Aids Free World has released their report Electing to rape: Sexual terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe. Based on interviews with 72 survivors and witnesses, and documentation of 380 rapes, the report describes the deliberate, systematic use of rape as a campaign tactic by Zanu PF.

According to their press release:

The testimony demonstrates that the rape campaign waged by ZANU-PF in Zimbabwe was both widespread and systematic, with recurring patterns throughout that cannot be coincidental. For example, the striking similarity of rhetoric about MDC political activity made before and during the violence; the uniform physical and emotional brutality of the rapes; the specific types of beatings and weapons on common parts of the body; the modes of detention and locations of the rapes; the circumstances and concurrent crimes as part of the broader attacks; and the consistent refusal of police to investigate and refer these cases for prosecution, taken together, demonstrate a systematic, organized campaign.

Read more here

Over dinner on the weekend, the conversation turned to how different this year has felt from the past few.

Of course, the difference is tinged with a mixture of relief and frustration. Economically, the relief of stable (even if high) prices, and goods (even when unaffordable) on the shelves has made the basic day-to-day requirements of getting by more predictable – but at the same time has made for a more expensive – and therefore even more tenuous – existence for many.

Politically, the negotiated settlement has left Zimbabweans increasingly outside a decision-making process that is run by politicians for their own interests. A recent report by the Research and Advocacy Unit condemned the constitution making process as “make believe politics,” in which the citizenry is increasingly left out. People spoke of an unfortunate fatigue with and disengagement from politics.

We spoke a bit about what “real change” would look like for each of us, a bit like the “what would you like in a new Zimbabwe” idea. One person spoke up immediately, and adamantly, against presidential portraits. For him, a new Zimbabwe would be one in which people took the portraits of Mugabe off their walls, and never put them back. He recalled being in China some 10 years ago, and seeing Mao’s official portrait redone as a table mat – simply, subtly and tastefully captioned with the words “I didn’t change. But China is changing.” He recalled his surprise at seeing something so controversial so openly displayed. Mugabe – and the rest of our politicians – might not be changing. But Zimbabwe is changing.

Poetic Journey is the story of Zimbabwe told through poetry and mbira music. A young man refuses to celebrate the GNU because he can’t afford electricity, water and a host of other necessities. He realises that whilst he lives in poverty; the leadership is living in the lap of luxury.

The play was scheduled to premiere on the 25th of November and run from 26-27 November @ Amakhosi Theatre Upstairs.

The premier went very well on the 25th, with the audience interacting with the writer/director  and the cast after the show.

Trouble began after the performance on the 26th. After the show we walked into town; two members of the cast and I. We went our separate ways when we got into town. I decided to go into one of the smaller supermarkets along Leopold Takawira Avenue. As I was standing by the fridges, a guy in his late thirties approached me and asked a seemingly innocent question about the price of yoghurt in US dollars.

After buying what I wanted I walked to 6th Avenue to look for transport. The guy I had met in the supermakert was there and I immediately bacame suspicious and got into the nearest combi. He got in as well and sat next to me.

Speaking in shona,  he said, “you getting too clever”, and he left.

The next morning I received a lot phone calls from people who were saying they had been “advised” not to attend my show.

On the 27th I met the cast for our final show at Amakhosi. Two guys showed up around 6.30 pm. They pulled me asside and said my show wasn’t in the spirit of the GNU and I needed to stop the nonsense or else. They refused to identify themselves, but I recognised one as a police officer based at Queenspark.

I wanted the show to go on since it had not been officially BANNED but the cast members except one, were too scared to perform.

We had to turn people away and close the show.

In recent weeks, there has been a lot of muttering on the streets about the US $152,000 Mercedes Benz recently acquired by Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda.

Now, it turns out, the City of Harare has also bought two Prados, valued at as much as US $190,000 together.

According to a statement from the Combined Harare Residents Association, the money spent on these three vehicles would be enough “to procure water treatment chemicals that can supply the entire city of Harare with clean water for almost half a year.”

We asked our SMS subscribers what they thought about the Mayoral Benz. We received over 50 replies from across Zimbabwe. A few subscribers were supportive of the new vehicle, but overall the responses were quite condemning. We share some of these responses below:

A pity he already forgets we have no water. Our robots don’t work. Our roads are bad. Shame on him.

