.”

Zimbabwe’s roads after independence are littered with deaths of prominent individuals who everyone knows had become a pain in the ass of the oligarchs. These were individuals expressing their version of the truth as opposed to the “official” line peddled by spin doctors and apologists of the political establishment. The dead men’s crusades would be perfectly in order in any country that is not North Korea.

That this continues to happen long after independence where Africa’s liberation struggle was short-circuited and chaos-riddled by ideological wars defined by the U.S.S.R and the U.S.A and went on to claim anyone from Patrice Lumumba to Amílcar Cabral to Thomas Sankara, to Zimbabwe’s own revolution that ate its own children from Josiah Magama Tongogara to Sydney Malunga points to a political tradition that is inimical to the very ideals the “new democrats” purport to espouse.

In Zimbabwe no accident that claims a prominent politician is an accident at all. It is just one of those things we have come to accept.

What is disturbing is that despite this, it still remains the chosen modus operandi of eliminating perceived opponents.

This cannot be belaboured here, yet the impunity is troubling.

Small wonder that many people here await the day not of healing political wounds but a day of retribution where those fingered in these acts of political assassination will have their testicles squeezed in the people’s angry court.

That Zimbabweans have an “insider” tipping prominent individuals that they are targets of assassination only makes this more disturbing because apparently there is very little or nothing these people can do to avoid what is increasingly their inevitable demise.

It’s only recently that one “powerful” Zanu PF don said of Energy Mutodi’s claim that the don wanted Mutodi killed: “If I wanted him (Mutodi) killed do you think he would still be alive?”

This morning I went to get my national ID so, eventually, I can register to vote, however this is easier said than done. Outside Market Square there are long lines of people, some had been there since 9 o’clock the night before, sleeping on cardboard boxes outside the office – just to get basic documentation!

The actual process only takes about 5 minutes per person; they take a picture, your fingerprints, and ask you to sign some papers, then you are done! Yet you still have to queue the entire day for those few simple processes. It seems an unfair waste of people’s time and energy.

Possibly the hardest is for people trying to get birth certificates. There are dozens of women with new born babies tied to their backs, standing in these horrendously long queues just to get a simple piece of paper for their babies. It is not so bad for families who can support and help each other, but single mothers really have it hard. Opposite me were two mothers, both with tiny babies, they had a friend with them to help, but to sit in that queue, on the dirty benches for hours on end with a child that young is unfair and insulting to the new mothers. If anyone should get privileges, it should be the mothers with their children, who are already suffering from post maternal stress, and need to rest, rather than stand in the cold for the whole day.

Zimbabwe continues to be the destination of choice for refugees fleeing the troubled Great Lakes region, says the UNHCR, and this is because many of the refugees believe Zimbabwe to be a peaceful country where they can easily assimilate.

Refugees from the Great Lakes region remember Zimbabwe from its participation in the second DR Congo war back in the late 1990s.

This came to light during a talk by Ron Mponda, the UNHCR Zimbabwe Senior Legal Advisor to commemorate World Refugee Day in Harare.

There are presently around 7,000 refugees in Zimbabwe, with the majority of them coming from the DRC, while others come from countries such as Burundi, Rwanda and Somalia.

Mponda explained that not all refugees are confined at Tongogara Camp in Chipinge as some can be found in Harare and Bulawayo where they have assimilated and have jobs.

Part of that assimilation has seen some being employed in Ministry of Justice for example where skilled refugees are working as lawyers. Mponda some says are also working in the Ministry of Health as doctors.

Since Zimbabwe got its independence in 1980, thousands of people fleeing civil war in their respective countries have landed here, and it is interesting that Mponda explained that under international law refugees are afforded the same rights as locals such as the right to universal access to primary education.

And indeed out of tribulation comes triumph. Mponda explained that students at the Tongogara Refugee Camp are some of the brightest in the country as shown by their pass rate, and this at a time some government schools are recording abysmal results!

It is sad however that the UNHCR says it continues to receive unaccompanied minors deported from South Africa, and this has become a major highlight of the plight of Zimbabweans living in SA.

It must be an unfathomable decision for anyone to abandon one’s flesh and blood and a minor at that so that the parent can continue their illegal stay in a foreign country.

Yet it does foreground the tough choices some are forced to make, all based on economic survival.

I still find it ironic that the popular refrain for many is that all the toiling humankind does is ultimately for their children, and unaccompanied minors continue being deported?

It’s always tough trying to understand people’s personal circumstances but as Mponda said, being a refugee is not an easy life, and Zimbabwe’s own economic refugees certainly know this only too well.

This year’s refugee commemorations were held under the theme “*1 refugee family without shelter is too many*.”

UNHCR reports that there are 45.2 million refugees worldwide, which is an 18-year high.

In Syria alone for example, the UN says the civil war has produced a staggering 1,5 million, and these are people living under tents and some in the open exposed to the elements.

The UNHCR says “if the number of people fleeing the Syrian conflict continues to increase at such a rate every 10 weeks there will be more 3.5 million Syrian refugees, or 15% of total population of Syria, by the end of the year.”

In Africa, there are “more than one million Somali refugees in the East and Horn of Africa and some 1.36 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Somalia, the country remains at the centre of one of the worst humanitarian crises UNHCR has faced.”

