A guy whose opinions I always respect posted a Facebook comment on Independence Day apparently pissed off by what he said was an obsession with negativity among Zimbabweans scattered across the globe as they reflected on what April 18 meant for them.

Turns out the many sons and daughters of the soil, from the “children of the war” to the “born frees,” the sentiment was that there was little to celebrate considering that the independence had spawned blood, sweat, tears, frustrations, broken bones, broken homes and hobos.

These are folks who left the motherland in search of “better lives” elsewhere. And of course these are compatriots who continue fighting for their right to vote by the authors of their misery who know too damn well that the political preferences of these millions lie not with the founding nationalist but elsewhere. For these political elites, political oblivion is a certainty if the Diaspora vote is allowed.

Thus it was that over this past weekend some young men spoke (“obsessed”) about hardships, never mind the setting: they were attending a lavish wedding of a childhood friend who could afford that kind of luxury “because he was in the Diaspora.” A young man in his late 20s, early 30s thereabout said: “I wish independence had come in 1994.” Obviously this was in reference to South Africa, seeing the young man getting married was working in SA and for him to be able to have a wedding in Bulawayo with a limousine and all that glitz was ample proof that South Africa still afforded the average Joe stupendous economic opportunities. But you still just have to point to the unending contradictions: the SA economy is still in the hands of “white capital,” and you only have to listen to Julius Malema, yet it is still affording young black men like the wedding guy a dream life seeing his fairytale wedding back home in Zimbabwe.

This wedding guy obviously has no concern about Julius Malema’s politics, never mind still the ubiquitous poverty that continues to stalk South African citizens which Malema likes to point at in what others see as his radical political views.  Meanwhile, back at the wedding, another young man said: “Independence should have come last year, then things would still be swell and we would all be working!” Talk about a harsh indictment for the nationalist fathers who are touting youth economic empowerment among other unorthodox means that employ such things as cudgels and sjamboks as what will bag them the coming polls.

At a time when the populist clarion call is the stripping of the country’s wealth by whites and the need to return of that wealth to indigenous peoples, young jobless youths obviously are yet to buy that. And one can actually recall some old grannies being heard yearning for the white years, and this time is it young men long accused of being born-frees with no appreciation of the sacrifices the nationalist fathers made who are seeing beyond the rhetoric. You have to hear the sentiments from young people from Matebeleland especially and all the talk about young economic empowerment concerning who is really benefiting from this whole exercise. It certainly isn’t them. Yet the exchanges at that wedding do tell us that someone sure is out of touch with this demographic despite the tunes being beamed on national television penned by born frees in celebration of masimba kuvanhu.  If a thirty-year old young man, because of his dire economic circumstances, can curse the placing of indigenous resources in the hands of a fellow black man in the name of political and economic independence, then surely the MDC-T folks who are telling Saviour Kasukuwere to slow down are not speaking out of turn.

After all, Zimbabwean seems to know where the country’s wealth has gone since 1980 and the latest efforts are but attempts to up the self-aggrandisement ante.

Kubatana’s thinking about producing Tsoro Boards and putting them into communities in the hope that messages published on the boards will prompt debate amongst the people playing draughts and those gathered watching the game. Recently we had the pleasure of interacting with art students at the Harare International School whilst they experimented with different ideas and designs for potential Tsoro Boards. Here are a few very colourful examples to share with you.

Thanks to Lloyd from Harare who emailed us this photograph. He placed a FIX THIS.please sticker near pits that have been dug to repair burst pipes. However the pits have remained uncovered for over two months.

Interesting to read in the Mail and Guardian about “Colonial past haunts Britain again”, where 8800 files from 37 former colonies have been unearthed in Hanslope Park, and other UK National archive hideaways. More interesting might have been the ones they burned from 1961 on. At that time, a policy was put in place (it’s in the files) to burn and hide (destroy) some files from the former colonies, and to leave a select few (‘legacy’ files) to the new Independent countries.

Some of the hidden files have been found, and some of the information in them is quite damaging (that is why they were hidden), describing torture, murder, cover-ups and other ‘wrong’ activities by Her Majesty’s government.

