I went to vote yesterday. Early to avoid the crowds! I got ink on my left pinkie finger, all the way up to the second joint. Seems they have a lot of ink, and don’t expect many people to come to put it on. I bet they were right.

There was no trouble voting. Metal ID (which says citizen of course), they wrote my name, next desk gave me a voting slip, next desk inked my finger (the only desk with only one person on it), I went to the booth and marked my paper (my vote is secret), went to the ballot box, showed the next desk the folded slip with the stamp on it and put it in the box.

Before lunch, I went to my afternoon engagement. Spotted several polling stations along the way. One had six people waiting, another had 20 people. I am guessing the station I voted in might get 1000 voters. There are three polling stations in my ward, and 18 000 voters. If each station gets 1000, that is 3000 voting out of the 18000. That is a 16 percent turnout, by very rough guess, and nothing scientific about it.

No one came for a nothing document.

Had a sudden windfall.

Not exactly. It was already my money. Bank in the UK just sent me a letter saying,” “we are shutting your account, you have a month to move it or it will be gone.” No explanation. No reasons given. Just, “we are useless, gormless twits, pointy headed morons, and no wonder there is a banking crisis here because we are imbeciles.” My friend the (former) lawyer even says the letter does not even give a legal number of days!

Moreover, it is weeks before Christmas, when mail stops, and, “because you have received the letter, you can no longer use telephone banking,” I am told over the long distance phone call I make. Things eventually happen (thanks to people who posted from Europe), and MY money is still with me. Just as well I guess, they are idiots, and I am glad they do not have my money.

Now, what to do with it? My money is suddenly in my hand. Instead of being safe (with those morons?) for a rainy day, it is here in front of me. I always wanted to be more energy conscious. But, it is an investment to save towards, since it is not small (not by my standards). Now, here, my ‘windfall’, is enough!

I investigate. Drive around. Check prices. Ask questions. Then buy a solar geyser (100 litre, Chinese), some LED lights (South African), solar panel, control box, team of plumbers to install, time off to get it done, time off to tweak it, some bits back, some bits forth, some taps on, different ones off, water flow out the door, different taps on again, and we are there. Installed in January, and all working.

One hundred litres of solar geyser is enough for one person to comfortably have a hot bath a day, wash dishes, and all those things one always expects hot water to be there for. And with solar it is always there. On overcast and dreary days, it is not as much hot as warm, but it is always there (when there is water). One hundred litres is not enough for more than one person.

LED lights – I always have light, even when the neighbours are stumbling around looking for the torches and candles. The light is not enough to fill a large room with enough illumination to read comfortably by and do the crossword. It is certainly enough light to fill the bathroom, and do what is necessary there. And it is definitely enough to keep the house illuminated for security while I am away at night.

But the best is, I am not paying for it. A noticeable, significant drop in electricity use. It is too early to really know savings, but so far… November and December last year I paid $40 a month for power. Installed solar in January. This year (what I have prepaid will take me to the end of April) I have paid $90 on power. $22.50 a month.

For simplicity (I did history, not mathematics!) I paid $1000 for the solar stuff and to have it installed. And I am saving $20 a month. Or $240 a year. So, for my investment in solar, I am getting a 24 percent per annum return. What bank in Zimbabwe (or the pointy headed morons in the UK) will give you a 24 percent interest rate? The money is not liquid, so I cannot use it to impress my girlfriends, but, the return! Thanks to the bank for shutting me out. I can make more money without you! And invest in solar!

I am standing at the checkout at TM. My groceries waiting for someone else’s groceries to go through the till. And someone in the queue behind us is talking on his cell phone. As they will do. Loud and strong, as if they were in the privacy of their office. But we can all hear! The conversation is about that “den of iniquity”, the CMED, (he used to work there), where he has a ‘deal’ going on to get a part for a vehicle, which is hard to get, but through them he can get it at a ‘good’ price.

He continues that what is good for him is what counts. He used to work there, they used him, he deserves, and they are his contacts. What is more, every body does it anyways. He has got to – to survive. Compete in this world. Feed his family.

Corruption is a system. He knows this. If no one bought the stolen goods, they would not be stolen.

So next time you hit a pot hole (easily done since it has rained every day since Christmas,  and the storm drains have not been cleaned since…, so the water stays on the road), think of this man. It is his fault. He is a major player in the corruption system. Open and honest (enough to tell all of TM!). And it is the corruption system that ensures that CMED cannot service vehicles, which means than no one gets to the site to repair potholes.

In it’s simplest form.

In the larger form – by loudly, brazenly, with all the excuses in the world – he is the disease that is corruption. Perhaps not it’s only face, but as guilty as anyone else involved, and therefore he is the reason, the filth, the evilness, the scum, that keeps the potholes on our roads (and many other evils).

I was on the bicycle going to Sentosa for a meeting. Which is close, I am not really fit. I turn on to Kerry Road, go 40 meters, suddenly the front tyre goes flat. Suddenly! A hiss, and as fast as you can say ffffft, it is deflated.

Dilemma. Do I push the bicycle on to the meeting, and maybe make it on time, and then push all the way home? Or do I push home, get in something faster, zoom back to the meeting, be a little late (but I have a good excuse), and then the bicycle is already home to be fixed later? Yeah, take the easy way. Push home.

As I walk up the cycle path on West, a guy on a bicycle calls to me. “I can fix it.” But I have no money. So I tell him, “No thanks, I have no money.” “No problem,” he says, “will do it anyways.”

