A Herald editorial in the run-up to the 1990 Zimbabwean elections is pretty telling when the 2012 buzz is that 88-year old President Mugabe (who is 5 years younger than Nelson Mandela) will again fight it out in the coming polls. In the Herald of 14 March 1990, the editorial titled “Punishing Campaign for a man of action,” wrote that: “at 66 and assured of victory in the…general and presidential election one would have expected President Mugabe to slow down a little and spare a thought for his personal health.” Calling him a “sober workaholic whose track record is as impressive as that of the party itself,” the editorial continued: “only the dim-witted would expect anyone to effectively challenge Cde Mugabe.”

And that my friend was in 1990. Go figure.

Who controls revenues from Marange diamonds?

A case study of Mbada and Anjin companies by Global Witness.

This paper reveals the control exercised by the Zimbabwe security sector over Anjin and the transfer of 25% of Mbada, a valuable diamond mining company, to a firm based in series of tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions with unidentified beneficial owners. The secrecy surrounding the real owners of Mbada has a number of potential consequences, including a possible loss of tax revenues, and the potential opportunity for officials or military figures to personally benefit from a state asset. The partial control of Anjin by the military and police creates opportunities for off budget funding of an unreformed and partisan security sector.

You can read the case study on the Kubatana web site

Interesting that the much talked about Marange diamonds are creating tens of thousands of jobs in India, at least according to international media reports which have been picked up locally. According to these reports, up to USD1,5 billion worth of Marange diamonds will make their way to India this year alone. Remembering of course that media reports remain the primary source of “the truth” for millions under the sun, the incredibility thereof notwithstanding. And you have to go “wow”, remembering that this national money is headed to one country when bogus Dr. Mpofu has said – apparently much to the consternation of the fiscus point man Biti – that the Marange godsend will “easily” pour into the national purse USD2 billion annually. Ehe. With these Indian reports claiming USD1,5 billion, one obviously has to question where the bad doctor gets his civil-servants-pleasing numbers when it is apparent the country (and of course the civil servants) stands to get stupendous returns to what Zanu PF is claiming as its birthright: much love to compatriots who are neither MDC-T nor MDC-99! Can’t a country get honest people who will share the resources with the ordinary man? I ask this deliberately perhaps as that Panglossian trait that, despite all pointers to the contrary, you would still expect the best from mortal men who themselves expect the best from everyone else but still continue to controvert those very same expectations! Talk about the painful contradictions of contemporary Zimbabwe. Yet the Indian reports bring bad vibes when you recall that Zanu PF has only seen benefits accruing from the mining sector as deriving merely from the community share ownership when the bigger picture demands employment creation proper as the Indians. “We believe that the flow of Zimbabwe diamonds will create over 60,000 jobs,” a diamond buff in India swooned. Yeah, Zimbabwe has over 80 percent unemployment with swarms of korokozas and one dead ZBC News at 8 expert caught with a Lebanese trying to smuggle the “tsotsi khiphi daimani”  (thief, hand over the diamond) helping themselves to the wealth that has stomped even the granddad of liberation politics.

At 9.50 this morning I was stopped at a police roadblock just before the service station near Harare International Airport. The roadblock was manned by three police persons, two women and one man. The male police officer was in visible possession of a ticket book. When I pulled over, the police officer asked me for my driver’s license, which I gave him. He then inspected my car and demanded that I pay a spot fine of $20 for failing to display a third license plate on my car.

I’ve watched several episodes of Dr. Phil when he counsels people with anger problems. He always asks the person involved to identify their anger trigger. I don’t think I have an anger problem, but I’ve discovered that at police roadblocks I have a trigger. It’s when the officers threaten to impound my car, or arrest me because I have stated that I do not have the fine amount demanded and have politely asked for a ticket. I have yet to meet a traffic policeman who does not issue these threats. And I’ve been detained at many roadblocks. My trigger is that the ticket is a last resort for the police, when it should have been the first. What makes me even angrier is when upon learning that I don’t have cash on me, the officer arrogantly informs me that I do in fact have a boyfriend/husband/relative/ or other who can and will bring the money necessary. ‘Make a call’ he says. As though he himself has spoken to that mysterious other person and knows they will come running to pay him the fine money.

I used to yell at police officers that they were not privy to the affairs of my household and should not presume to know so. I used to tell them that they had no right to demand immediate payment, and that in fact it was illegal. I used to demand the officer’s force number for my records, whereupon they would leave me, I assume, to calm down a bit. I used to yell so much, that I, a light-brown skinned woman would get very pink in the face from pure, unadulterated rage.

I’ve stopped yelling. I’m polite but firm. I can keep calm now because I already know the steps in the dance. He will demand money; I’ll ask for a ticket.  He will threaten me and then detain me hoping that I’ll be in enough of a hurry to be coerced into paying. It’s a tactic that I’m certain must work in a busy Zimbabwe. I will not be forced into paying a fine when a police officer is unwilling to issue a ticket. Like George W Bush, I’ve declared my own ‘war on terror’.

One of the main reasons why Hitler lost to Stalin on the Eastern Front in World War Two was because of the German Army’s poor supply lines. This was then exploited by the Russians who used a scorched earth policy most effectively against the Germans. My war is primarily psychological, but from this example it’s obvious that supplies are integral to success. Therefore, as Sun Tzu advises, I shall secure my supplies in case of extended siege. I’m creating a roadblock kit to keep in my car. It will include water, because sitting in Zimbabwe in summer in a parked car is like choosing to live in an oven; chocolate for that instant sugar hit that will make everything a little better (maintaining morale is crucial to any war); nuts for long lasting energy to survive the roadblock; a book to pass the time; and enough data and battery on my phone to document these acts of terrorism.

At 4pm I got this SMS from a co-worker. How could I refuse?

Combi from belvedere delayd by police n its drizzling in town. May I report back t work tmoro.

Some “respected” news agencies still refer to Zanu PF as Zimbabwe’s ruling party. Another did call Mugabe the “Zimbabwean tyrant”! Talk about accuracy issues in the media!!!