In our society for one to claim to be a Christian it’s sometimes difficult unless you mention the name of your church and whether you have been baptised. I remember when I was still very young, mother used to force me to go for bible classes so that I could get baptised. I never really understood the whole purpose behind the bible classes until one day she tried to explain to me that if you want to be a Christian you have to be baptised and in order to be baptised I had to learn the bible and learn the Lord’s Prayer and other stuff. I received the Sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation and First Communion when I was still a teenager. This is the normal trend if are raised in the Catholic Church.

My biggest concern with my church is this mass exodus of youths from the Catholic Church. After chatting to some of my friends from various churches I got some fascinating facts about the way in which Catholics, Pentecostals and other different Christian denominations are going about in their day to day sessions of praising the Lord. I have always wondered why most youths now prefer the Pentecostal Church to Catholic Church? A friend of mine highlighted that maybe its about youth coming of age and having the freedom to choose which church to go to and sometimes not feeling connected to their faith in the Catholic Church. A friend of mine later said the reason he decided to go to a Pentecostal Church was because of the space created for youths to express themselves freely, which he never experienced during the times he was a Catholic.

I had the opportunity to attended a revival session at one of the Pentecostal churches in my neighbourhood and I noticed how youths could lead in a praise and worship session. This is something that I rarely see in the Catholic Church. I ended up having a question in my mind whether its time the Catholic Church reformed to meet the needs of the young generation. Its good to carry your prayer book, hymn book and your bible with you to church but when it becomes the norm to recite prayers each and every Sunday and having the same person leading prayer sessions, I find it a bit worrying for the young and energetic.

On Thursday 26 May 2011 I was really shocked to read an article in the Daily News entitled  “Anti-piracy board resigns“.

I really want to commend the Anti-Piracy Organisation of Zimbabwe (APOZ) board for taking such a brave move to show their discontent over the letter, which was written by the board director Innocent Matsengarwodzi to the police commissioner-general pleading to allow the sale of pirate movies. Such kind of action deserves to be applauded and it shows that the board was made up of professional people.

In trying to justify his actions APOZ director said,  “There are no original works of such films in our country and that 100% films can be downloaded from the internet showing that the creators of such films have already benefited from the sales and also prohibitive costs to acquire the exclusive rights by local companies to reproduce the works from the right holders who are mostly Western countries who gave us illegal sanctions,”

I believe when the Anti-Piracy Organisation of Zimbabwe was formed it had the mandate to protect artists from piracy regardless of origin of the artist or his/her work. It’s very unfortunate that we still have people who want to watch western films for free and promote piracy in the name of sanctions. Imagine how it feels if Macheso walks in the streets of London and sees some guy selling pirated copies of his latest album. Lets learn to respect other people’s work and give back what’s due to them.

Whether it is the love of the motherland or our hard-earned American dollar is the question that still needs answering.

In a scenario typical of the scramble for Chiadzwa diamonds, this time it’s not for the precious gems but for the American dollar. Barely 2 months after poor performances by hip-hop artist Sean Kingstone, another group of American artists are on the way to Zimbabwe for another rip off show.

Last year’s performance by Akon and Sean Paul at the National Sports Stadium left many Zimbabweans, including the promoter, counting their losses. Imagine parting ways with $100 for a show, which only lasted 60 minutes. All for someone coming from America to do lip-syncing in front of you. Our local music artists, who are always used as supporting artists, generally end up stealing the show from the much-hyped international artists.

Some people say Zimbabweans deserve it because after several times of being ripped off, we still allow these artists to come back again on the pretext of the love for the motherland. Or is it for the love of the money? Some say music is business and one has to make profit at the end of each day so sometimes it’s the music promoters who are fleecing the poor. It’s no wonder that most of these hip-hop artists are always singing about getting rich, or die trying. The recent HIFA event is a clear testimony of what good performances should be like. Zimbabweans are prepared to pay for a good show, but not disappointments.

