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Dogs of war

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Friday, June 24th, 2011 by Michael Laban

Two weeks ago, we read about jingles, written by the losing party to be put on national radio, saying “the people would rather have the military to rule them than an IMF stooge” (or western stooge, or whatever, the rhetoric is too stupid to listen to in detail).

Two days ago, we read that Air Commodore Kennedy Remigio Zimondi, director-general of military sports in Ministry of Defence, and third from the top in the chain of command in the Air Force of Zimbabwe, has been arrested on two counts of fraud/corruption, of $5000 and R235 000, and is facing a further count of fraud. So this is a senior military man, who is corrupt (or at least alleged to be, lets be fair).

How stupid do they think Zimbabweans are? How stupid can an organisation be?

And here I must pause to ask myself, what organisation? Zanu PF, the military, or the old ZANLA high command that has conducted the military coup? The one that has run Zimbabwe (into the ground while lining their pockets very well) for the last decade?

But what is the military for anyway? Defence? From whom? And if so, why are they not on border, and only on the border? Why are they so big, why so many (or is it a Zanu PF charity)? The defence of the country is done by Foreign Affairs, who see to it that no one wants to invade Zimbabwe. Talks, treaties, negotiation, good relations with our neighbours, etc. After all, even the Americans have not invaded Libya, and Libya has oil. We have … 80 percent unemployment.

Back to the military. How many planes can the Air Force fly? How many transporters, fighter jets, helicopters? Last I saw helicopters flying, they were shooting diamond panners in Chiangwa. This is not an Air Force job (at least, not the traditional/formal Air Force). But perhaps I am the stupid one. The role of the Air Force is to make money, as demonstrated by their leaders.

And the ground forces? How many armoured cars can drive? How many trucks? How many artillery pieces, rocket launchers, anti-aircraft guns, etc. can even fire? How much AK ammunition does each soldier have? It makes me wonder, what is the role of the armed forces, what are they supposed to do, what do they believe they can do? Besides rule the country in place of Mr Mugabe or some western stooge. And do they really believe they can do that?

The small amounts of the corruption arrests make people wonder, what did Zimondi do, and to who, that made him get thrown to the dogs? (Those ‘internal security dogs of “Animal Farm” fame). Because we all know they are all corrupt, so why pick this one individual to get arrested?

Zanu PF has destroyed cheap labour

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Monday, June 20th, 2011 by Michael Laban

Whatever anyone’s feelings, one can only say that Zanu PF has changed Zimbabwe. And whatever anyone feels about land redistribution, it has changed Zimbabwe’s economy. In some far reaching, and unexpected ways.

They have destroyed cheap labour.

While trying to avoid any value judgement on this subject (i.e. is it good or bad?), can I just point out how, and what might need to be done to survive. While I know most ‘cheap labour’ cannot read any of this (it is not mass available), the ‘common people’ are whom I am addressing. The working class. Those people who make a living (or try to) by selling their physical power, their labour, their energy, their daily effort.

The message is, get skilled, or get more skills. The days of cheap labour, the days of a need for unskilled human energy, are over. Labour is no longer going to be cheap, and industry, society, the economy, can no longer afford it.

The only reason labour can be sold cheaply, is because food is cheap. And that is no longer the case. Since large scale commercial farming (itself built on cheap labour) is dead, food is no longer cheap. We can see a majority of food is imported, therefore, most food will now cost the same as it costs in Germany, China, Peru, Australia, the UK, North America, etc. and it is expensive there. Last time I was in Perth, West Australia (for my father’s 70th), chicken cost 8 times what it cost in Harare. And West Australia is a cheap food exporter. Most other food around the world is the same cost. In much the same way, my electricity bill is less than half of my friends summer (he lives in Scotland) bill there.

So, the days when you can feed yourself by being a maid or gardener, or factory floor sweeper, messenger, gate guard, or any ‘unskilled’ labour, are over. And the ability to pay schools fees, feed a whole family, get transport, ZESA, water…. is over.

The amount of jobs for maids, or messengers, will be the same here as they are in the UK, i.e. there are none. Only a small niche, of very wealthy people, can afford maids, or house keepers overseas. And then, they are called ‘butlers’, or some such rarefied term. A messenger boy in Australia (my father in Perth) provides his own car. They are skilled. They provide their own tools. They work all hours. They run themselves as a business.

