Another Christmas has arrived and I’m compelled to reflect on how the past decade of political and economic meltdown has impacted on Zimbabweans. As I look to the future its had to predict what the future holds for us .The continued political uncertainty in the country coupled with the clouded socio~political environment in South Africa has created increasing insecurities amongst Zimbabwean immigrants. Although I may risk sounding overly pessimistic,but the facts at hand do validate this argument.

However, most Zimbabweans will take time out from their misery and will be in a nostalgic festive mood during this christmas period. As I write this thousands of my country men and women are embarking on their traditional journey from SA to Zimbabwe to celebrate Christmas. This phenomenon is an iconic display of Zimbabweans ability to look past present difficulties and have another merry Christmas. All this happens despite decade long economic and social reversals which have left our country in the depths of mediocrity in all economic indicators. Our once proud nation is now a subject of international ridicule and alienated from the world economy.

Thus, do we have any real cause to celebrate as a country and people?What has become of our sense of pride and nationhood? We have become a people who are so indifferent to the plight of each other such that we can afford to indulge in self interests over national concerns.

The economic crisis has been disastrous to the majority but it has created opportunities to some who will stop at nothing to ensure that the prevailing situation is prolonged.

Therefore it has become very apparent that the problems of Zimbabwe are much more than just the politicians but also ordinary people are complicity to the tragedy which befell our country. As a people we have failed to look past self interests. We are unable to foster solidarity and commitment to restore our national dignity and international respectability .There is need for a fundamental shift in our national psyche and mindset so that we can be able to unite and reclaim our place in the world of nations.

This is my on reflection on 2011.

Article submission by: Chamunorwa Nhau

A Zimbabwean mother living in the Diaspora lost her son a few days ago. This was a particularly difficult time for her because her husband is still in Zimbabwe putting together the necessary documentation to allow him to join his family. This lady does not have a very strong support network where she resides which means, she has no-one of significance to turn to and has to wait for her husband to make the two to three day journey to be by her side.

One fact of life that all of us will one-day face is our death. For some, that day comes after a long and hopefully prosperous life. For others, it comes at an unexpected time such as the example above where parents are burying their child.

Many Zimbabweans living in the Diaspora say they would eventually want to return home at some point to live out the rest of their lives. This for some also holds true in death; some people explicitly state that in the event of their death, they want to be laid to rest at home in African soil.

Left with such wishes, family members and/or close friends of the deceased pull together to fulfil the wishes of the deceased. Making the wish a reality presents a number of challenges with the main ones being the logistics of repatriating the body and the associated costs. CNN Marketplace Africa recently aired a piece where Robyn Curnow covered what some Zimbabweans living in South Africa go through in the event of a death. It also covers the services a Zimbabwean entrepreneur is providing to try and ease the cost of burying a love one. Its gets you thinking about how prepared you are for such situations.

Most of the Zimbabweans who were victims of this fire are now being housed in homeless shelters in Durban.

However, according to eye witness accounts at the scene the damage to property could have been minimal if the Fire Department personnel had acted more competently in putting out the fire. In addition, the Municipal Fire Department response to the scene was hours late and the residents helplessly watched as their possessions were consumed by the fire.

Article submission by: Chamunorwa Nhau

Vision Inspired People Zimbabwe is dedicated to the assistance of African children living in disadvantaged communities and children’s homes in Southern Africa. We aim to provide basic education necessities to school going children and where possible, support orphans educational and social needs.

The VIPZ Assistance Program is an on-going effort by Vision Inspired People Zimbabwe to provide essential items such as clothing, books and school materials to help poverty alleviation in the Southern African region. This year we have managed to collect over 10 000 pens, pencils and rulers, second-hand clothing and children’s books which are all now waiting to be shipped to the target communities.

Vision Inspired People Zimbabwe intends to personally distribute all items with the assistance of our partners in Zimbabwe and South Africa. We also promise to provide feedback to potential donors by sharing images and information on our website or through various communication mediums.