Even regarding the standard rule of thumb, that you cannot judge the past, and activities from the past, by today’s standards of behaviour, we just know that some things are ‘wrong’, and would have been then. For example, the death of Captain Cook in Hawaii. Was he killed, or murdered? He certainly died, but was what he was doing wrong, or was what the islanders doing wrong, or was it all a big accident, a misunderstanding? Well, we cannot take Roman Dutch law in Zimbabwe today, or Royal Navy High seas doctrine now, or even USA law as currently practiced

All those basic matters aside though, the real point is that, 50 years after – over 50 years after – the activities took place, they are being revealed. And the perpetrators – who are guilty by standards in place at that time – are being found guilty and are paying.

How does that apply to today’s life? Simple. Don’t do anything wrong. You know what is wrong. It is inside you. It may also be currently written, but mostly it is known. “You know”. The only safe path is not to commit a crime or do anything ‘wrong’. A pardon (from the King/Queen/Head of State/Head of Government) will not help. Time will not wash it away. Your only defence is do what is right. And you know what is right, no one can tell you.

I remember on the day I gave birth, I was both tired and happy. The long journey was over. Even though I was dog-tired, motherhood was calling as my son had to be attended to. To breastfeed him and to change his diapers among other things. Even though the clinic provided an extra hand to help I had to start doing some of these chores myself. The midwife would come in the mornings to clean the babies. Out of curiosity to see how its done, I joined her at her at the basinet area. I had given birth the previous night, so I was still in pain, but I told myself I wouldn’t miss this. I engaged myself in a conversation with the midwife. We discussed my son’s birthmarks, his looks and I did mention how fragile I felt he was. During dressing time, I mentioned how diapers were more convenient because he had done his first poop – meconium – so it meant no washing to be done. The midwife agreed with me that diapers help she felt they were damaging the environment as some mothers were not aware of how to properly dispose of them.

When I got home I realised that surely disposable nappies are convenient but I faced, and am still facing challenges with disposing them. To start with the City’s refuse collection vehicle does not pass directly outside our own gate, they instead use the main road that links our road. This means if I want to engage in their services I have to take my rubbish to a neighbour’s gate, which is rather unreasonable because if they do not turn up what happens to my rubbish? So that option has been totally cancelled. Burning used diapers is not an option either as they are hard to burn completely as well as the dangers involved in burning rubbish. At the end of the day when the diaper plastic bag is nearing full I find myself stressed as to how I have to get rid of it.

Talking to mothers out there, they shared the same sentiments that disposing diapers can be a stress especially in areas where the City’s refuse collection is not yet in its full functionality. These same challenges were experienced by a couple in Harare living in a medium density area. Being environment conscious they couldn’t join the rest of their neighbourhood mothers/families in throwing their rubbish (with diapers constituting the large proportion) out in the streets where dogs would come and strew the diapers all over the place. It is this same couple that is going to bring change to mothers and families out there who face similar challenges, by offering diaper disposal services. For a minimum monthly charge one can subscribe to these services and have their used diapers collected once a week.

Some mothers can echo that they are already paying for these services on their water bills to the City and forking out an extra penny towards works, which the City should be doing, is not so appealing. But at the same time considering the dangers mothers and families pose out there to the environment by not properly disposing of their diapers, the need for the use of these services then should be recommended. It takes us to change the communities we live in, and living in a clean and safe environment is a top priority on our must have list. So personally I would recommend the use of these services.

If you want to be a responsible citizen contact Valerie on 0772 979351 for proper diaper disposal.

When it comes to the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) I reckon the gauge above would, and should be permanently in the red. How’s this: after a month of some of the worst power cuts we’ve ever had, ZESA estimates my bill. Do they estimate it down because they’ve provided F’All power? No, they estimate it UP. Dim wits that they are. And to add insult to injury my ZESA bill arrives in the post on the 17th April with the last date for payment cited as 9th April. There might be a crisis in power supply in Zimbabwe but there’s also a crisis in the management of ZESA.