From LegalBrief:

Former Constitutional Court Judge Richard Goldstone says that levelling war crimes charges against Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe would not be possible.

According to a report on the iAfrica.com site, Goldstone said while there were serious reports about crimes against minority groups in Zimbabwe during Mugabe’s reign in the late 1980s and most of the 1990s, they fell outside the ambit of the International Crimes Court. ‘Firstly, the court has no jurisdiction on anything that happened prior to 1 July 2002. Secondly, Zimbabwe is not a member of the court and therefore the court has no jurisdiction over any war crimes committed in Zimbabwe,’ said Goldstone.

Full report on the iAfrica.com site

Having a coffee with a friend of mine today she said that not much has changed under the Unity Government in Zimbabwe. We used to have Zimbabwe dollar repression, now its US dollar repression she mused. Sure the shops may be full but the prices are jaw dropping. And if we measure our freedom against packed shelves we’ve got many years of dicktatorship ahead of us.

According to the Herald of the Friday, 1 October 2010, President Mugabe clarified a position that people have for long been struggling to understand. He made it clear that the idea of the National Hero’s Acre has every link to the liberation war and nowhere else.

Quoting the herald, the president said,

“…Nharaunda ino… inharaunda yevanenge vakaone-kwa kuti ava ndivo vakaisvogonesesa pahu-tungamiriri hwavo, pabasa ravo reChimurenga, rekurwira nyika. Saka inharaunda yevarwi veChimurenga….Haisi nharaunda yevanhu vanongonzi vatsvene. Vakawanda vatsvene, vakawandisisa vanobatsira vanhu . . . Asi pano patiri panodiwa veChimurenga saka kana tava kuda vatsvene vamwe vanogona zvakatikuti, tada magamba orudzi urworwo totsvagawo rimwe gomo ndipo potoisawo vatsvene verudzi irworwo. Pano ndepevemutupo weChimurenga ndozvatakaitira nzvimbo ino.”

Translated, the above quotation means,

“This place is a place of those that will have been proved to have done well in their leadership during the liberation struggle, so it is a place for the freedom fighters. This is not a place of any other people, there are so many good people who help others…But on this place we need people of the Liberation struggle, so if we want any other forms of heroes we have to choose another hill to lay such people. This place is for those of the Chimurenga totem.”

Over the past thirty years, this clarification was only enshrined in the closed quarters of the politburo, which deliberates on who to call a hero. This might mean that there are several day-to-day words and questions, at the political front whose definitions and answers are yet to be made public. Such words might include: ·    Who should be the president of the country? ·    Who should contribute to the constitution making process? ·    Who should get the largest share of land or part of the national cake?

Just as has been the case with that term “hero”, people attach some general meanings yet events position these questions in some predictable contexts, and no public clarification has been or will ever be issued.

It is therefore essential for political players and the public to be aware that some meanings that we reluctantly attach to some words and phrases in the political sphere are not necessarily the same as ones held by those in power.

I recently attended a press conference held in Grahamstown in which the topic was the proposed Protection of Information Bill and Media tribunal. The question being addressed “is  the media under siege?” There was a panel made up of various authorities including a member of the ANC  regional executive Mabhuti Matyunza.

Many people perceive that the ANC is putting a “squeeze on the media” and the introduction of the Protection of Information Bill would enable the government to prevent corruption from being exposed.

One of the panellists convincingly argued that that the things we want to keep secret are those things we are ashamed of, not the things we are proud of. He further argued that the government are in fact our employees. They are spending our money; they are elected by us to represent us. “I hope you like your ministers cars coz you pay for them!”

Many of the panellists agreed that the Protection of Information Bill would be taking South Africa back to the apartheid era. I completely agree with this argument as the Promotion of Information Act that was implemented post apartheid was put in place to prevent government from being corrupt. It was put in place in order to prevent and expose corruption. With the introduction of this Bill it will become almost impossible to expose corruption.

Another panellist commented that what you need for a “Healthy Public Sphere” is an opinionated society. We see the importance of this when we look at Zimbabwe where many ministers are able to get away with corruption because there is no freedom of expression. Does South Africa want to head down the same road as Zimbabwe where they will live under the complete control of government?

I was shocked at the attitudes of the ANC in response to the outcry against the proposed Protection Of Information Bill. President Jacob Zuma said something along the lines of we are the people who brought media freedom to this country you cannot tell us about media freedom. This statement sounds remarkably similar to the ideology Mugabe expresses when he argues that ZANU-PF liberated Zimbabwe and therefore they can do as they wish. Mabhuti Mtyunza the ANC regional executive seemed to avoid the issue being discussed and continued with his own agenda of how the ANC has done so much for the country. He argued that the media is “denting” and “destroying the country” and “working for the opposition” and as a result needs to be “monitored and guided”.