The VIPZ Assistance Program assists Groups and children’s homes in the following countries:
SOUTH AFRICA
ZIMBABWE

If you would like to make a personal contribution or donation, please contact Vision Inspired People Zimbabwe for more information on:

U.K TEL: +44 1204 413839
EMAIL: enquiries@visioninspiredpeoplezimbabwe.org

Alternatively visit our website http://www.visioninspiredpeoplezimbabwe.org/ to make an online donation, send a cheque, do an electronic funds transfer or Bank deposit to the following:

VISION INSPIRED PEOPLE ZIMBABWE LIMITED
HSBC BOLTON BRANCH
SORT CODE 40-12-25
ACCOUNT NO. 32174111
Victoria Square. Address
1-3 Victoria Square
Bolton
Greater Manchester
BL1 1RJ

Vision Inspired People Zimbabwe is dedicated to transparent and efficient delivery of all assistance (monetary/or kind).
Registered Charitable Company with HMRC’s Gift Aid.
*NB: Vision Inspired People Zimbabwe is not a FUND, nor are we involved in the child sponsorship selection process.

Guest submission by: Shabaan @ Vision Inspired People Zimbabwe

Over the weekend, reports surfaced that a Tracy Guvamombe was allegedly raped by two Tanzanian students in the South East Asian country where she attends university. The twist in this story is that Tracy is Bona Mugabe, the daughter of President Mugabe.

Without going into the details (which you can read here), the thing that was a little disturbing was the fact that some people found it quite amusing that she went through the ordeal. Some of the comments scattered across the internet include:

- Now she knows what it is like and what her father has been unleashing on innocent civilians its a pity she is not also made to dance on her parents grave singing mdc songs.
- Have not heard such good news in a very long time. Nditumireiwo mvura, kwandiri kunopisa.
- You see God is fair, those who rape other peoples children will also have their children raped. Too bad Bona, you were pretty.
- let Mugabe and Grace taste their own medicine, girls were raped during his 2008 violent campaign, now zvaitikawo kwake, that is revenge from the all mighty.Cde the same bitterness you feel is exactly how we felt when our beloved ones were raped. Zvaiwana ngwarati
(note: these are the comments expressed by various individuals across the internet)

The few listed above are the more “tamer” ones. There are a few out there where the commenters did not hold back any feelings.  The questions at hand is whether or not those types of comments were warranted? Her father is who he is and he has done what he has done. That being said, should she be held accountable for her father’s actions? This is not to say that all the comments that people are making are ones of joy and celebration. Some individuals were unhappy that others were revelling in the fact that someone was raped.

If Bona was in fact raped, this is a violation of her human rights. Should she not then be accorded the same kind of justice that other victims of this crime seek? Or, is this something that she does deserve because of who she is?

Share your thoughts.

Zumailer is a long standing Mr Iron Man Zimbabwe. At a chance encounter with him at a popular entertainment venue in Harare, he had a small crowd around him. He felt the need to tell people exactly who he was and show them what he is all about.

Commuter omnibuses are a common mode of transportation for many Zimbabweans. If you go into Harare’s CBD you will see them everywhere. In a vehicle such as a Toyota Hiace which is typically built to seat 15 people you can expect to find 20 people packed into one. They may not be the safest form of transportation but people have no choice but to take them in order to get around.

A number of the commuters on the road are clearly not road worthy which is a recipe for disaster. To add to that, they are driven by people who seem to have a sense of owing the road and can do whatever they want. Watching what they do as they go along their daily activities is scary! You can expect to them operating in the following ways:

1. Speeding; you can be going 120km/h and have one or two zoom past you as they overtake even though they are only allowed to travel at a maximum of 80km/h (as you can see from the photo taken at night of a vehicle with its brake lights not working).
2. Drivers competing against each other with total disregard for the road rules such as when overtaking other vehicles not travelling fast enough for their liking. You can have one overtaking to the right as they should but pretty much into oncoming traffic and another brave driver deciding to try his luck off to the side of the road on the left.
3. Front and rear lights not functioning properly (this is very common with a number of vehicles on the roads of Zimbabwe)

(click on image for large view)

Other motorists who have the right of way have to do a bit of defensive driving or give way to commuters. If you don’t, you may end up in a situation you don’t want to be in which could be verbal abuse, a near miss of even a crash.

