from: Visualise Us

I was really moved by the boldness of an girl pupils who protested against their school authorities right in front of their nearest Ministry of Education offices in Zimbabwe. The pupils who are all boarders at Mukaro High School in Gutu, walked for 20km, taking four hours to reach to the district’s Ministry of Education offices. They sneaked out from the dormitories as early as 2am and reached the offices at 6am. Their aim was to protest water shortages and poor food at the school. A big round of applause ladies! The girls at school are said to number 700 and one can only imagine the health implications of having water shortages with so many children.

With the Ministry of Education now aware and doing an investigation into the plight of these pupils and the school authorities knowing well that they are now under scrutiny from the different stakeholders involved, like the parents, the education ministry, health officials and other concerned parties, these pupils are guaranteed of some change and provision of a basic necessity – water. Not only will this benefit them until they complete their studies but it will also benefit future generations of pupils to come to that school. They have not only protested their rights at this particular school Mukaro High, but they have been a voice for other pupils around the country who due to varying circumstances are not able to take up such high levels of boldness. Also this a big warning to school authorities that misuse school funds meant for the welfare of school children. They should change their ways before such protests occur at their schools.

It is such small acts of resistance and protest that bring about change in the bigger picture. It is high time we emulate these pupils and make those accountable for discrepancies in the provision of our society’s daily life needs.

“We need Chinese solidarity but we cannot have these erstwhile friends coming to cook sadza with offals for us and after that take tooth picks, and then we think, ‘Here are investors’. In economic terms, we are crowded out by people bringing sick capital into these sectors.” – Alson Darikayi Upfumi Kuvadiki/Inotho Kwabatsha president.

Foreigners who come and invest in retail businesses are no longer welcome in Bulawayo. The effects of the “Look East” are now being felt in Bulawayo as the Chinese and other foreigners crowd out local residents from the retail business. Upfumi Kuvadiki/Inotho Kwabatsha and Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions joined hands to demonstrate against foreign ownership of retail business. Lets who hope this will not fan xenophobia just like the South African scenario.

Recently Kubatana’s sister project Freedom Fone won the Index on Censorship Innovation Award. Freedom Fone facilitates the sharing of pre-recorded audio information over mobiles phones. We are consistently trying to improve the Freedom Fone software and . . . we would like you to actively help us do this.

We’ve read something published by the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) on load-shedding which raises a Lot of concerns. And if we’re concerned, we’re sure you will be too.

Listen to what they say is Fact and let us know if you think it’s Fiction. Your opinion counts!

Here’s what we need . . .

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It must be pretty frustrating for the ordinary guy with very empty pockets who has looked up to other people to solve Zimbabwe’s headache, a migraine that has defied the Aspirin that has come in many shapes and forms rendering it nothing but a very useless placebo. Turns out SADC has been such an Aspirin, at least faced with an obdurate headache in the form of Zanu PF. Each time SADC meets to map the way forward concerning the holding of elections, whatever communiqué is issued after such lengthy deliberations appears to be futile in that it has become predictable for the ordinary guy with very empty pockets that President Mugabe will say no one will dictate to Zimbabwe, a sovereign nation, what to do.

Mugabe has said no one has a right to interfere in the affairs of “his” country, effectively saying whatever it is that SADC recommends, he will not accept it as long it does not coincide with his own position, never mind how anti-people that position has been fashioned. You only have to listen to or read statements from party blabbermouth Rugare Gumbo, and you wonder if Zanu PF has any reason belonging to SADC. The ordinary guy with very empty pockets believes Zanu PF belongs to the dustbin of history, I heard the guy say the other day! But then the pan-Africanist shindig bringing together Africa’s “leading liberation movements” here has been cited by Zanu PF loyalists (like that beefy guy Herald guy booted out of Botswana a few years back) as proof that Mugabe is being supported by fellow anti-imperialist spirits in his calls for polls this year. It was then US President Ronald Reagan who said the memorable line back in 1985 after “terrorist attacks by Shi’ite Muslims”:  “We are not going to tolerate these attacks from outlaw states, run by the strangest collection of misfits, looney tunes and squalid criminals since the advent of the Third Reich.” Well, the same can be said about these folks!

Finance Minister Tendai Biti and human rights watchers in and outside the country have already said holding elections this year and without any electoral reforms is one sure way to sacrifice people’s lives as a political violence powder keg is sure to explode, recalling of course the 2008 madness where Zanu PF enthusiasts are accused of punishing political opponents with death. It ain’t alarmists who are predicting blood and gore if polls are held without the necessary conditions being set as already outlined by the GPA and as insisted by the MDC, but it is indeed safe to say the world has been warned about the political violence that has already begun in many parts of the country. Imagine then if the polls are officially called? Considering this, no one therefore can be criticised for concluding that this could yet be another African story of dead consciences where people will say they saw it coming but did nothing to stop it before it happened. There are just too many such stories that do not need any repeating.

And the painful bit is that some faith-based non-governmental organisations and Churches are already involved in activities and programmes of national healing where victims of political violence during past elections are sitting together with the perpetrators in search of peace in their hearts. What then becomes of these people in the face of yet more election violence when past scars remain unhealed? And this in a country where 1980s violence continues to hog contemporary political discourse. You just have to listen to Moses Mzila Ndlovu to get the point. And the guy is a government minister!

From AF-AIDS:

Delivering a speech at today’s opening session of the 16th Conference of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA), UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé congratulated leaders across the region for their personal commitment to the HIV response, specifically with regard to upholding human rights and protecting human capital. Addressing eight Heads of State and other high-level participants in Lomé, Togo, he called on African leaders to reduce their “triple dependency” on external sources for HIV drugs, commodities, and technologies.

Mr Sidibé noted that an estimated 630 000 people living with HIV in West Africa currently receive antiretroviral medicines, representing about 30% coverage. A vast majority of HIV drugs dispensed in Africa are imported, he added.

To ensure the health and security of their populations, African leaders should focus greater attention and resources on the local production of medicines, said the UNAIDS Executive Director. “In the future, regional and global power and national stability will be determined not by who controls arms, but by who controls access to medicines,” he said.

The development and production of medicines is expected to be a major growth industry in the 21st century.  According to IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, the global pharmaceutical market is set to reach more than US $1 trillion in sales by 2015.  African countries represent 25% of the global health burden but control just $10 billion—or 1%—of the global medicines market.

“This is a sector poised for growth, and can serve to generate African innovation, strengthen systems, save lives and advance security,” said Mr Sidibé.

During his address, the UNAIDS Executive Director outlined four proposals to boost West Africa’s market share of HIV drugs and other medicines: establish and enable local pharmaceutical production to reduce dependency on imported medicines; remove trade barriers to allow for the emergence of pharmaceutical production hubs that can serve the regional market; strengthen national drug regulatory authority and increasingly harmonize regulatory policies across the region; and advance research and development to build Africa’s knowledge-based economy.

Noting that no single country, ministry or leader could advance these proposals alone, Mr Sidibé called for increased national and regional partnership across a variety of sectors, including trade, industrial development and health.

Later in the day, the UNAIDS Executive Director participated in a separate meeting with African Heads of State attending the conference. Echoing Mr Sidibé’s earlier comments, the Heads of State reemphasized the need for innovative financing mechanisms to address Africa’s HIV response.