From Comrade Fatso, one of Zimbabwe’s best spoken word poets:

Mdhara we ma Sweets/Mr Candyman

They call him Mr Candyman, Mdhara we ma Sweets
Trodding all over town with bags of tricks ‘n’ treats
His scream like seventy sirens silencing the streets
He’s known to break into dreams and steal your signature while you sleep
His feet are bandaged with the people’s hijacked hopes
His hands hard as dogma hanging like hanging ropes
His bag filled with al the sleepers souls he stole
His eyes murky and deep like puddle that’s pothole
His goal is to teach the children to undream
Exchanging hopes for sweets is his sugar-coated scheme
Hawking his goods in this land half-full, half-empty
Telling people that his sweets are their sovereignty

Mdhara keeps tricks for his enemies and treats for his friends
For friends read vendors who lick his boots with no end
But then again no vendor ever truly made it
As soon as they got close to him their goods would be confiscated
One hawker though comes to mind
He became really popular -  Blaz we Airtime
Who sold cellphone credit and dreams to the poor
Let the people talk and talk some more
Everyone was connected and the people were enthralled
They texted his name, spoke of him when they called
Insisting he was inspired to change their world
All across the land they spoke his name
Blaz we Airtime had brought the winds of change

Mdhara got the message and read the text
Realised this time of air could be the end of his sweet success
This new network could knock him to the pits
So he reached deep into his dark bag of tricks
Invited Blaz to join him at his stall
A rickety cardboard box called ‘The Sweet Juice Up Mall’
Blaz’s customers came hour after hour
But soon the deal became sickeningly sour
Mdhara kept eighty percent of all profits made
Decided the prices, made sure Blaz’s pay was delayed
Soon Blaz ran out of credit
The people couldn’t top up and they couldn’t get his messages
They sent him a please call me back hoping he hadn’t become a traitor
He replies “Your dreams are currently unavailable. Please try again later”
Finally Mdhara got him arrested for hawking hope without a licence
The police pounced and kicked him for his kindness
As Blaz is dragged away he screams “Mdhara, one thing. Where’s your name from?”
Mdhara replies “The people long ago asked me for change.  I gave them chocolates and chewing gum”

In a follow up to my disappointment with the MDC’s cancelled Minister’s feedback meeting, I was interested to get a new text message last night from them:

You are invited to attend the MDC 12th Anniversary Rally at Gwanzura Stadium on Saturday 10 September 2011, Time 10:30am – 4:30pm.

So the community feedback meeting is cancelled. But not the anniversary rally?

It’s hard not to be cynical that this is because politicians find it so much easier to talk at people, rather than speak with them.

I’ve just received an email newsletter from a Harare based travel agent saying that the Harare International Airport will “boast” Africa’s longest runway by December as Zimbabwe seeks to lure major international airlines. Apparently the extra 5ks of runway is costing US$30 million. Meanwhile I’ve heard of yet another incident of travellers on their way home from the airport being targeted and assaulted by thieves. I mean I just Don’t Get It. The Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe pulls out all the stops to increase the length of our runway but the fact that returning residents and visitors to Zimbabwe get robbed and assaulted once they’ve landed doesn’t seem to faze them. What they need to do is work hand in hand with the Zimbabwe Republic Police and increase patrols on the main airport road to stop these criminals having a field day.

I’ve noticed around Harare the billboard above advertising The Herald: News packaged to your taste. And I’ve been wondering if it is actually a terribly clever subversive undermining of the state media by whomever they hired to do their marketing. Because I don’t know about you but the image used – a crusty day-old bread roll, a bit of polony, some wilted lettuce and a few slices of that tasteless, processed, pre-sliced, plastic orange stuff that tries to pass as cheese – doesn’t exactly leave me salivating to by my latest copy of The Herald and tuck right in. But then again, I’ve always found The Herald pretty tasteless – in both senses of the word.

A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.
Andrew Carnegie

At Kubatana we use the corridor outside our office as a makeshift library. We put books or videos or pens or newspapers on the ground with a note saying take one if you like. Do something similar. Share your stuff.

I drove past a Herald newspaper billboard today. The headline was something like “Prisoners gobble $1.7 a month”. Well first off the majority of Zimbabwean prisoners are starving. They don’t even get to gobble fresh air. Then there’s the issue that the reason why a great many of our prisoners are incarcerated, is because our economy has been so trashed by the political hierarchy, that stealing has become the one of the most common forms of “employment”. And then there’s our failed judicial system that keeps people in prison for much longer that they need to be because of the lack of capacity to take them to trial, on time. Never mind our prison population is really large so if you actually divide the $1.7 over the number of prisoners it would come as no surprise that this amount is no where near what’s needed to keep people from becoming ill or starving. Meanwhile a few ministers get $20 million to purchase luxury vehicles. Now that’s gobbling.