In one of Kubatana’s recent newsletters, in the very interesting what’s up section, we wondered if Zimbabwe were to hold the inaugural Harare International Carnival, whether the likes of Lady Gaga and other international artists might surprise and delight audiences with some unscripted remarks on, for example, the right to freedom of expression. It seems there is a lot more to wonder about regarding the line up at the carnival. ZTA chief executive, Kaseke, has said that there will be a Samba night during the carnival. In the report carried by the The Herald, he states that its strictly no under 18.

“There will be a Samba night. Only samba dance that night. Strictly no under 18! Samba dance is for adults, ask those who have been to Brazil. It is explosive.”

Samba dance is of Brazilian origin. The dance is sexual as evidenced by the moves and nudity. What amazes me is that we as a nation have failed to accept our dancers in the pole dancing and stripping business. Bevy and Zoey were once arrested last year for public indecency. So a nation that can hold in detention its local dancers, is holding a Samba night? We are all excited about the carnival so no more knives out for local dancers; let’s level the playing field. In fact it will be interesting if we could have our local dancers take up Samba for the carnival too.

Earlier this year when Sheilla Mutsenhu from Mutare decided to strip in protest  in front of the US Ambassador cameras flashed and she made headlines. She was never arrested or charged. But this was not the same when a WOZA activist, Bertha Sibanda decided to strip in protest for the release of other arrested activists. Bertha was charged with indecent exposure. Now if Bertha is to be charged then a docket against Sheilla should be opened too. Stripping is a form of protest and if Zimbabwe will not tolerate this then let every offender be charged. In fact in Zimbabwe protesting itself, even in an overall covering your whole body, gum boots and a hat if you like, is a crime. What we are seeing are double standards: Zanu PF supporters and war veterans can protest, but not others.

Mamphela Ramphele, anti-apartheid activist, businesswoman and academic has launched a new political party platform, Agang, in South Africa.

In her speech delivered yesterday she said:

“Today I announce that I am working with a group of fellow citizens to form a party political platform that will focus on rekindling hope that building the country of our dreams is possible in our lifetime. Our consultations and conversations across the lengths and breadths of our country have confirmed a hunger for a new beginning. Young and old, poor and rich, men and women, urban and rural people are yearning for a political platform that can put our country first. A platform that will be open to all South Africans of good will who want to build the country of our dreams. This will be a platform that will capture the best in us and enable us to transcend our divided past and work together as a society united in our diversity. It is a platform that will seek to work with others to reduce the fragmentation in the political landscape and to realign politics towards a focus on putting the country first. We launch this initiative under the name Agang, or in the Nguni languages of our country, Akhani, which can be interpreted in English as “Build South Africa”.

The ANC have criticized the new party saying it brings nothing new to the table as it rehashes the challenges South Africa is currently facing. The ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe, is quoted on SABC news saying ‘the newly-launched party political platform might be an American initiative aimed at channelling money to destabilise the South African government.’

New hope for South Africa?

Losing one’s particulars or important documents can bring misery and stress, especially when one thinks of how difficult it is to replace them. I know of a programme on Radio Zimbabwe where announcements are made of lost and found items. This programme has been running for a long time and has assisted a lot of people. Now an online platform has been created by Hansole Investments. The website www.lostandfound.org.zw allows people who might have lost or found items to enter the information and description of these items helping people to connect with what they’ve lost.

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A report in The Chronicle recounts a startling issue of lost cadetship application forms submitted by students at Lupane State University. The spokesperson for the university said they either got lost or misplaced at their Harare offices. I find it weird for an academic office to lose a bunch of 121 three or four paged forms. Before the students are asked to re-submit these forms investigations should be done to ascertain what happened to the forms they had submitted. I have always questioned the way universities handle the cadetship application process and reading this article brought back my dark cloud over this programme. For me there was always a lack of transparency. Being an orphan I thought I made it to top ‘A’ list of those credible but alas my application was turned down.

That then programmed my mind to feel that some local universities are structuring themselves to be ‘money making’ businesses thus having fewer students on cadetship will prove more viable for their business. They would rather do away with having to wait for the government to give them the disbursements for fees for students on cadetship and have students pay their full fees directly to them. University authorities find it much easier to chase away students who haven’t paid their fees in full at the exam entrance door than to drag the government to pay its cadetship dues to them on time. Thus on the universities’ end they are never keen to get more of their students on cadetship. On the other hand you cannot blame them since the government has failed to fulfill its mandate on the cadetship programme. But then if the government lets down universities and they in turn ‘punish’ students on cadetship what is being achieved at the end of the day? Every stakeholder involved in the cadetship programme should play his or her part because if this vicious circle continues we are killing the future of the nation.