Reading a book by a Franciscan friar on the fall of apartheid and came across this quote: “It is often victims who are cursed by memory while perpetrators are blessed by forgetting,” from  The File by British author Timothy Garton Ash. I looked it up and a review by the UK’s Guardian newspaper says it’s an account on the feared Stasi in East Germany. I thought, yet another poignant reminder why the Gukurahundi ghost lives on. Yet I figured it goes even as recent as the 2008 Zimbabwean polls where we find the murders of political activists remaining unpunished, the perpetrators blissfully amnesiac.

We heard this from a subscriber today. What are you hearing about cotton farmers?

The Zimbabwe Gvt said it will be the sole buyer for cotton this year and the farmers are still holding on to their crop. All is silent. A friend of mine told me people are turning into stealing livestock especially goats to get the dollar. Worse things may happen if the silence continues. Is there anything that is being done to resolve this issue.

More reflections on the ZRP:

I was forced to pay a fine for $10 for allegedly going through an amber light last week. I asked the cop why one never saw police at traffic jams. He didn’t know what a traffic jam was.

It seems we are to pay ZRP for any service, that’s why they put up road blocks at 05:00hrs and leave thugs at Mbare Musika abusing travelers, because the thugs pay them.

The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on State Enterprises and Parastatal Management public hearings revealed how frustrated Zimbabweans are with the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA), reports The Herald today.

This will come as no surprise to the many Zimbabweans who phoned into our Freedom Fone test (thank you!) and left their voice mails about ZESA meter reading, load shedding, high bills and poor service.

Listen to some of this feedback here

I was really moved by the boldness of an girl pupils who protested against their school authorities right in front of their nearest Ministry of Education offices in Zimbabwe. The pupils who are all boarders at Mukaro High School in Gutu, walked for 20km, taking four hours to reach to the district’s Ministry of Education offices. They sneaked out from the dormitories as early as 2am and reached the offices at 6am. Their aim was to protest water shortages and poor food at the school. A big round of applause ladies! The girls at school are said to number 700 and one can only imagine the health implications of having water shortages with so many children.

With the Ministry of Education now aware and doing an investigation into the plight of these pupils and the school authorities knowing well that they are now under scrutiny from the different stakeholders involved, like the parents, the education ministry, health officials and other concerned parties, these pupils are guaranteed of some change and provision of a basic necessity – water. Not only will this benefit them until they complete their studies but it will also benefit future generations of pupils to come to that school. They have not only protested their rights at this particular school Mukaro High, but they have been a voice for other pupils around the country who due to varying circumstances are not able to take up such high levels of boldness. Also this a big warning to school authorities that misuse school funds meant for the welfare of school children. They should change their ways before such protests occur at their schools.

It is such small acts of resistance and protest that bring about change in the bigger picture. It is high time we emulate these pupils and make those accountable for discrepancies in the provision of our society’s daily life needs.

It really sad when we learn that police officers manning road blocks lose their lives or get injured by drivers who fail to stop at their signal to do so. It is sad to lose life in such ways. This issue of how police officers man roadblocks needs serious attention because it can develop into an order of the day to hear such sad news. And I can bet that with ZINARA canceling its vehicle licensing deadline extension, there is likely going to be trouble on the roads as police officers try to check new license discs on each vehicle…as defaulters try to escape from these ‘points’ of check…as police officers try to make an ATM transaction with each defaulter.

If the truth were told our police force has turned into thugs on the roads. They sprout out on each road the ‘movie style’, I saw you and you didn’t see me kind of stuff, which is really silly and dangerous. Some of these ‘road blocks’ are located at blind spots and some police officers have a pompous way of putting themselves in front of moving traffic. What do you expect when every few minutes there are cops jumping from bushes or alleys into the road trying to stop cars?

What happened to the ‘Police Ahead’ signs? Have they been phased out by some new law or amendment? Wherever these are hiding they should be taken and made use of to avoid the loss of life of our police officers. It’s funny hey. Its like driving without a seat belt on, one is putting their life at risk. So can we safely say those officers who set ‘instant’ roadblocks (except in the case of speed traps) are placing themselves at risk?