Petty crime in South Africa is on the rise. People are constantly being pick pocketed and mugged. The situation is getting ludicrous. A couple of months ago a Rhodes student was mugged at knife-point for a packet of chips. The situation was almost too ridiculous to take seriously and one had to question the desperation of the mugger.

Recently a close friend of mine who is currently studying at the University of Cape Town was mugged while walking home from an exam in the afternoon. She noticed two men walking towards her and told herself … “Zi walk with a purpose, walk with a purpose.” The two men cornered her and demanded she hand over her wallet. A smile slid slyly across her face as she reached into her bag and without reluctance handed her wallet over. The two men opened the wallet to find a measly five rand coin. Mystified the men handed back her wallet in disgust and disbelief.

Bewildered by the situation the two men instructed her to hand over her cell phone. Reaching once again into her bag, she now really had to practice some self-control and contain her laughter. The two stared excitedly awaiting the latest black berry or snazzy cell, but instead she whipped out a “brick Nokia, no colour screen”. “I was laughing in my heart,” she said as she pulled it out. The two muggers stared in utter disbelief and began to laugh hysterically as they chucked the brick back.

To make the situation even more hysterical they then proceeded to reprimand her for walking alone in dodgy areas. “Really can you believe the cheek to mug me and then to be too fussy to take any of my stuff?”

Clearly muggers can be choosers.

I stumbled upon the information that Oliver Mtukudzi is the highest selling artist in Southern Africa. I knew he is well respected the world over, but the highest selling? It made sense; the man is a musical genius.

I remember when I was in South Africa a few years back I noticed that all the good music stores had a whole shelf of Oliver Mtukudzi music and his CDs were much more expensive than those of say Hugh Masekela. Oliver Mtukudzi sings entirely in Shona. That means the majority of his fans do not understand him, at least on a lyrical level. His musical arrangements are so brilliant; I would love instrumentals of his if he released an instrumental album.

But his genius is in his lyrics:

mhiripiri ine munakiro wayo/kana sugar inemanakiro ayo/munyu une manakiro awo/kuvava kuvava hayo mhiripiri, inga ndomanakiro ayo/kutapira kutapira hayo sugar inga ndomasikirwo ayo/kuvavira kuvavira hawo munyu nokuti manakiro  awo…mukurarama katifanani/kana chimiro hachifanani/kana mhuka dzesango hadzifanani/ndomasikirwo acho/saka tisashorane mukurarama/tisasekana mukurarama/tinzwisisane mukurarama/

Roughly translated the Shona lyrics are: chilies are delicious in their own way/sugar is delicious in its own way/salt is delicious in its own way/chilies are hot and they are delicious that way/sugar is sweet and it’s delicious that way/salt is delicious in its own way…in life we are not the same/we are not the same in build/even wild animals are different/ that’s the way they were created/so let’s not look down upon each other in life/let’s not laugh at each other/let’s live in harmony together…

It’s a song that speaks directly to Zimbabweans; we are highly intolerant of each other’s divergent views, opinions and differences along tribal lines, political lines and so on. We have taken on the bad habits of our leaders who go to extreme lengths to eliminate political opponents and this has led to bloody elections all the time. It’s a vicious cycle that will continue long after we have gotten rid of the current leadership.

There is another song of Mtukudzi’s that has got a message along the same lines:

Buda pachena munun’una vagoziva zvaunofunga/ asika wochinzwawo zvavanofunga/kubudirana pachena muzukuru kuteera nekuteera/ naivo vachanzwawo/torawo mukana wokuteera zvinotaurawo vamwe/ worega kuropodza/ kuropodza zvisina maturo / chinonzi hurukuro/ kutaura tichinzwana/ votaura iwe uchiteerera/wotaurawo ivo vachiteerera…

… Come out young brother so we can know what you think/but also listen to what they think/being clear with each other is listening and listening/they will hear you/take time to listen to what others say/ stop rumbling on and on/ rumbling on senselessly/conversation is understanding each other/others talk while you listen/you talk and others listen…

One of our biggest weaknesses is talking down to people and not giving a damn about what they have to say. When was the last time your local MP listened to what you had to say? When was the last the time the people of Zimbabwe openly criticised the president without everyone in the vicinity scurrying for cover and fearing for the speaker’s life?