And we only have to recall the treatment the Somalis have received from South Africa and the xenophobic attacks they have endured, never mind all claims that refugees should under international law enjoy all protection from their host country.

A participant in the Mponda talk asked if the UNHCR was looking for the root causes of the refugee crisis in the first place than merely trying to deal with assisting them and it was a telling question about African politics and the quest for power at all costs.

Solving conflict is certainly one area the UN in its 68 years of existence has been found wanting.

Zimbabwe makes a very bad case of state enterprises and parastatals that are in the habit of casually dismissing any financial obligations that accrue to them because of their negligence.

ZESA is a very bad case in point.

An alarming number of cases have arisen where Zimbabweans minding their own business have been left scarred for life after coming into contact with live electricity cables the victims say were very negligently left exposed by ZESA personnel.

A recent case is one of a 10-year old who is said to have been left badly disfigured after being electrocuted by live ZESA cables that had been left exposed.

The young lad who is said to have been an athlete, soccer player and a traditional dancer at school had his left hand amputated after the incident which occurred on October 30, 2011.

He also lost two toes on his left foot and four toes on his right foot.

He is claiming USD60,000 which I still think is paltry considering that he has been maimed for life.

In other highly litigious countries, he could have “easily” claimed millions, but what does Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) say?

“In response, ZETDC pleaded with the court to dismiss the application, arguing there was no link between Zesa cables and its firm. ZETDC is a separate and distinct legal persona; defendant on this basis denies any liability. Any assistance rendered was for an accident involving the defendant and was made on compassionate grounds,” ZETDC said,” according to the news report.

But this not the first such case and it has come to typify how our public enterprises deal with issues of compensation for their brazen negligence.

In early June of this year, it was again reported that a Banket farm worker who was electrocuted by naked ZESA cables in 2010 was still struggling to get her compensation.

The woman who had her left hand amputated and her eyesight affected by the electrocution told a local daily that “although she had approached the power utility seeking $30 000 compensation for her injuries, she had not yet been paid “a single cent”.”

A medical report says about the woman: “Long-term complications are post electrical burns syndrome, which include cataracts, seizures and chronic pain. Left below elbow amputation will result in permanent disability, phantom limb pain.”

And she is yet to get a cent?

In May this year, it was reported that a man who had been electrocuted in Zvishavane had sued ZESA subsidiary Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) for USD80,000 after coming into contact with exposed ZESA cables in 2010.

A news report puts ZETDC’s response this way: “ZETDC, however, hit back on Mavenga’s claims and said it was not negligent in any way since its power lines are constantly maintained. ZETDC further said no report of a broken power line had been made. The Plaintiff (Mavenga) was negligent in failing to keep a proper lookout whilst using a footpath that was close to the power lines,” ZETDC said in its papers.”

Where is the responsible minister to stop all this nonsense?

And then when people boycott paying their bills, ZESA cries foul!

We asked for your feedback on Mayor Masunda saying that the water crisis in Zimbabwe will be alleviated if residents coughed up their dollars on time and paid their bills.

Here is what some of you think:

It’s true, I am already doing that, I make sure every month-end I pay my bills on time.

In my own view the principal running cities and towns should put our health first. What is the use of Government subsidies in our country? If people are not able to pay rates it means all is difficult for residents. Let municipality cut on the rates and put affordable rates, which people can afford, and government intervene through the use of subsidies, and utilizing taxes they are collecting from people. Many residents are suffering from stomach disease due to unclean and unsafe water they are drinking yet our own Mayor talks about water supply as a luxury or a want just like DSTV and cell phone airtime top-up. It is not every resident that subscribes to DSTV. It is his duty as a city Mayor to care for the health of the residents. We support our principals; all we want is them to create better living conditions for the residents and raise up the standard of living of society not for another time, but Now.

It is unfortunate that we may laugh at the Mayor but he is telling the truth. People pay for their cell phones because if you do not pay you cannot phone. If you do not subscribe to DSTV you cannot view any channels. If at all there was, or is a way of doing the same thing with water and other services offered by the City of Harare I do not think we wouldn’t have anyone failing to pay for services rendered. However, the next thing would be to find a way to stop pilferage of funds because with everyone paying it means thousands (if not millions) of dollars are up for grabs.

This is a lame excuse – at least they should demonstrate their commitment by cutting down on some of their expenditures. City council fathers are well known for giving themselves hefty salaries and allowances. We have been hearing that same story for many years. If they can account for all the payments being done this can make a difference.

The Mayor was simply being Dramatic in expressing a very important point that affects everyone and people should not read too much into it and get the sense that until they start getting their priorities right, clean and regular water supplies remain a pipe dream. Being dramatic is in fact a mark of good leadership. The Mayor comes across to me saying this is a problem, which affects the public and should therefore involve the public in its solution. Simple.  So the people’s Mayor is simply putting the public problem and its public solution in perspective. Thumbs up.

If that is the case we are guaranteed of never seeing an end to these water problems. Ratepayers do not pay because there is no service to pay for NOT because they do not want water. Right now there is no guarantee that water will flow in your tap if you settle your bills, so why bother?

Source: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/full-page-ad-for-turkish-democracy-in-action