All of this put together with a vehicle that is full of people packed liked sardines results in carnage. A lot of the traffic crashes in Zimbabwe involve commuter omnibuses and many lives are lost in one go.

The Zimbabwe Republic Police have been trying to get unroadworthy commuters off the road and at the same time clamp down on unlicensed drivers in an operation called “100 CBD Decongestion”. How effective such an operation will be should interesting. Corruption is high and the police are very good at turning a blind eye if you have the money.

If any form of order with respect to commuters will ever be returned is yet to be seen. One question still remains, will commuter drivers ever realise that they are putting the lives of their passengers at risk?

For the past few weeks BBC has been showcasing; Working Lives: Human Traffic that highlights the experiences of people who have succumbed to traffickers. This is something that is a problem all over the world. Those who are in desperate situations are even more prone to becoming victim of traffickers. South Africa is a hot stop for such activities and is a source, transit point and destination for human trafficking. Because of Zimbabwe’s proximity to South Africa and perceived greener pastures across the Limpopo, many of its people are vulnerable.

A certain individual living in Zimbabwe had been hearing all sorts of stories about the kinds of employment that a number of Zimbabwean women were involved. He wanted to find out a bit more about how they ended up in the situations they were in. A number of them were working as prostitutes in not so inviting areas such as Hillbrow, Johannesburg and against their will. On a trip to South Africa, this person decided to find out how some these women ended up in the situations they were in.

Here is a quick rundown of how a young woman who has her whole life ahead of her ends up selling her body against her will (please note that this is only one of the many ways that a young woman or child ends up as a victim of such a crime):

• Recruiters who may or may not be from Zimbabwe end up in Zimbabwe showing off material possessions and lots of cash
• They befriend people who they think they could easily entice to South Africa to live the life they are living and be able to support their loved ones back home
• Once the recruiter has left Zimbabwe, they make plans for their target to travel to South Africa and stay in touch with them to put them at ease and make them feel more secure
• They two arrange with each other to meet at Park Station for example but when the unsuspecting girl arrives in Johannesburg her new friend is nowhere to be found
• The recruiter who knows when the girl she had recruited is due to arrive from where on in she is pretty much handed over into the hands of the traffickers
• On arrival in South Africa and not knowing what to do, the girl is also robbed of everything and with no passport (if she entered into the country legally), money or belongings she is left in an even more vulnerable position
• With her in state of distress, she is approached by a concerned citizen who offers to help her get on her feet and make enough money to either go back home or start a life over there
• By accepting the offer this girl has gotten herself into situation where she is eventually ‘broken down’ by these syndicates. She then finds herself on the streets working as a prostitute and making hundreds if not thousands of rands a night not for themselves but the human-trafficking syndicates they work for

Another question that may come to mind is why don’t they get out of these situations once in them. That’s a hard one to answer. The syndicates may be that good at breaking down their victims psychologically to the point where they feel they have no way out. Once there, escape from that world is an impossible dream. Those who do manage to escape but are caught again by the syndicates face very harsh consequences. This serves as a further deterrent for others thinking about doing the same.

Why even write about human trafficking? To show that Zimbabwe is not immune to such activities as some people may seem to think it. Zimbabwe, like South Africa is also a source, transit point and destination for trafficking. Not all of the victims end up being sexually exploited, some of them end up in forced labour and become modern day slaves. Human trafficking is a billion dollar industry and about half of those trafficked are children. Who is to blame for trafficking and who should be held accountable? Is it the traffickers? The people buying people? Those selling off their family members? The people who solicit prostitutes? Governments? May all are to blame and some more than others.

Some of you may turn a blind eye to this but for a minute or two, just imagine your daughter, sister, cousin, aunt or someone else you care about is trafficked? Imagine you get to learn that they have been forced into such a situation. Imagine they are being raped multiple times night after night and/or being forced to work day and night without fair compensation?