Does South Africa not realise that the platform of democracy is freedom of the press and freedom of expression. South Africa seems to have failed to learn from Zimbabwe’s mistakes, once there is no freedom of press corruption thrives and ministers are able to exploit resources as well as people.

Landlords, I will be most reliable when it comes to paying rent. I promise to pay rentals on or before the 26th of every month. I am looking for a one/two bed flat in the avenues and would want to pay $250-$300. So please just text me I will call you back if you have one. I will be very reliable and smart and will make sure your flat is kept nicely. Also note that my family is too small it’s just me and my beautiful, smart wife.

Dips please help me, Eddie.

No joke, the above is an advert that appeared on Dipleague Vol 27, Issue 123 of yesterday. For those who are not on it or do not know it, it is an email based community platform, originally tailored for those in the ‘Diplomatic’ and NGO community to post adverts for goods and services offered or requested, among other things.

When I saw the advert above, I couldn’t control my laughter for at least 2 minutes. That’s because I have been at that level of desperation where you’ll say anything, including the ridiculous – to make your case stand out among the throngs of other desperate home seekers mushrooming in Zimbabwe’s capital. After moving into a beautiful flat in April this year, I was gutted when a few weeks later I discovered that the ceiling has cracks that frequently leak water onto my floor and property from the flat above. It is such a nightmare because both my neighbor upstairs and absentee landlord does not seem to give a rat’s ass about it.

I found Eddie’s email particularly fascinating because it symbolizes the desperation of the condition of those of us who are home seeking, are of no fixed abode and not yet at a stage of affording one’s own property. Trying to capture the sympathy of prospective landlords is the one thing we all have in common and many a times, I have come across things like: young married couple with no children, looking for accommodation…or, mature white lady seeks flat to rent in town or Avondale, or young single man working for NGO seeking flat.

It is that bad, and what it means is that this has astronomically pushed up rentals, which is likely to worsen the urban accommodation crisis. What also contributes significantly to the problem is that today’s young working class prefer to live in areas closer to the central business district for the convenience they offer in terms of transport and availability of utilities like water and electricity.

Although the dollarized economy has created a new caliber of noveau riche, this is also ironically a time when the young middle and working class earn the greenback but cannot build homes for themselves because just getting a stand (and in the right area) is next to impossible; the banks simply aren’t up to lending (especially without collateral outside one’s salary) or it is just too expensive to build. The only other option is to rent and this has ultimately left tenants at the mercy of landlords.

Those who have been fortunate enough to own property at a very young age I guess will just never know what it feels like to live a nomadic life.

Being among this working class, I have constantly found myself thinking about the future and wondering if, like my parents, I will ever own a place of my own. Seeking to understand what is different now from the time they were young and home seeking too reveals that if anything, they earned far less than what we earn today. I realize now that it was about systems that worked; banks that lent, with low interest rates and gave you many years to pay back and most importantly – a government preoccupied with and committed to alleviating the housing problems faced by its citizens. That is what changed.

Following on from the discussion of the Minsitry of Education’s treatment of pregnant school goers, we sent our SMS subscribers the following message:

Kubatana! Should pregnant schoolgirls be excluded from school or supported to return? Email your views to Min of Ed – moesaczw [at] gmail [dot] com and cc us info [at] kubatana [dot] net

We wondered if people would support the return to stricter measures towards pregnant schoolgirls, or if they would have preferred that the Ministry kept to its August policy.

We received over 50 responses via email and SMS, across a range of opinions from punitive to supportive, with some advocating for special counselling to help young parents adjust to their new lifestyle and responsibilities.

We share their responses below:

