Scatterlings of Africa, I call your name and Asimbonanga are some of the songs that come to mind when I hear the name Johnny Clegg also known as “The White Zulu” because of his admiration of the Zulu culture.

During the apartheid regime, Clegg teamed up with Zulu street musician Sipho Mchunu to form the first inter-racial South African band they called Juluka. The band’s music was a fusion of pop, rock and traditional zulu rhythms.

Annoyed by the explicitly political songs of Clegg and Juluka, the apartheid regime banned their music on radio but this never detered them for singing out on the injustices taking place then.

In the song, Asimbonanga, they called for the release of Nelson Mandela and paid tribute to three martyrs of the South African liberation struggle: Steve Biko, Victoria Mxenge, and Neil Aggett.

I’m glad to write that “The White Zulu” is back with his much awaited new album titled ‘One Life‘. In the album, Clegg continues to write thoughtful and political lyrics.

One of the new songs on the album is titled: The revolution will eat its children (Anthem for Uncle Bob).

Commenting on the song, Clegg writes: “Revolutions around the world have always resulted in some form of social engineering accompanied by the inability to factor in that inevitable dark aspect of human nature – the lust for power.”

Some of the lyrics for the song are:

He’s a leader, talks of freedom
He knows the power of the Big Idea
He’s a dealer, he’s a seeker
Of the power that comes from fear
He gave his life to the party machine
Holding on a secret dream
He knows better than anyone
Power comes from the barrel of a gun…
And he’s rising up against them now
And he’s rising up in country and town
Rising up against them now, rising up

Chorus
The revolution has eaten its children
I see the river of dreams run dry
I’m so thankful I got to love you
You are the reason I survive

While the South African government continues with its “Quiet Diplomacy” on Zimbabwe, Clegg warns, “the revolution will eat its children” while people stand by and look.

In March this year, I attended the commissioning of equipment by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) at Chikuku Vocational Training Centre in the Bikita area in Masvingo Province. It was great to see male students from the Centre prepare the sadza – this is the staple diet for the people in Zimbabwe. It is the mixture of maize meal, cooked with hot water until it becomes a thick porridge. It is often served with vegetables.

Joining us for sadza in communal Zimbabwe was the Canadian Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Roxanne Dube.

There are some garbage bins in Harare that display colorful adverts for Protector Plus condoms. Part of the advert reads, “What the smart guys are wearing”: a great message but what a pity that most of the bins are overflowing with garbage that hasn’t been collected for days. Just the other day, NewZimbabwe.com ran a story about the City of Harare failing to collect refuse in some areas. An official with the council attributed this to the poor tractors being used. Apparently they don’t have sufficient horsepower to pull the trailers that collect the refuse.

In an effort to clean up the City, the council in conjunction with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) and the police have said that it’s a crime for people to litter the streets. Anyone caught by the EMA will be taken to the nearest police station where they will have to pay a fine of Z$250. If a police officer has a receipt book then the offender can pay a spot fine.

While I think this is a noble idea, I have some reservations.

Surely the council should have first collected all the refuse in the city and placed refuse bins in as many places as possible before punishing people who do not place their refuse in the bins? And I’d also recommend that the authorities demand that commuter bus operators remove their bright bold stickers that read marara panze (which means throw your rubbish outside).

The Herald reported that 21 “litterbugs” had been arrested on October 19. I remember seeing some of the arrested people on the main news of our one and only national TV channel. The “litterbugs” all said they did not know that such a law was even in place. This suggests that the city should have carried out a nationwide educational campaign before ambushing people with laws that are signed and stored in their filing cabinets.

I notice that the Harare city authorities have put up numerous public notices indicating the clamping and towing zones but I guess “litter bugs” don’t bring in much revenue compared to those who just park their cars anywhere.

At the end of the day I think that we all agree that it’s time the smart bins stopped flowing with refuse and the smart guys wore the condoms.