Not simply, ‘been mowing a lawn for 16 years, so need a raise’. Labour will have to be sold for a very specific purpose. And it will have to compete with many other labourers, who are physically as strong, and therefore able to do the same job. What do you have that makes you stand out? That makes you a better employment prospect than the next person? Mowing the lawn, as an occupation, will be taken over by gardening services. And if you cannot mow 13 lawns in a day, you will lose to someone who can. Gardeners, and all that sort of work, will no longer be paid, just to be there.

You cannot expect to sell something, “because I need the money”. You will have to sell something that is valuable, that people need and want, that is better than what the next guy is selling. There is no surplus cash out there in the market for people to afford to be generous. And ‘assist’ because of YOUR condition. Their condition, and what they had to do to get the money, will make the money more valuable. So you have to offer something valuable to get it. You must be able to mow the lawn, sweep the floor, guard the gate, better than the next person.

As the cost of living goes up (because cheap food has been destroyed), the wage a cheap labourer needs to survive must go up. And in order to get a higher wage, more work, more output, more value, has to be seen by the employer. Because she is suffering the same constraints. Her income is not increasing! So employers will employ less labour, and there will be more competition for those, fewer, ‘cheap labour’ jobs out there.

So, my conclusion, my message, is get skilled or starve. Thanks to Zanu PF, this is what they have liberated us to.

And get involved in your governance. It is your life they are playing with.

Talking corruption and bribery

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Monday, June 13th, 2011 by Michael Laban

Corruption is easier to define than bribery. Or, there are lot more definitions out there. Transparency International defines it “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”.

Fairly simple. Someone has a position – which has ‘power’ to it – whether it is the check out clerk’s power to ring up your purchases, or make you stand and wait and wait and wait, or it is the passport officer, who “hasn’t got the right paper to make you a passport”, so you can choose between never travelling, or giving over some other paper.

Someone abuses that position – you must make a facilitation payment, or take them to dinner, or buy them a beer.

Bribery may be that facilitation payment (money), or anything else (gifts, information, kissing up, favours sexual or otherwise, a lift, a banana, whatever), given to someone (individual or group). Whatever is given, so long as it is not ‘official’ – so it varies with whoever gives it, it does not get receipted, and/or it is not openly asked for as part of the fee. In this respect, a tip to a waiter or barman is a bribe.

Be that as it may, it is one part of this blog investigation. Bribery may or may not be illegal. It may or may not be standard procedure. It may or may not be expected. One of the things we are curious to find is the who, what, where, when, why, of bribery. This blog investigation is not intended to be judgmental. It is simply intended to get the information out there, so people, be they visitors or local people, know how to act? How much to tip/bribe? When to do it? What is vulgar and not vulgar? When is it expected, and when is it insulting?

From Wikipedia:
Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behaviour of the recipient. Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by Black’s Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public legal duty.

Or;
The bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipient’s conduct. It may be any money, good, right in action, property, preferment, privilege, emolument, object of value, advantage, or merely a promise or undertaking to induce or influence the action, vote, or influence of a person in an official or public capacity.

So, it has aspects. Something is given. All agree. That something may be quite a number of things.

Behaviour is changed (influenced). Or intended to. All agree. You want the barman to notice you and get you a beer. You want the passport officer to give you travel documents. You want the attendant to fill your bike up with petrol. You want to get your property deeds in your name. You want people to vote for you. You need your ‘free’ anti-retrovirals.

Bribery is a crime. Not all agree. But this is fine. We are not going to look at that. We just want to know what happens. How it happens. Why it happens. We want the information out there for all to see. We want examples.

For example, I was run down by a woman who drove through a red light many years ago. My bicycle went under the car, and I smashed her windscreen. With my face. I spent five days in a coma. My mother came form Australia to ‘look after’ her brain damaged son in Zimbabwe.

One activity involved going to the police for report filling, fines, bureaucracy, paper work and those exciting activities (i.e. who was responsible to pay for the brain scan, which seems to have found something). While waiting in the Police officers office, we listened to him lament (it was 1200) about his lunch that was ordered, and how would he pick it up, would we be finished so he could get it before it got cold, etc.? All good questions.

When the husband of the (obviously guilty) driver appeared, it did not go missing on him. He offered to ‘sort out’ the officer’s meal. Things went well for him then. The charge was not ‘driving with undue care’ which carried an obligatory 3 day jail sentence! They paid for treatment, dental work and a new bicycle, but no jail time.

