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.

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.

When I first went over there to check what the price of a new passport was, it did not make much sense at all to me as to where to start off with the application process. There were queues and groups of people all over the place. One to pay for the application form and application fee, another to get this checked on the form after you have filled it out, another to get that checked on the form after you have gotten ‘this’ checked and another to submit the application after this and that has been checked. After that, depending on what type of application you put in, you return in 1, 3 or 14 days to collect you brand spanking new Zimbabwean Passport or ETD which you hope is not fake (we will get into that in another post).

One thing that you should expect though is to not get you passport in the 1, 3 or 14 days. I have personally come across people who have put in applications for 24 hour passports at the start of one week and when they have gone back the next day to pick it up, they have been told to return the following week.

It is not fun to be lining up outside at the height of summer to get your hands on an application form. You would think that it would be a bit more bearable once you get into the building but that is not the case. In the corridors you will find queues or people lining up to get into various rooms. There is no ventilation and it can be almost impossible to pass through various sections unless you literally push people out of your way in order to get through. All of that leads to tempers flaring with a few words being exchanged and on a couple of occasion fists being exchanged so you best be careful what you do and say.

If you do not want to be driven completely insane, the best thing to do is to something that ever since way back when has always been done, get a hold of someone who works in the office and ask them to assist you. Their assistance will see you jump queues (maybe not all of them) and avoid the stress of pushing and shoving with people all day long to get the application through. For some it can be a very stressful experience and if you pay the office a visit, do not be surprised if you find someone in tears and not knowing what to do.

It is extremely irritating for some to go through the hassles of trying to get a passport given that if you are a Citizen of Zimbabwe you have every right to have a passport and the process of getting one should not be as complicated and stressful as it is. Some put it down to not only beaurocracy but to the civil servants working in these and other government departments seeing themselves as being in a position of power where they can and may very well make life hell unless they are compensated accordingly. Who is to blame for this corruption and exploitation? Is the government, the civil servants or has society just taken up that frame of mind?

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I do not have any political affiliations in Zimbabwe but here I find myself being affected by the TARGETED sanctions. My understanding was that the sanctions were targeted towards certain individuals and that they would not have an effect on the general population. My little experience obviously goes to show that this is not the case.

A week or two after my arrival there was a newspaper article about a university student who tried to get her hands on demonstration software from ETAP Enterprises Solutions. Getting a hold of the demo disc entailed entering her address into a form which she did do. She was later told that they would not be able to provide her with the disc due to trade sanctions against Zimbabwe.

I am not on the sanctions list and the student mentioned above may not be either. That experience has been an inconvenience and I am sure that there are a lot more Zimbabweans with no political associations who have experienced similar. It has also made me think about what kind of effect it has had on individuals, businesses and institutions that have been denied access to products and services that they would have otherwise have had the right to access. My guess is that they would have had a major negative that would have led to them finding a roundabout way of getting something or going without it completely and having to deal with it.

If you take a look at some of the individuals on the sanctions list, they are living very opulently. Many a people in Zimbabwe may have been able to better their lives and those of others had there been no sanctions. It just makes me wonder whether there is a point to the sanctions and whether or not they have really worked?

The issue of gays and lesbians has for a long time been a highly contentious issue in not only Zimbabwe but around the world. It is an area that has put many a world leader to the test in how they respond to the issue of their rights. Mugabe’s disgust towards homosexuality is a sentiment that is shared by many a Zimbabwean as well.

Gays and lesbians have for a time long been subjected to all forms of discrimination which has lead to them living their lifestyle under the radar. This is not to say that all homosexuals are living under the radar, there are some who are very much out there in the open and made their sexual orientation known to all. With the inclusive government and the new Constitution expected in the near future, gays and lesbians are becoming more vocal and demanding that their rights are recognized and made a part of the new Constitution. A lot of them are fighting hard to see that they are protected under the constitution. Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ) www.galz.co.zw is at the forefront of seeing to it that there is constitutional equality.