I have seen him before; he fixes punctures on the side of the road. He has all his ‘fixit’ kit on the back of his bike. Pump and all. And I have seen this routine before. We all have. Promises to do thing for free, to get the job, but when the job is done, out come the whine. “Just need money to get home/buy food/children’s education/sustain peace process in the middle east”. The story. And since they have already done something, you are obligated. If you do not remunerate, you are a…

And I really have no money. Nothing in the wallet, not even $1. But I am not pushing fast, and I stop, and I show him no money, and make protest I cannot pay, and plead my case before it all goes wrong.

“No problem,” he says, and kit is off the back of his bike and out, my bike is down and tube out of tyre, and work progressing before I can stop it. He is a ‘professional’. Pumps tyre and finds hole. Roughs the area with a hacksaw blade. Cuts patch from old tube with scissors. Bit of glue from tube of contact adhesive. All the kit he has. All the tools he has. It IS impressive. Lets it dry a bit. Sticks the patch on, tube back in, tyre pumped (good pressure), and it holds! Wheel back on bike. I am able to go.

But I have to protest again, “I have no money.” “Not a problem, maybe sometime you do me a favour.” And he is about to be off, with no whine, no change of mind to “just need…”. He has done a favour, and that is his reward. I am dumbstruck. I at least find out his name. “Michael.” Well, that is a good name! And he lives near me. And his wife worked for the Chinese, and he used to be a driver, but quit to do his own business, and he works there (points) most days, and he is a real live person with a soul. (And a good name!)

Just when you have all the answers – people are scum. Never turn your back on anyone. You are going to be disappointed. It isn’t going to work. They will break it. They may say that, but mean something else. Talk is cheap. And all the rest.

Then, along comes Michael, and destroys everything. All you ‘knew’. All the foundation of life. The basis for understanding. Your method of getting by. How the world works. Your Weltanschauung (your worldview). All destroyed.

Weeks later, the tyre still holds air. Thanks Michael.

I stood for an hour on the side of Chiremba Road on Wednesday. Police pulled me over, for not displaying something, somehow. Or something was displayed incorrectly. Then again, maybe something was incorrectly displayed. Whatever. I showed my triangles. I showed my fire extinguisher. (I discovered I have a tin of beans under my seat!) I had a license plate. And license disk. And license sticker. All in order. I think it was insurance. Whatever.

“Come with me,” and he has my drivers license so I really have no choice. We cross the road to the woman constable with the fine receipt book. “$20 spot fine.”
“But I only have $4,” and I show my wallet with all my money in it, which turns out to be only $3.
“But it is a $20 spot fine.”
“Well, I only have $3, I cannot pay $20, either give me a ticket, or take me to jail.”
“It is not a criminal offense for what you have done.”
“Well, it is not a criminal offense to only have $3.” At least I hope it is not, or most Zimbabweans would be in jail.
“Park over there.” So I cross the road and park the truck over there.
“Come with me”, and we cross the road again. In an hour we cross the road four times. With puzzlement and wonder … “How can we write a receipt for $3?” “I don’t know, but $3 is all I have.” “But the spot fine is $20.” “So write me a ticket.”

And in amongst the standing around, crossing the road, picking my nose and the same questions and same answers to the same person, different persons, random persons, and more, I watch plenty of folded and crumpled and filthy (toll gate special) bills be passed from ‘offenders’ (who have committed the offence of driving down Chiremba Road) to ‘enforcers’, and not many receipts being issued. Eventually, “you can go”, but I can’t really, as they still have my license, and once we find whose hand it is in, there is the barrage of the same questions and answers over and over again – “$20″, “only got $3″, “can’t write receipt of $3″, and I finally get my driver’s license and drive off.

So, what has happened here?

Obviously, if I had handed over my remaining $3 (lunch money!) for a receipt-less ‘fine’ I could have gone much sooner, and we all could have ridden the corruption gravy train much faster. With whatever my offence was completely un-corrected.

And what are the ZRP, the guardians of Law and Order in Zimbabwe, doing for the economy of Zimbabwe? They are making it ‘work’ in their own personal regard. In terms of the national fiscus, even if I had paid $20, and received a receipt, how much difference would that have made towards the justice system, the attorney general, keeping dangerous vehicles off the road, making Zimbabwe a safer and better place for us all to live in? And how many hours were spent – and productivity lost – by everyone I watched processing receipt-less fines. How much did those costs add to the underground economy (since there are no receipts, they cannot be accounted for in the taxed economy), swelling it and making it bigger?

Zimbabwe is to co-host next year, with Zambia, a big, international tourism event. How far does this attitude from the police (and all the ruling, and former ruling, apparatus) percolate through the country? How many ‘visitors’ will get this treatment?

But it is that attitude – I have power, you have money, and I want your money (without earning it) – that is at fault. This attitude needs to be changed if we are to get ahead.

In the Mail and Guardian I read that the Gauteng High Court has ruled that South Africa must prosecute Zimbabweans, accused of torture, if they ever appear in South Africa. This according to their obligations under the Rome Statute, which they signed (and which led to the founding of the International Criminal Court).

On the same page, Minister Chinamasa made some very strong comments. It is a “sad moment”, an “Ex-Rhodie plot”, and the South African justice system was now “in disrepute”. And he explains how it will happen, the steps that must be taken, to get a Zimbabwean criminal to South Africa.

However, he never says once that no crime was committed. That no torture was conducted. That the people here are innocent. So it would seem, by neglecting to bring up this first most obvious point, (their innocence), that he is admitting to the fact that torture took place in Zimbabwe in 2007 when the Harare headquarters of the MDC were raided by Zimbabwe authorities.