This time its Timberland, Lil Kim and Ciara who are on their way to give us another performance, which will leave us, complaining again. I say “complaining” because if you remember the way Akon, Sean Kingstone and Sean Paul performed, little will change in terms of performance from Timberland and company. The only change will be the personality.

I hope this time we are not going to hear them talk about love of the motherland in an interview because we now know that its strictly business when they come to Zimbabwe.

The recent Worker’s Day commemorations held in Zimbabwe were packed with demands for better wages and working conditions. With high hopes for a better life since the introduction of the US dollar, most workers still find themselves living below the poverty datum line. With surging prices of minerals on the world market there is still little to show for an improvement in the lives of mine workers in Zimbabwe.

Most mining towns in Zimbabwe have turned into ghost towns. A good example is the asbestos mine in Zvishavane. Shabanie mine used to provide employment to hundreds of workers and the town was vibrant but now it has turned out to be the opposite. Mine workers in this town have been reduced to mere beggars, vendors and destitutes. Just like the land reform where many farm workers were left without means of survival, little is being done to address the welfare of mine workers.

A lot of companies last week were in a rush to beat the deadline for the submission of their indigenisation plans in line with the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act which states that 51 percent shareholding be reserved for locals. Little is being said of the plight of the workers in these companies. It is my belief government should make sure that employees of these companies get first offer for the shares especially in mining companies.  Recently I was in Mvuma and the town has just been reduced into a ghost with lots of former mine workers now resorting to panning for survival. The only good memories residents of this town have, are of the time when Athens mine was still operating at full capacity.

After the end of the Zimbabwe dollar era most youths were found jobless since the money changing phase was long way gone. With hopes of finding jobs absolutely bleak most youths resorted to becoming commuter omnibus conductors. As much as I appreciate the fact that some energy was put to good use by these youths now it has turned out that there is another breed of youths who are now working as rank marshals, especially in Harare at the designated pick up and drop off points for commuters.

Nobody knows were that title came from but I guess the job entitles one to maintain order and direct buses at the pick and drop zones in town.  Instead of helping commuters and bus drivers, these rank marshals popularly known as “MaHwindi” are now fleecing passengers. If you go to the Chitungwiza rank station close to Harare Central Police station during peak hours, around 4:30pm, you find commuters stranded and there will be much jostling for the  few buses coming. After talking to one of the bus drivers asking, what is causing this mayhem?  He said “it’s all being caused by the rank marshals, they are chasing away buses by charging exorbitant ranking fees”. The driver went on to say he makes around 10 trips from Harare to Chitungwiza every day and he has to part ways with $3 each trip. This money goes to the rank marshals. If you don’t pay, your bus is not allowed to use the bus station. This money is not accounted for since its going straight into someone’s pocket.

Police should intensify their operations by helping get rid of these touts because nobody needs assistance to get onto a bus and mind you, commuter omnibuses have placards with routes stuck on them.

As if this is not enough, during the same peak hour, commuters are now being charged a minimum of $0.50 to $1 to have a seat reserved for you by the rank marshals. That is if you are in hurry to go home. That’s just like killing two birds with one stone, charging both the commuter and the bus driver. If perhaps the City of Harare were collecting this kind of money everyday one would hope that we would have better shelter at the stations.

Big Brother Africa Amplified kicked off recently with 26 contestants from various African countries aiming for the  $200 000 prize money. Vimbai Mutinhiri the daughter of Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Services, and Wendall Parson are representing Zimbabwe in this year’s competition.

In a move to outdo last year’s performance by Munyaradzi Chidzonga on Big Brother, Vimbai pulled a surprise from her bag of tricks by stripping naked. Big Brother tasked the contestants to “help each other out of their clothes using only their gnashers” and Vimbai was paired with Nigerian contestant Vina. Since it was a timed operation, Vina didn’t waste any time with her teeth and our lovely Vimbai had her assets exposed on TV.

With so much to show on the first week many people are wondering how far this year’s contestants will take their acts in order to bag the cool  $200 000.