More needs to be and can be done by governments in Southern Africa to combat the issue. People are at risk but the situation in Zimbabwe makes people even more vulnerable. Zimbabwe just happens to be one of the countries on a recently released report that is failing to meet international standards in addressing the problem. Until such a time when people can come up with effective ways of combating human trafficking, more and more people will succumb.

If you would like to find out a bit more about human trafficking, visit the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. You may also be interested in taking a look at the Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 by the U.S. Department of State. Maybe there is something you can do to help fight against human trafficking.

One thing that you get used to in Zimbabwe is the erratic electricity supply. The outages can last from hours to days to weeks to months. Some areas may experience outages on a daily basis and in other areas it may only happen every other day. A lot of the time the outages are due to load shedding courtesy of the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) but some are a result of blown power transformers where it could take weeks or months before power is restored.

Oil theft is to blame for the blown transformers and this seems to be a common occurrence that is happening all over the place. If it is indeed oil theft, only those who are stealing it know what they are doing with it. People are however speculating that they are selling it off to companies in industrial areas, other say that it is being sold to welders to be used in welding machines and some have even gone on to say that they selling it ZESA.

Whatever the case may be, this is a very selfish act because they are not only leaving people without power for weeks on end, the transformers have to be repaired or replaced and that comes at a cost. Take for example the transformer shown in this post (click on image for larger view). Oil was stolen from it and ZESA informed residents that it could not be repaired and needed to be replaced at a cost of US $12,000. Depending on how lucky you are, ZESA may or may not come to your rescue. In some instances residents who find themselves without power due to thefts have had to band together and come up with the money to get a new transformer. Some even go as far as hiring a security guard to watch over it thus ensuring it does not happen again.

Questions that come to mind are; would someone in the right mind who has not worked with that kind of equipment disassemble and steal oil from it? Given that they are fiddling around with high voltages where the chances of death are extremely high. That gets you thinking about who would go ahead and attempt to do such. Could it be people working for ZESA or former employees?

The money that these thieves get from carrying out this act can’t compare to the inconvenience that it puts people through and the amount of money needed to restore things back to normal. Is all of that worth an amount of money that may not take you too far?

1980 – The Year of the People’s Power (Gore reMasimba eVanhu – Umnyaka Wamandla Abantu) is a publication that was put out in 1980. It is a New Year Message to the people of Zimbabwe by Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the President of the Zimbabwe African Union ZANU (PF).

In it, he talks about the revolutionary triumphs and misfortunes that they face along the way. It also touches on the progress of certain objectives such as the ZANLA Forces Eleven Tasks, British colonisation, traitorous puppets working against the victorious Zimbabwean masses and other significant events in the liberation war (Chimurenga).

Here is an excerpt of the first two paragraphs:
Revolutionary and New Year greetings to all the struggling and victorious masses of Zimbabwe, Revolutionary and New year greetings to all our ZANU Members within and without the country, Revolutionary and New Year greetings to all our friends and allies outside Zimbabwe.

I wish to address you, the revolutionary masses of Zimbabwe with mixed feelings of joy and sorrow: joy, because we are now on the dawn of victory when the enemy’s military machine has crumbled and the puppet regime it tried to prop has fallen; but sorrow, because the dawn of ZANU’s victory, the dawn of your victory, has become a dark moment for us all, for we have suffered the tragic loss of our Secretary for Defence, Comrade Josiah Magama Tongogara.

The full 12 page publication is available in PDF format for US$0.50. To purchase the publication visit the Living Zimbabwe Store or by clicking on the Buy Now button below which will take you through to PayPal

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1980 – The Year of the People’s Power by Comrade R G Mugabe

This was published in 1980 and is a New Year Message to the people of Zimbabwe by Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe, the President of the Zimbabwe African Union ZANU (PF).

The first paragraph reads: Revolutionary and New Year greetings to all the struggling and victorious masses of Zimbabwe, Revolutionary and New year greetings to all our ZANU Members within and without the country, Revolutionary and New Year greetings to all our friends and allies outside Zimbabwe.

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