Trying to beat the 24 June voter registration deadline for my area, I decided to sacrifice my weekend booze and social soccer and be a responsible citizen by adding my name to the voters’ roll.

My voter registration ordeal started on Saturday at around 7:37 am. There I was with my beanie and tracksuit on to beat the morning chill. Trying to be the early bird I headed to the community hall and during this time of electioneering, I came across a pickup truck full of young fellas waving the national colors heading the same direction as me. As I was about to approach the hall the cheering coming from the pickup truck became louder. I could see the young goons in the truck vigorously waving clenched fists at me shouting “Cde Cde zvamauya zvanaka!” I wasn’t going for a rally so how could they start chanting a song to welcome me, instantly granting war credentials to warrant a Cdeship title. By ignoring the gestures I was about to draw attention, so here I was clenching my not so strong fist not knowing that I was doing it with the wrong hand. Had these young fellas noticed that would have been another story? I comforted myself by putting the blame on God because He is the one who made me left-handed. The truck was not going to the community hall but rather heading to a nearby crèche where some primary election campaigns were taking place. I guess they assumed that I was dressed up for some toyi- toyi and I was a “Cde”. Well this Cde was on a voter registration mission and had these fellas offered me a ride to go to the registration center I was going to accept the Cdeship offer.

At the registration center a different story unfolded. I couldn’t believe the number I was issued. It was just 8am and already I’m number 287? I waited patiently and I observed the situation to see if it was worth waiting it out. It took me two hours to move 10 places and frustration was starting to creep in, so to kill time I joined a discussion, which was about the frustration people were experiencing at the slow pace of the registration. I moved another three places and by 12:30pm I could not wait any longer. I went home so that I could grab something to eat.

I decided to try my luck on Sunday. I thought I would take advantage of the fact that some people would have preferred to go to church but it was worse than I thought as I found myself number 348 in the queue. The queue was not moving and every now and then I could see people tagging along claiming they were in front of me. I got frustrated waiting and I also felt cheated. So desperate time calls for desperate action! In a matter of moments my number 348 turned into 48 as I tagged along like how the other guys in the queue had been doing since morning. I decided to stay low and move along with the commotion till I got inside and it worked. As I was about to leave the hall at around 330pm I tried to imagine if those at number 300 and something were going to be served, or whether they were going to resort to what I had done.

Or get frustrated and leave like what I did on Saturday.

Usually a revolution comes with a change of government or system and some revolutions have even produced another wave of repression. From Tahrir Square in Cairo to Gezi Park in Taksim now Viva la Revolución in Brazil. 84% of the people taking part in the in the protests or civil obedience in Sao Paulo, Brazil are not aligned to any political party. They are educated and most of them are first time protesters. 53 percent are under are under 25 years of age and 22 percent are students. I guess they are also tech savvy. These statistics are quite similar in almost every country where uprisings have been witnessed. The images coming out show young people in running battles with police. Maybe the young people are the hardest hit by the soci-economic and political injustice world over.

Some say the protests were started over an increase in transport fares but this is just part of why they are protesting. Some of the grievances include police brutality, inequality, corruption, dire public services and the extravagant preparations for next year’s World Cup. The cost of hosting the World Cup is now taking its toll on ordinary citizens just like happened in South Africa 2010. If a small increase in fares could make people go out on the street in thousands what about a country with over 80 percent of the population unemployed and where water and electricity have become luxuries?

As Karl Max once said about the French revolution, “History repeats itself, the first time as a tragedy, then as a farce.” The month of June synonymous with tragedy for Zimbabwe this time has brought in a new dimension shaping the political discourse of Zimbabwe.  The farce, which many would have anticipated, is just another tragedy repeating itself. It is not farce when citizens prepare to run away from their homes and neither it is comedy when you hear threats of war when you decide to choose the leader of your choice. The past five years of has been a bag mixed fortunes with tears and joy. Shop shelves, which were once deserted all of a sudden became flooded with goods though most of them were imports but the nation managed to survive up to now. At least we managed to survive after the signing of the Global Peace Agreement (GPA) in 2008 to witness the unfolding of another tragedy. Well the GPA is now in its closing episode but it remains to be seen who will claim credit for bringing hope to this nation which was on the brick of collapsing. To some this proclamation of an election date is a farce but to those who suffered during the winter chills of June 2008 will tell you it’s a tragedy. If history is going to repeat itself let it not be in the form of another coalition government.