From the examples, we want to know where the bribery happens the most. In medicine (hospitals, doctors and nurses, drugs), with the traffic police, Ministry of housing, Registrar general and travel documents, customs, local government, drivers licences, Emergency taxis and public transport, the courts, prisons, criminal police investigations, political offences, the diamond industry, or where?

We want to know “how much?” Tipping, as it is common, and most see it as legal, is easy. Ten to fifteen percent of the bill. But, how much do you ‘tip’ a ‘street kid’ (anyone of any age or sex, that inhabits the street) who offers to assist you in cheating the city of it’s parking fees? How much do you pay to ‘avoid’ a speeding ticket, after you have, in fact, been driving above the speed limit? What is the ‘fine’ with and without receipt, for not having break down triangles? How much do you pay to expedite a hospital bed? If the bed is supposed to be free, what is 10 to 15 percent?

How much is your vote worth? People offered to vote for me if I would buy them a beer. Now this is quite insulting, considering that many people (over 15 000, but the actual number is definitely unknown) died so that the ‘seller’ had the right to vote. And he was willing to sell it for a beer (maybe $1.00). And how was I to know (voting is secret) whether he voted for me anyway?

Perhaps that is why I lost the last election?

Life in a dictatorship

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Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 by Michael Laban

The other day I went to Surveyor General’s office to get a 1:50 000 scale map. Like I have been doing since 1971. Same thing, walk in front door, into maps on the left, ground floor. Find index, find map sheet reference. Take it to staff, they send off to the storeroom, and along comes the map. Check it, it is the one I want, pay for it, get receipt, exit to Samora Machel. Fast, efficient, courteous, fine service.

But not this time! Service is good, as always (although there was a shortage of maps at one stage), but they won’t take my money. I have to go to the tenth floor to pay, bring back receipt. I do this. And on the way up, (the lift works, but it is slow getting there, and there are still ten floors to be lifted through), I am thinking. This is life in a dictatorship.

It is all central. Power, and authority, derive from the centre. It all must go to, and come from, the middle. Gone are the days when you could pay the clerk, check your receipt, walk out the door. ‘Authority’ no longer comes from the people. From basic morals. Common sense. Logic. ‘Authority’ only comes from the centre (from where POWER also comes). Reminds me of High School (and that is a while back) learning definitions to spice up essays with. ‘Realpolitik’ the concept that decisions are divorced from moral considerations – dictated by the necessities of power and judged only by success.

So, since the power and authority derive from the middle (where decisions are made), and not from the people (who have the needs, the wants, the common sense, the simple decency, the basic morals), or even from the rule books (constitution, legislation, codes of conduct), it follows that ‘activity’ (especially financial) must also be done in the centre. After all, we have leadership by example.

The people on the ground floor cannot handle money.

Zimbabweans need to clean up their act

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Wednesday, October 27th, 2010 by Michael Laban

The Cool Carbon Club held a cleanup on Sunday, 10 October. Half in Ward 17 and the other, down King George from Lomagundi to Kensington shops. Each group had a city tractor and trailer to take away the collected garbage. Over one hundred people, three schools, and various people actually picked up litter, while others sorted it into recyclable piles. We got many comments from passer-bys (which was nice, but why don’t they DO something too!) so maybe there will be less litter thrown out of car windows etc.

I am always amazed at people’s attitudes: I won’t litter my car, instead I’ll throw my rubbish out the window. After all, the ENTIRE WORLD is my rubbish dump. And the ENTIRE WORLD is my servant who must collect it all up and make the surroundings look pretty again.

Where is the toll road money really going?

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Wednesday, August 25th, 2010 by Michael Laban

Just come back from two trips to Eastern Highlands. Tolls both times, both ways. Now, I’ve seen a newspaper that says, “$15 million has been collected. Toll booths built. Roads paved.”

The only pavement I have seen laid is the rumble strips at the approach to these toll booths.

No potholes have been filled, edges maintained. I haven’t seen a new sign, or even new road markings painted.

Strikes me the whole scheme is job creation. New employees, or old employees now able to sit outside. And new places for the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) to sit and do nothing (which they do so well).

And I see ‘new’ things (who sold them those?). E.g. caravans, road cones, porta loos, solar panels.

Can someone show me, (not tell me), the point of this exercise? Not verbage – aims, objectives, uses, plans – but actual things? What has been done aside from collecting $15 million?