In recent weeks, there has been a lot of muttering on the streets about the US $152,000 Mercedes Benz recently acquired by Harare Mayor Muchadeyi Masunda.

Now, it turns out, the City of Harare has also bought two Prados, valued at as much as US $190,000 together.

According to a statement from the Combined Harare Residents Association, the money spent on these three vehicles would be enough “to procure water treatment chemicals that can supply the entire city of Harare with clean water for almost half a year.”

We asked our SMS subscribers what they thought about the Mayoral Benz. We received over 50 replies from across Zimbabwe. A few subscribers were supportive of the new vehicle, but overall the responses were quite condemning. We share some of these responses below:

A pity he already forgets we have no water. Our robots don’t work. Our roads are bad. Shame on him.

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You’re just jealous. He deserves it.

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That’s shit. These high profile people are not concerned about the masses.

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Why r we not surprised! They will never change there bad habits, Never!

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This is madness and lack of direction when City is losing lot of treated water

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It simply confirms that Zanu Pf and the MDC are one and the same. They are all after riches and nothing else. We are alone in the struggle against poverty!

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Residence should boycott paying rates and water bills till the services improves

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Water first be4 luxuries

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It is very bad. People in Kuwadzana are taking ten hours in a queue to fetch water from a borehole.

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Lets all refuse to pay for bills charged by parastatals and local authorities coz the money is going to pay for luxuries and hefty salaries and no services.

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This is quite pathetic. How cum that they use such an amt for nothing yet they sey the gvt is bankrupt & fail to pay civil servants & leave our cities in a poor state.

The discussion around transitional justice and national healing has grown to the point that we’ve created a special index page to track the issue on Kubatana.

One of the interesting documents on the subject that I’ve put up recently is the Research and Advocacy Unit’s report Human rights violations against women and truth commissions, which looks at how women are effected by political violence and what lessons Zimbabwe can draw from truth commission processes in South Africa, Sierra Leone and Kenya. It calls for a Zimbabwean process that is open to and supportive of women victims of human rights abuses.

The Taking transitional justice to the people – Outreach report by the Zimbabwe Human Rights NGO Forum shares insights from a series of consultative meetings organised by the HR Forum with 442 people in 13 different rural constituencies across Zimbabwe. As the report points, out people from all walks of life in Zimbabwe have experienced political violence and other human rights abuses in the country’s history – and a similarly wide range of people participated in the HR Forum meetings. It was clear from these meetings that people want to talk about their past, and they need the platform to do so – in a way that is not biased or partisan.

Yesterday I posted a piece on punishment in schools, inviting opinions on whether, when, and how beating children in schools is acceptable, and how to deal with the question of discipline in schools.

Here are a few more comments on this issue:

My own daughter is in form 3 at a school in Chinhoyi. I paid $410 full fees for the previous term. The fees were paid right at the beginning of the term. Half way in the term the school authorities ordered the pupils to pay an extra $30 per pupil for extra lessons with the same teachers and after full fees were paid in good time. My daughter and many others about half of each class failed to pay the $30 and did not attend the extra lessons. The exams were set bringing in mostly material covered in the extra lessons. My daughter and the other pupils obviously failed most of the subjects. All those who failed were severely beaten up by the school authorities. I am in the same predicament, how can I complain without making my daughter vulnerable?
- TM, Chinhoyi

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I hope you can view the subject scripturally as well.  See Hint 12 from The Duties of Parents by J. C. Ryle (first printed in 1888).  “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”   [Proverbs 22:6]
- MG

What do you think? Leave your comment here or email info [at] kubatana [dot] net.

Kubatana recently received an email from a subscriber describing an incident in which a young girl was badly beaten by school authorities. Our subscriber wanted to encourage debate and discussion on this issue:

1. Do schools have the right to ‘beat’ and I mean beat children?
2. Do they have the right to do so without the sanction of their parents (if indeed this makes it right at all)?
3. Does beating ever solve anything or will it only ensure that the child becomes an adult who beats?
4. Is authority best wielded through the stick?
5. Does the Ministry of Education approve of beating?
6. What sanction do parents have against their child being beaten?
7. What action can they take if the child is beaten and the parents disapprove?
8. How can one complain without making the child’s position even more vulnerable?