Oliver Mtukudzi’s songs are so full of meaning and I have enjoyed them for decades; ever since I was a little boy. Songs like Nhava talk of the Diaspora in a very enlightening manner. Songs like Bindu are just brilliant! Those who did not grow up listening to Tuku, as he is affectionately known, think he got onto the music scene in 1998 with the release of the highly successful album Tuku Music, but the man has been around. Remember Mbombela? Remember the soundtrack to the Movie Neria? I was born in the Ghetto, my mum in the Ghetto, my heart in the Ghetto, so you can call me the Ghetto boy…

According to Julius Malema being poor means not being able to own means of production. He made these comments in an interview on SABC after a public outcry over the ANC Youth League President’s 16 million rand house he is building in Sandton, South Africa. Among Malema’s properties in South Africa includes a mansion in Limpopo province and he drives C63 Mercedes-Benz AMG. Not so bad for a poor man! Malema claims he has acquired these assets using his monthly salary from the ANC. And he is a representative of the poor people?

According to the Oxford dictionary poor means “lacking sufficient money to live at a standard considered comfortable or normal in a society” … so one wonders whether Julius’s society consider him to be poor with this kind of a lavish lifestyle. If Malema’s definition of poor is true then, for South Africans, what it means is that Mzansi has poor rich people living in mansions.

After the SADC Summit in South Africa this week, the media carried differing interpretations of the results of the meeting. Reports were seen to concentrate more on which party proved best, who got embarrassed, or whom the SADC team least liked. Analysts however, have said that the ordinary Zimbabwean emerged the winner from the recent SADC Summit. Read the story here

Helen Zille the leader of the DA in South Africa believes that uprisings are no longer necessary. She says that there is more power in the vote! An excerpt of the speech reads: “One day, May 18 will be regarded as a turning point for our democracy. It will be seen as the day that South Africa started to move beyond race, the day our democracy progressed to the next level,” said Zille at Frischgewaagd in the North West.

She said she chose Frischgewaagd to celebrate Youth Day because it was the first ward with no white voters where the DA won in the recent local government elections. “We are celebrating June 16 here because this election result represents a watershed, not only for the DA or for Frischgewaagd, or even the North West – but for South Africa,” she said.

“Because we now live in a constitutional democracy, we do not need uprisings to bring change. We all have the power of the vote. And you, here in this far corner of this province, have used your power to bring the change you want to see.”

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I loved every single one of them – the beautiful series of TV ads from South Africa’s Independent Electoral Commission.  Each one was crafted to gently nudge citizens to register for and vote in the recently held municipal elections.  “Love your South Africa” was the poignant payoff line that summarised the advertisements’ intent.  I must admit, I felt quite moved to take-part in their elections myself.

Can you imagine if our own Zimbabwe Electoral Commission undertook a similar TV ad-campaign for voter mobilisation?  That would be something!  I know its wishful thinking.  There’s no money to conduct elections this year, let alone to design slick adverts.  And with nothing independent in the name or operations of the ZEC, having a non-partisan campaign is doubtful.

Nonetheless, one can dream.

They could start by showing black and white footage of people in long, winding queues.  Then the voice over would say “Lest we ever forget” as the ad would continue to show Zimbabweans patiently waiting to exercise their right to access cash, bread and anything that wasn’t readily available at the time.

“The fight for our democratic rights was hard,” the voice over would add before a melancholy tune begins playing.  Images would be run of women being beaten, battered and bruised political activists, maimed villagers and the lifeless bodies of once-promising youths.  I am certain we wouldn’t have to search far for such material.  There was more than enough violence perpetrated in the period 2006-2011.

Then the music would pick up pace and become a happy melody.  The voiceover would announce, “But that fight is over.  The people of Zimbabwe won.”  This would be accompanied by pictures showing the wealth gained from the struggle; fallow farms and derelict factories.  To emphasise the point, a snippet of an interview with a young man would be shown where he would enthuse how wonderful the fruits of our democracy are. “Currently I’m unemployed … because of illegal sanctions,” he quickly adds.  “But my tomorrow looks bright, thanks to the sacrifices of those who have gone before me.”

The pictures of some of the country’s most prominent independence-struggle icons would be displayed, concluding with that of the President in all his boisterous self.  Cue the voice over: “We fought hard to be where we are today.  Let’s ensure that this is the only future we’ll ever have.”

The background music would reach its crescendo, the screen would cut to a shot of the ZEC logo and the voice over would conclude:  “Make your mark and vote in the 2011 General Elections.  Your life depends on it!”