GALZ Mission Statement

The principle objective of GALZ is to build a democratic and accountable organisation and to strive for the attainment of full, equal rights and the removal of all forms of discrimination in all aspects of life for gay men, lesbians and bisexual people in Zimbabwe and to inform, educate, counsel and support people in matters relative to their health and well being.

Sexual rights are human rights.

Mugabe’s fight against homosexuality was dealt a blow in the mid to late 90s when the 1st president of Zimbabwe, Canaan Sodindo Banana was convicted of sodomy. He was jailed for a year and died a few years later but was not buried at Heroes Acre with full honours as you would expect for a former head of state. This goes to show what happens to people convicted of sodomy regardless of who you are and what you have done for the nation.

Could the extreme homophobia be a result of Mugabe’s attitudes towards them influencing people to detest homosexuals or is it based on something that they themselves truly believe to be wrong? Many Zimbabweans are Christian and there are passages in the Bible that condemn homosexuality. These include Genesis 19, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Leviticus 20:13 -

“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.”

This is something that may drive them towards making the decisions they have made about homosexuality.

This “Satanic”, “Western Import” (not my words but those of Mugabe and his supporters) of homosexuality will continue to be a thorn in the side of Zimbabwean politics for a long time coming. Human rights groups see it as another violation in Zimbabwe and other see it as a moral issue that just shouldn’t be allowed. It may be one of those issues where there will never be a resolve that leaves both parties happy.

What will become of the gays and lesbians on Zimbabwe?

That was a video of a recent farm invasion. In one foul swoop, these farmers have lost everything that they have spent most of their lives building and it is not an easy thing for anyone (white or black) to go through. In addition to the farmers losing their livelihood, their employees suddenly find themselves without a job which only adds to the ridiculous unemployment rate that is already above 90%.

“Land distribution will continue. It will not stop,” Mugabe said. “The few remaining white farmers should quickly vacate their farms as they have no place there.” These were some of the words recently spoken by Mugabe. Farm invasions are continuing and they seem to have stepped into high gear. Last weekend in the Zimbabwe that has a unity government, one of change, an elderly couple were beaten by thugs who invaded their property just outside Harare.

A number of farms have been seized in recent weeks, 100 or so farmers are facing prosecution, some are under siege and some have gone into hiding. Majority of the farms being invaded are run by white Zimbabweans and the animosity towards them will not make life comfortable for those who are not even remotely involved in farming. Britain announced plans to evacuate its older and vulnerable citizens from Zimbabwe, a plan that Mugabe responded to by saying, “They are free here. They are quite comfortable. It’s queer, strange thinking by the British. We don’t understand.” Whether or not they really need help, Mugabe’s words and actions towards whites have done nothing to make them feel at ease.

During his 85th birthday celebrations, Mugabe said, “In the areas of mining, agriculture and manufacturing, a methodological and systematic identification of areas in which the state and indigenous entrepreneurs can participate, is being carried out, in line with the Indigenous and Empowerment Act.” This law is supposedly in place to facilitate the majority control of industry by blacks. One point to note is that it is not only white farmers who have been kicked off their land. It has happened to black farmers as well. The Zanu PF greed has extended beyond moving white farmers off their land. If a minister or someone else with a voice within the ruling party sets their eyes on a black owned farm, they do what they can to get their hands on it. This is going against what is stated in their own laws if they are taking something that a black person lawfully owns.

There are so many inconsistencies with the farm invasions, related laws and statements made by the government. It has gone from eviction to allowing some farmers back with 99 year leases on resettled farms to evicting them all over again. It is almost impossible to keep track of or figure out exactly what the government is trying to do or think they will achieve.

Has Mugabe not seen what effect the land invasions had in the past? The collapse of the agricultural sector and people facing starvation can be in part attributed to the invasions. After the invasions, a number of the farms became pieces of land with zero productivity. But still Mugabe continues to press on with land reform programme and calling on white farmers to leave and say they are not welcome.

This is all CRAZINESS!!