We asked our email subscribers for their feedback today, and some of their feedback includes:

I personally think it depends to what extent is the teacher beating the student. There should be some kind of a limit and areas to beat if it is discipline the student. If  you are to see most of these big educated guys they went through all these kinds of treatment and most of them ended up doing well and worked within a disciplined order guided by code of  good social behaiour.

If students are not to be beaten they are more chances of them misbehaving and the teacher will end up being reluctant to monitor the general behaviour of the students because he or she would not want to waste time on someone he or she has no control over.

If punishment of students in schools is to be approved and made known to the students, I believe the behavior of them will substantially improve and possibly yield better people for tomorrow.
- ML

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If anyone considers unfair and unreasonable treatment of children it should be in consideration of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

These instruments recognize that all human beings should be free, have freedom from fear and want, and are endowed with equal and inalienable rights. Accordingly, human rights are acknowledged as being universal, that is they apply everywhere, and inalienable, which means that they cannot be taken away from the person even with his or her agreement. In your brief there appears to be contravention of the following principle: -

The school should have respect for due process and the right to a fair hearing before taking any disciplinary measures. Any disciplinary measures should be proportionate and not involve physical punishment or inhuman or degrading treatment.

Environments characterized by activities that can affect or involve children may provide particular difficulties and high risk situations of violating or being complicit in human rights abuses. Schools may be faced with the need to make difficult and complex judgments on whether and how to conduct themselves.

The UDHR itself states that “every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance.’’

An organization may be regarded as complicit if it in some way authorizes, tolerates or knowingly ignores abuses committed by the school.  While case law is developing that is clarifying the legal liability of private organizations for complicity in international crimes, most of what society, business and human rights advocates understand as complicity goes beyond its present legal definition and application.  The school and staff in their personal capacities may find they become isolated as international organizations (e.g. international finance or looking for another job) become risk averse if their complicity in turn may in any way entail liability under international law.
- TL

What do you think? Is there an “acceptable” level of beating? Or does all corporal punishment on students a violation of their rights? Email us your thoughts and opinions on info [at] kubatana [dot] net or leave us your comment here.

There has been a lot of talk about reconciliation in Zimbabwe recently. There are mutterings of a “truth and reconciliation” process in the works, and 24-26 July were named peace days this year. But the peace days have been dismissed as a choreographed initiative, particularly after 15 members of Restoration of Human Rights Zimbabwe were arrested for wearing black in protest. Human rights abuses continue at Chiadzwa diamond fields, MDC Members of Parliament continue to be arrested under spurious accusations, and political violence persists, particularly in the rural areas. In my view, none of these factors set the stage for a genuine process of national healing or reconciliation.

As one article put it recently: Reconciliation cannot be without acknowledgement and admission of guilt

Here are a few recent text messages from our subscribers around the reconciliation process:

No reconciliation without justice!

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Reconciliation should wait till after the elections

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Reconciliation is a logical process following an apology and admission of guilt from one party.

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Reconciliation is an interesting subject. There are 2 people involved in this issue – the victim(s) and the perpetrator(s) of human rights abuse. Reconciliation can only come when the perpetrator admits they were wrong. The victim has to be convinced that the perpetrator is genuinely admitting to shortcomings, with no conditions. Only then is it possible to reconcile.

This week, Kubatana launched Inzwa, our Zimbabwean experiment with audio information via mobile phones. We’ll be updating our information every Tuesday, and we are interested in any feedback to help us improve the service.

How does it work?

Tune into Inzwa by phoning +263 913 444 321-8 and . . .
- Press 1 for 60 seconds fresh bringing you current news and views
- Bata 2 to enter the doorway to chibanzi for job vacancies, scholarships or resources
- Press 3 to find out about everyday heroes and take a new look at Zimbabwean activists and activism
- Hit 4 to listen to Zanele unleash the music and introduce us to new musicians
- And . . . Speak Out Sistas and Bruthaz . . . to leave us a message, punch 5

So try it out! Phone +263 913 444 312-8 any time, day or night, and tell us what you think.