Check out this public discussion from SAPES Trust:

Media and politics in Zimbabwe public discussion

Southern African Political Economy Series Policy Dialogue Forum

Topic: The media and politics in Zimbabwe: An overview
Date: Thursday 16 May 2013
Time: 5pm – 7pm
Venue: SAPES Seminar Room, 4 Deary Avenue, Belgravia, Harare

Presenter: Trevor Ncube, Chairman of Alpha Media Holdings (AMH)
Chair: Dr I. Mandaza, Executive Chairperson, Sapes Trust

All welcome!

Cost: $10 for non-members. SAPES TRUST Policy Dialogue Forum Membership forms available at entrance.

Feel free to visit our website at www.sapes.org.zw

I saw a group of police officers fill a kombi at the Copacabana rank and I found it rather curious that these cops made more numbers than civilian passengers; surely they would bankrupt the kombi owner.

I wondered why the tout would allow all of them into the vehicle, remembering of course that where I am from, police officers don’t pay for a kombi ride!

But turned out they were all paying customers.

Another eye opener about how things are done differently here perhaps, yet I chuckled recalling that for kombi drivers in Bulawayo, the whole idea of giving a cop a free ride right in the front seat is so that the driver is waved through by traffic cops checking for everything from vehicle fitness certificate to driver’s license.

The travelling cop becomes the driver’s Moses, parting the road for safe passage.

What then here where the cops are paying full fares, by the ways of logic, there is obviously no protection to speak of and I am trying to picture a scene where traffic cops stop a kombi full of fellow cops who are paying passengers. Perhaps the same would apply? Wave the kombi through, I mean?

Yet the whole idea of cops and free rides has been met with some daring by certain Bulawayo touts, and I recall a tout looking a young cop in the eye and asking him if he if he had money for the ride.

The dumbfounded cop stared blankly and hesitated before the kombi sped off without him!

In any case, if you think of it, the parallels extend to all sectors of the country’s troubled present: many politicians have been fingered in demanding protection fees from sectors as diverse as farming and mining where extortion has been the order of the day: pay up and I will make sure your farm is not expropriated!

And the small fry, the poorly paid cop, can only have a free ride ostensibly to protect the driver from having his vehicle impounded, at least only as long as the cop is in the kombi!

Yet seeing the cops in Harare pay their fares like everyone else did brings a sense that perhaps this relationship between kombi drivers and cops is based on reports of cops smashing kombi window screens so why reward them with free rides!

The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) addresses some of the key challenges of mobile voter registration.

In summery the major issues affecting residents in registering as voters include but are not limited to:

- Confusion surrounding the issuance of a proof of residence for one to register as a voter
- R.G’s request for affidavits as extra confirmation of proof of residence
- The call by the Chairperson of Z.E.C that without a proof of residence one can still register. It seems as if the message has not been officially cascaded down to the workers at the R.G’s office
- Alien voter registration. The process still remains rigorous and many are turning away
- Slow service which only accommodates a very few people to register as voters in a day
- Some mobile centres are not operating within the stipulated 7am-7pm time frame as vetoed by the R.G.
- Limited voter registration centres simply makes it difficult and unnecessarily cumbersome for one to register.  There is need for the provision of more centres to decongest the very few that have been allocated

The Association urges the ZEC to consider the issues in this statement and ensure that more residents are afforded an opportunity to register and vote in the oncoming elections. CHRA will continue to monitor this process and encourages residents to come out in their numbers to register and vote.

We read a recent article by Ian Scoones about how the tide is turning in Zimbabwe; the political context in Zimbabwe remains highly uncertain, but there are unexpected shifts – partly as a result of the relative success of the “unity” government, and partly as a result of failures in the opposition, both to offer a convincing alternative and to develop a clear set of alliances.

What is wrong with Ian Scoones? Or is he just fucking stupid? The “unity” government is that of the Prime Minister, Morgan Tasvangira and his MDC, the president, Robert Mugabe and his Zanu PF, and a deputy whatever Mutambara/Ncube and their MDC. If they are ‘relatively successful, who then is the ‘opposition’ to have failures within? Secondly, what does he mean by opposition? MDC T has the most seats in parliament. It is therefore the ruling party. Zanu PF has the second most, therefore is the lead opposition. MDC M/N has the fewest, therefore is the second opposition. Is he trying to say/imply that parliamentary majority is an irrelevance, compared to pure power (even illegitimate)? Or is he just a stupid, non-scholar, who uses words as he sees fit without any regard to reality.

We have all heard the bad effects of drinking Coca Cola, how it will rot our teeth and poison us, but then again, so will most soft-drinks, and in fact, most processed food. However, it is not just the drink itself that is getting flack at the moment, but also the actual company. Recently the Coca-Cola company has had a lot of problems in a multitude of countries over their environmental and social implications on the respective countries it is based in. They are accused of doing terrible damage to the environment and having a dodgy work policy. I even have a friend who refuses to drink any Coca-Cola product, not because it is bad for her, but because she wants to boycott the company altogether.

However, it is difficult to point fingers so quickly, because although there are a lot of issues with Coca-Cola deals, such as the current law suits in India, their policies are not all bad. Coca-Cola does support some significant causes, such as “Fighting for an AIDS free generation”; a project in collaboration with other companies like Nike, Girl and Converse. Their aim is to prevent the transmission of HIV from mother to child by 2015. They also are one of the biggest sports sponsors, sponsoring major events such as the FIFA world cup. It was also the first commercial sponsor of the Olympics in 1928.

As with most big commercial companies, Coca-Cola does have problems with corruption and dodgy policies but overall one of its biggest problems seems to be its connection with the United States, in modern colonisation. The idea of “Coca-Colanisation” had been brought up in many parts of the world, accusing the United States of colonising countries with big corporate companies such as Coca-Cola.