Dear Harare Westerners

I just got my “marching orders” from the Clerk of Parliament Mr. A. M. Zvoma who reminded me that my time is up as my term of office as Member of the House of Assembly for Harare West constituency will expire at midnight on 29 June 2013 when Parliament shall stand dissolved by operation of Section 63 of the Constitution which states that:

“63 Prorogation or dissolution

(2)Subject to the provisions of this Constitution, the President may at any time dissolve Parliament.
(4)Parliament, unless sooner dissolved, shall last for five years, which period shall be deemed to commence on the day the person elected as President enters office in terms of section 28(5) after an election referred to in section 28(3)(a), and shall stand dissolved:”

It’s funny how 5 years fly so fast, it seems like yesterday when I was sworn in on 27 August 2008, to serve you Harare West. It is a privilege and honour that I enjoyed.

A message of appreciation from Hon Jessie Majome’s Facebook page should be a reminder to all those Zimbabwean legislators who have been thinking that it is by their birthright to be in Parliament. Such privileges have been abused by so many to an extent that they think that being a Member of Parliament or Senator is somehow related to chieftainship. Well as noted by Hon Majome after Parliament has been dissolved she will be jobless and it is the people who would bestow that privilege back on her so that she can have another term in office. The reality of being jobless to many MPs is still in the cloud, which is why some are still dreaming of an extension of the inclusive government. Its hard to leave an all expenses, paid hotel life and the unproductive time spent heckling in Parliament at the expense of the electorate and facing the daunting task of convincing these same people to grant you another opportunity to represent them again. The realities of being reduced to be another ordinary member of society will make some develop health complications as fear of rejection builds up.

Well suck it up and understand that what goes up really comes down and give others a chance in the next elections.

Benjamin Franklin once said;  “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.

Early in the morning before I got to work I wake up for a daily fix of world news from various channels, from ZBC ‘s political machinations to Press TV’s anti-West propaganda from Iran. Yesterday I almost got lost on time as I got to drawn into an Edward Snowden interview on CNN. This is one guy who turned from being a spy to a whistleblower and in the end he exposed the ridiculous.

From the George Bush era to Obama’s second term in office, the US government has been on a mission to do data mining and eavesdropping on people’s conversations and online activities through a programme called PRISM. The scam involved some of the social media companies we have been trusting with our valuable private information. From big telecomms companies to social media and search engine companies like Facebook and Google, the US government has  been able to access private information on citizens and all this was done in the name of national security. Holed up in Hong Kong the former spy revealed that a total of nine mobile and technology companies knew about PRISM and collaborated in turning over citizens’ private information to the government.

To me Snowden is a hero because he took an oath to defend the Constitution but when he realized that the Constitution was being violated he decided to go public. Of course there are those calling for his head for treason and some may argue and say if you have nothing to hide then why worry but the bottom line is citizens’ liberties are being given away for temporary safety. If a government can have access to people’s private telephone records even without any wrongdoing is not a violation of human rights then what would stop Swaziland or Sudan’s government from investing in such technology that can used infringe on citizen’s rights under the same banner of national security. Like any previous laws passed in US which infringe on online freedoms PRISM has set a bad precedence to countries with repressive regimes as this will be a justification to wiretap and monitor online activities of citizens.

Not anticipated by many, it looks like Zimbabwe’s new constitution has ushered in an era full of uncertainty and insanity. Call them radical thinkers or progressive minds or just disruptive minds; all these minds are contributing to the political circus of Zimbabwe. Just like in any circus, if a show starts to lose the audience, the producers quickly change the script – something that I think producers of Zimbabwe’s political circus should do.

The debate hosted by Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition yesterday on the recent Constitutional judgement exposed political weaknesses all round. It also exposed the habit of just issuing out press statements without action, which has been long been adopted by civic organisations.

The circus really began when the courts ruled in favour of the private citizen who had filed the lawsuit and ordered that elections be held by 29th July.

The panic and lack of strategy exhibited by the opposition parties in response to this ruling made me realize I was not the only one who one lacks knowledge of the constitution. The same constitution we endorsed without knowing its contents is now coming back to haunt us.

Caught napping again, Zimbabwe’s opposition parties began to scurry for cover, taking defensive positions. Among the noted defensive lines is the issue of “reforms”. On this one I would side with the progressive minds at Bumbiro house. These guys have been calling for these reforms for ages but nobody listened only to be labeled disruptive minds by those who now eat at the high table in Parliament. For how long will the nation wait for reforms and the continued mediation of President Zuma? I don’t think even Mr Zuma will have the power to reverse the decision taken by the courts but will just tell the GPA principals to hold free and fair elections.

The nation has been in election mode for some time and the continued backtracking by the opposition has been giving arsenal to ZANU-PF’s campaign strategy. The reality is that the so-called free and fair conditions being called for by Civil Society and opposition parties will not happen in the short timeframe given by the court.

So where is the plan “B” if there is one?