Read the latest statement from the Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) about the continued police harassment of their staff:

MMPZ Director Andrew Moyse taken for questioning by CID Law and Order Harare

MMPZ Project Coordinator Andrew Moyse was this morning (at about 1130hrs) picked up from the organisation’s offices by a team of five police officers from Harare’s Law and Order Section led by Detective Assistant Inspector Phiri. The officers were armed with a search warrant and proceeded to search MMPZ offices for “material which comprises of compact disks containing Gukurahundi information”. In terms of the search warrant, the police purport that they have reasonable grounds to believe that MMPZ officers may have acted in breach of section 31 of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, that is, “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the state”.

Pursuant to the search warrant, the police then took possession of 127 DVDs produced by MMPZ essentially calling upon the media to contribute to peaceful elections through fair, accurate and balanced coverage of election campaigns by Zimbabwean political parties. Whilst the police officers indicated that Andrew was not formally under arrest, MMPZ is concerned that the police may detain him to investigate a matter whose circumstances and gravity do not at all warrant pre-trial detention. MMPZ urges the police to grant Andrew Moyse all his pre-trial rights and not to harm his physical and psychological person for the entire period he is in their custody.

In the meantime, MMPZ advocacy officers Fadzai December and Molly Chimhanda, and MMPZ’s Public Information Rights Committee chairman for Gwanda Mr Gilbert Mabusa remain in police custody at Gwanda police station. They are being charged under POSA for failing to give notice of a meeting and also under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for “participating in gathering with intent to promote public violence, breaches of the peace or bigotry”.

MMPZ vigorously denies the allegations in both cases.

The Media Monitoring Project of Zimbabwe (MMPZ) issued this statement today:

MMPZ advocacy officers Fadzai December and Molly Chimhanda have been detained by Zimbabwe Republic Police in Gwanda in connection with a civic education meeting they facilitated in the town two weeks ago on the 24th November 2011. Also detained in connection with the same case is the chairperson of MMPZ’S Public Information Rights Forum Committee for Gwanda Mr Gilbert Mabusa. They are being charged under POSA for failing to give notice of the meeting despite the fact that the meeting was convened by the membership of MMPZ’s Public Information Rights Forum Committee for Gwanda and was therefore not a public meeting as contemplated under POSA. They are also being charged in terms of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act for “participating in gathering with intent to promote public violence, breaches of the peace or bigotry”. The Gwanda police authorities allege that the MMPZ advocacy officers distributed illegal material in the form of a DVD MMPZ produced essentially calling upon the media to contribute to peaceful elections through fair, accurate and balanced coverage of election campaigns by Zimbabwean political parties.

While MMPZ respects the necessity of the due process of the law, it is MMPZ’s view that this case does not warrant the pre-trial detention of its advocacy officers and Mr Mabusa. They are not remotely a flight risk as MMPZ’s officers have fully cooperated with the police and returned to Gwanda from Harare yesterday to assist the police in their inquiries. The Zimbabwean Constitution protects the right to personal liberty. Depriving an individual of their personal liberty should be an action of last resort. It should not be employed as a first option especially in cases whose circumstances do not warrant pre-trial detention. MMPZ therefore calls upon the police to release Gilbert, Fadzai and Molly from custody forthwith as their attendance at court can be secured by way of summons.

To commemorate World AIDS Day, Kubatana invited subscribers to send in their positive prevention messages. Using Frontline SMS, we received over 600 messages in response, and short listed them for selection.

The word cloud above shows gives a visual of the words most used in our subscribers’ responses.

The winning SMS came from Lloyd Nyarota, who said:

To prevent HIV transmission, try various sex positions with one partner NOT one position with various partners.

The runners up responded:

• A cat has many lives but we humans got one only. Be wise and be warned. AIDS kills the one we got.
• Stick to one partner. Always use condoms. Do masturbation if you have feelings during the absence of your partner.
• One Love. Learn the facts about HIV. Be faithful. Talk openly. Use condoms consistently.
• Everyone is positive until proven negative. Get tested!

Read the rest of the prevention SMS here

Did you phone our audio drama Big Dhara Going Down? We want to know what you thought of it. Tell us what you liked, didn’t like, or would change. Please complete our online survey (it’s really short, promise!) http://tiny.cc/jp7dd

The thing is, our change is our money. When a shop doesn’t have coins, and they give us credit notes, sweets, or other things, they take away our autonomy. If we give away our independence to our super markets, what hope is there of getting it back from our politicians?

So, how have shop keepers given you change?

The Legal Resource Foundation has recently published an opinion on the absence of coins for change. You can read it here

They point out that the primary reason for the absence of coins as change is the fact that most shops and customers transact in US dollars (notes), but the coins most readily available from the banks as change for shop keepers is in Rand.

Given the constantly changing Rand to Dollar exchange rate, it is difficult for shops to offer change to customers in a way that takes into account the rate at which they got the Rand coins from the bank, as compared with the Rand to US Dollar rate on the day the customer is at the shop.

To best address this, LRF suggests reminding the Minister of Finance about his pledge earlier this year to make US Dollar coins available to banks, and therefore to shops and customers.

Remind the Minister that we work hard for our money and that every cent counts. It is unfair and insulting to force people to buy items that they do not need. What people want is their change and their autonomy to buy what they want when they want.

Get involved! Tell the Ministry of Finance what you think of the absence of coins as change, and what you suggest he does about it.

Submit your comment on the Ministry of Finance website (and whilst you’re at it, maybe suggest that they add an email address for the ministry that’s not the webmaster).

Interested in the Zimbabwe 2012 National Budget announced by the Ministry of Finance yesterday? Download it here (240 pages, Size 4MB) or find out more