I’ve just been reading Upenyu’s recent interview with Patricia McFadden, and these two parts really stood out for me:

Zimbabwe really needs a constitution, not because it’s going to give the poor rights, but because it’s like a salve, the healing balm after the fractures. It’s a site where people can come together and collectively imagine themselves as one people. To have common identity, we need that so much in Africa.

But constitutions are deceptive because they appear as though they are giving people rights, but there are no instruments that can endow you with a right. You have to struggle for a right as a collective. You have to conceptualise it, you have to imagine it you have to engage with those who control the sites where your rights are located and then you can create the possibility for that right to be not only located in the state and then the state can protect it, but you’ll also have to have access to it.

You can read and listen to the whole interview here

The Constitution Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) Outreach Programme is finally set to begin next week. In light of this, the ZESN/ZPP/ZLHR Independent Constitution Monitoring Project (ZZZICOMP) will be monitoring this process. Here is an excerpt of its press statement this week:

ZZZICOMP welcomes the long awaited launch of the Constitution Parliamentary Committee (COPAC) Outreach Programme on Wednesday 16 June 2010 by the three principals to the Global Political Agreement (GPA) President Robert Mugabe, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai and Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara.

Of particular importance was the call by the Principals for peace and non-violence during the public outreach process in keeping with the provisions of Article 6 of the GPA, “it is a fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a constitution by themselves and for themselves” and “that the process of making this constitution must be owned and driven by the people and must be inclusive and democratic”. We acknowledge the commitments made by the Principals that the process must be undertaken in conditions that uphold the principles of inclusivity, tolerance, transparency and openness.

ZZZICOMP had noted with concern that prior to the official launch of the outreach; the process has been characterized by inordinate delays in the commencement of the outreach programme as stipulated in Article 6 of the GPA. The operating environment remains largely repressive thus impacting negatively on the participation by the public in the reform process.

Furthermore, as the outreach was being launched, the public was and still is clueless as to the dates on which the various teams will visit their respective wards as well as sequencing of the meetings. We believe this information is essential for the public to plan for their participation in the process.

In line with fulfilling its monitoring role ZZZICOMP will independently assess and evaluate the constitution-making process against established principles, benchmarks and standards of constitutionalism and constitution-making, including openness and transparency, inclusivity, legitimacy, accessibility and receptiveness.

Our goal is to objectively monitor, observe and report on the work of the Constitution Parliamentary Select Committee (COPAC), the public outreach programme, the work of the Thematic Committees and the Drafting Committee, and the final document produced in order to adjudge how democratic and transparent the constitution-making process is, and if it accurately reflects the input of broad and diverse popular participation. To this end, ZZZICOMP has deployed 420 monitors, as well as provincial coordinators and other key personnel on the ground across the country, who have all along been observing the operating environment in general, and are now well prepared and ready to monitor the process. Our monitoring teams are dispersed nationwide in order to systematically gather information during the consultative processes, to comment on the operating environment and any breaches of the IPA in relation to the process, and to highlight any violations, violence, or other discrepancies which occur in the constituencies and wards in which they are operating.

For further information and comments please contact ZZZICOMP on zzzicomp [at] gmail [dot] com

I’ve just been listening to audio clips from Derek Matyszak and Rudo Gaidzanwa’s thought provoking presentations at a recent SAPES seminar on gay rights and the Constitution.

Gaidzanwa says some interesting, controversial things, such as:

In Zimbabwe there is also the issue of HIV because of men having sex with men, which people don’t want to deal with; not the health workers, not the government, not anybody. Somehow people pretend that it’s not there. Quite a lot of married men have sex with both men and women in Zimbabwe, but it’s never something that is admitted, its never put in the public domain. Those men, when they go into the clubs in Harare, they’ll be consorting with other men who are gay, and they (the openly gay men) say but what are you doing here since you are heterosexual? And they say Mukadzi wangu ari kumusha (my wife is in the rural areas).

You can read and listen to this discussion here

I don’t even particularly like football. But I love the World Cup.

How can Cameroon be losing to Japan? I just texted a friend of mine. Africa’s first World Cup is my World Cup. And judging from the shouts emanating from the restaurant downstairs whenever there’s a game, I’m not the only one who feels like that.

I asked a friend who his teams are for the World Cup. Africa, he said. I have six teams. And whilst my heart may beat for Cote d’Ivoire this year, I know exactly what he means.  It’s why I took special pride in Ghana’s win over Serbia. And why Cameroon’s defeat by Japan felt personal. Do other continents feel this same sense of solidarity?

There is a different buzz about Harare – the frequency that already revels in a veneer of normalcy, of a false sense of stability after years of uncertainty has reached a new pitch since the Samba Boys’ visit. I feel compelled to double check with people that they’ll be at work, that they’ll keep an appointment – that they won’t be watching a match.

My neophyte’s enthusiasm might make a more dedicated fan of the sport cringe.  But I was thrilled when a dedicated follower explained to me just how simple it is to understand football. So for others who might want to get caught up in it this month, I‘ll share his instructions:

a) score goals
b) don’t go off sides

Yip. That’s about it for starters. You just want to score goals. You have 90 minutes to do so. And the good news is, to win a World Cup game you only need to score one or two. Unless of course your team is Australia. And the other team is Germany . . .

Two friends and I entered Harare’s Got Talent on Saturday night, with a pantomime dance performance of Kenny Roger’s The Gambler. We were last minute cowboys, really. It started off as a joke, a bit of a dare one evening, but suddenly there were Auditions. And rehearsals. An official run through. A compulsory warm up. And a Performance.

My co-workers were quite game about our “board room” [read foyer] getting taken over for a rehearsal space. One of them even got roped into writing up our blocking, and taking notes on our props list. I was a bit worried our land lord would come and investigate, but 17 “know when to hold ‘em” choruses later we were still safe.

The blocking document was titled The Meddle, and included things like:

• J and A do the hop
• J shoots A
• A plays tambourine
• A and J show their aces
• Chorus: Go crazy
• A shoots K

And the props included:

• Bottle stick
• Cards
• 2 x Guns
• 3 x Cowboy hats

The show took place at Harare’s Rep’s Theatre – like the snap of the marquis above, it’s shabby on the outside, well meaning enough, on the inside, but stuck in the same bygone era that Harare’s post offices and government buildings seem to still be in.

There were a good 45 acts or so – a motley assortment of novices and veterans, across a range of ages and talents. I overheard one dancer ask another why there were so many singers. I overheard one musician ask another why non musicians were in the show. The people who knew they were neither singers nor dancers knew better than to posit why their numbers were so low. They were the only people I overheard asking – why are we here again? Go figure.

In the end, guitarist singer and song writer Christessa took second place, and Mumbai Jackson [think Bollywood meets Thriller] won first prize, with a three-person dance to original choreography. In the process, scores of people got first hand experience with the behind the behind the scenes elements of a performance – the tension and off stage drama, as well as the gritty, unglamourous sweat and frustration that it takes to pull something like that off. And the audience of 400 or so got exposed to performers they’ll be hoping to see more of in future, and others – like the last minute cowboys – that they’ll know they want to avoid.

We’ve got a World Cup 2010 photo gallery and match schedule up here

We’ll be updating this gallery regularly, so watch this space!

All photographs rights reserved – © Taurai Maduna.  If you’d like to use this photograph, please email admin [at] kubatana [dot] net