• As a mother I feel that pregnant schoolgirls should be supported to return to school and complete their education, we are human and all make mistakes in life and learn from that.  We must remember our children are the future and education is very important. In past cases when a schoolgirl was impregnated by a schoolboy he was allowed to continue with his education while the schoolgirl was not – not fair – as it takes two – he too should have been excluded from school with her. When a single working man/married man/sugar daddy impregnates a schoolgirl he should be made through the courts to pay for the education of the schoolgirl plus maintain the child until it attains the age of 18 years.
• They should be supported and counselled.
• Expelling pregnant schoolgirls is not a wise solution. They need REAL counseling & send back to school. If one puts off fire with fire, ashes will be the remains. After our independence, pregnant mothers & girls went back to school & some of them are now professionals in various fields. Yes the schoolgirl is wrong by indulging in sex, but we can’t correct wrong with wrong.
• Should not be excluded from school but supported to return after matenity leave.
• I think pregnant schoolgirl must be excluded becoz once we consider them its like we are promoting sexual plesure.
• Ministry of Education should not exclude them because if they do so we promote abortion and child dumping.
• They should be suppoted to return to maintain the high literacy we have. If you educate a woman you educate the whole world.
• They shld b supported to return.
• She must go back to schöol
• Yes they must return to school for the benefit of their child’s future
• i write concerning school girls who should continue with school cause that is the only way they can have a better life with the siblings or else it will be worse if they drop out of school cause most these girls will have no one to look after them unless if you want to introduce what is in South Africa were the governement keeps the children until they are mature enough to look after themselves so my own option is that they should go back to school since it is a right for every child to have basic education
• Pregnant schoolgirls should not be seen even near schools because once they are allowed to attend school they will spoil other school children.The only good thing they should be given second chance after removing the child from breast feeding.
• pregnant school girls should not be allowed to go back to school ,by doing so it sends wrong message to other girls , and it will be difficult for them to be displined and whats going to happen when her due date concides with o or a level exams
• Why should we exclude pregnant girls? the gvmnt must prosecute boys who did this to girls because most the girls are being forced sex by man. Also to add on that if she continue with school may be she gonna pass the examinations and might get a better job to care of the child. Therefore to exclude pregnant girls from school does not pay good living to these girls.
• Pregnant students shloud be expelled
• They must be supported, continue with schoolwork in order to support their offspring as well as getting better employment hence being pregnant doesn’t mean the end of life.
• I   think pregnant school girls  should be excluded from school and return after she has deliver, if the boy who is responsible for the pregnant is still at school he should also be excluded until his girl has deliver, it will be fair that way
• Schoolgirls must be given  their right to learn if need arises after giving brith
• They must be supported to return.
• Pregnant skul girls shld be allowed 2 continue with their education.n.b, 2 educate a woman is educating the whle nation bt a man only one persn
• Must get support to complete school and again the gvt must have laws to protect them and their rights
• No!pregnant girls should not go back to school. the reason is that,”they wil influence other girls to get through such bad roles.”
• Definately be excluded from school.
• No they must not be allowed to school when pregnant
• School girl kana achinge ane pregnant ngaadzingwe pachikoro ipapo  kwete kuti ngaadzokere kuchikoro apo ndaramba zvachose
• They should be given second chance for their future back to school
• Pregnant school girls must return to school after giving birth
• Supported to return
• Support them
• They should return after giving birth
• They should be expelled if not that will be encouraging others and big daddies in particular
• They shouldn’t be excluded from school, but legal measures be upon the one who impregnated her.
• Pregnant schoolgirls must permited to cameback
• They should join adult shools because they are adults
• Shld be back to school after delivering sumtimes they are cheated shld attend night school
• Yes pregnant school girls should be supported to finish school not to be expelled from school because education is for all.
• No they shld be given another chance
• They should be excluded from school because their line of thought, social responsibilities will now be diffent from those not pregnant. They must attend adult classes.
• They must do night school because they can spoil other girls
• Pregnant Girls shldnt be allowed back to sch coz that wil promote more pregnancies.
• Pregnant students shloud be expelled
• Pregnart schoolgrils must return to school
• Shld supported to return cz every one how wants to lean has got the right.
• The pregnant scholars  should be supported to return  to school , but we should educate ,control and monitor  their behaviour thoroughry  so that they can have a better life.
• Yes.But night schooll 4 if we pour a cup of urine in a drum full of milk all milk is dirty.I know galz early mature & easily traped by visibl things.Falling is not wrong need counselling rather than 2 abort.
• Pregnant girls shd be xcluded frm sch as wel as the one responsible bcoz skools are not maternity hospitals,educ first bfo parenthood.
• No the pregnant school children should not be expelled from school because their are young and innocent also their are beings the same we also make mistakes
• Schoolgirls who are  pregnat should  exculded  from school.
• Supported 2 return
• children should be given their right to education including pregnant girls
• I think the girls should be allowed to return to school, but only after delivery, and the person responsible should also be made to leave, if its a teacher, he should be banned from teaching forever.
• They should be counselled and supported to go back to school after delivery
• The right thing is to support preg sch girls to come back to sch. They need to go thru counselling and rehabilitation becoz heavy psychological trauma in the process. She’s now a mother learning with girls. Will she swallow this easily? There is need for family counselling in order for parents concerned to accept this circumstance. The sch/mates. What will be their reaction? Isolation(social bulling) is most probable. It is easy to say lets support the girl back but are we aware of what it takes. It’s high time the gvt has to employ sch chaplains and counsellors at each sch. Otherwise nyadzi dzinokunda rufu. The girl will not want to come back in the face of all maner of support. Do we force her? I think prevention is cheaper than reconstruction of a damaged personality of such girls.