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You’re just jealous. He deserves it.

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That’s shit. These high profile people are not concerned about the masses.

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Why r we not surprised! They will never change there bad habits, Never!

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This is madness and lack of direction when City is losing lot of treated water

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It simply confirms that Zanu Pf and the MDC are one and the same. They are all after riches and nothing else. We are alone in the struggle against poverty!

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Residence should boycott paying rates and water bills till the services improves

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Water first be4 luxuries

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It is very bad. People in Kuwadzana are taking ten hours in a queue to fetch water from a borehole.

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Lets all refuse to pay for bills charged by parastatals and local authorities coz the money is going to pay for luxuries and hefty salaries and no services.

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This is quite pathetic. How cum that they use such an amt for nothing yet they sey the gvt is bankrupt & fail to pay civil servants & leave our cities in a poor state.

We got this report yesterday from a subscriber in Harare. If you have witnessed similar harassment, or know others who have, please email info [at] kubatana [dot] net.

This afternoon at about 2.30pm I saw vendors scattering in all directions dropping their vegetables and running for their lives.  The scene was just off 7th Avenue in Harare next to Greenwood Park.  All but one vendor got away.  I pulled up next to the plain clothes men who called themselves “policemen” and asked them what they thought they were doing handcuffing this obviously terrified young man still holding a packet of carrots. He knows his fate. He will be taken to the Police station where they will beat the hell out of him.

We have 90% unemployment and now the police (?) militia (?) are hell bent on depriving people from earning an honest living.

The “police” told me it had nothing to do with me and that “according to the Kariba Draft constitution no one is allowed to sell anything without a licence”.  They were rude, arrogant and threatening and typical of what we in Zimbabwe have now come to expect from the so called “law makers”.

I mean, hello.  It’s okay for state agents and the so called law enforcers to overtly steal the country’s diamond wealth, loot the reserve bank, steal farms and farm equipment, but it’s illegal to attempt to make an honest living vending vegetables.  We are right back into the 2005 Operation Murambastvina.  Note the timing.

This is the beginning of what Zanu PF will no doubt dub “Operation Accept the Kariba Draft” – and it will be done in the only way that Zanu PF know how, through violence, torture and abuse.

Perhaps we need to counteract it with VOZU – Vendors of Zimbabwe Unite!  Stand up for your rights, this is your last chance!

The First All-Stakeholders’ Conference for Zimbabwe’s new Constitution is set to begin later this week. Zanu PF has been asking that the conference be delayed, but the Parliamentary Select Committee insists it will go on as planned.

A lot of the debate about the new Constitution has revolved around the controversial Kariba Draft, and the question of how participatory the Constitution-making process will be. The National Constitutional Assembly has withdrawn from the process, insisting that the creation of a new Constitution needs to be people-driven, not Parliament-driven. They have also prepared a document highlighting the shortcomings of the Kariba Draft Constitution.

Less publicised has been the efforts of Zimbabwe’s marginalised communities to make sure their concerns are addressed and their human rights guaranteed in the country’s new Constitution. For example, a document by the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) outlines the reasons why sexual orientation should be included among the freedoms guaranteed in Zimbabwe’s new Constitution.

This document does not only argue for greater Constitutional protection for the rights of gays and lesbians. It also makes important points about a democracy’s need to protect the inalienable and inherent rights of all minorities, including the right to privacy and equality.

Fundamental human rights, existing by virtue of the holder’s very humanity, cannot be bought or negotiated, and cannot be reduced to a mere privilege dependant on State beneficence. As they derive from attributes of the human personality they exist perpetually and universally for all people and for all nations regardless of historical, cultural, ideological, economic or other differences.

I believe the more inclusive, participatory, and people-driven Zimbabwe’s Constitution-making process is, the stronger the document which comes out of it will be. This means not only including representation of a range of minorities at the All-Stakeholders’ Conference, but also protecting their rights in the document which is developed – regardless of the majority opinion about the “worth” of a community or the “morality” of their behaviour.