Trying to beat the 24 June voter registration deadline for my area, I decided to sacrifice my weekend booze and social soccer and be a responsible citizen by adding my name to the voters’ roll.

My voter registration ordeal started on Saturday at around 7:37 am. There I was with my beanie and tracksuit on to beat the morning chill. Trying to be the early bird I headed to the community hall and during this time of electioneering, I came across a pickup truck full of young fellas waving the national colors heading the same direction as me. As I was about to approach the hall the cheering coming from the pickup truck became louder. I could see the young goons in the truck vigorously waving clenched fists at me shouting “Cde Cde zvamauya zvanaka!” I wasn’t going for a rally so how could they start chanting a song to welcome me, instantly granting war credentials to warrant a Cdeship title. By ignoring the gestures I was about to draw attention, so here I was clenching my not so strong fist not knowing that I was doing it with the wrong hand. Had these young fellas noticed that would have been another story? I comforted myself by putting the blame on God because He is the one who made me left-handed. The truck was not going to the community hall but rather heading to a nearby crèche where some primary election campaigns were taking place. I guess they assumed that I was dressed up for some toyi- toyi and I was a “Cde”. Well this Cde was on a voter registration mission and had these fellas offered me a ride to go to the registration center I was going to accept the Cdeship offer.

At the registration center a different story unfolded. I couldn’t believe the number I was issued. It was just 8am and already I’m number 287? I waited patiently and I observed the situation to see if it was worth waiting it out. It took me two hours to move 10 places and frustration was starting to creep in, so to kill time I joined a discussion, which was about the frustration people were experiencing at the slow pace of the registration. I moved another three places and by 12:30pm I could not wait any longer. I went home so that I could grab something to eat.

I decided to try my luck on Sunday. I thought I would take advantage of the fact that some people would have preferred to go to church but it was worse than I thought as I found myself number 348 in the queue. The queue was not moving and every now and then I could see people tagging along claiming they were in front of me. I got frustrated waiting and I also felt cheated. So desperate time calls for desperate action! In a matter of moments my number 348 turned into 48 as I tagged along like how the other guys in the queue had been doing since morning. I decided to stay low and move along with the commotion till I got inside and it worked. As I was about to leave the hall at around 330pm I tried to imagine if those at number 300 and something were going to be served, or whether they were going to resort to what I had done.

Or get frustrated and leave like what I did on Saturday.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s the Zimbabwean government loved slogans so much it came to define the nature of the politics of deceit favoured by the rulers. “Health for All by Year 2000,” “Housing for All by Year 2000,” “Clean Water for All by Year 2000,” “Education for ALL by Year 2000″ all clogged the public sphere. This was before the UN’s global commitments of the MDGs which were only adopted  in 2000. Indeed Zimbabwe must have been way ahead by then! But it turns out it was all in the name of winning votes because many years later, things remain the same if not worse.

The following photo-essay documents Westlea, a “new” suburb that is yet another pointer of how far the country has lagged behind in providing “housing for all.”

Find water where you can

A child plays outside his ‘house’

A ‘gated’ residence

Safe water?

The African Union (AU) is the backbone of Pan Africanism as reflected upon its formulation values and the dictates of its objectives that promote democratic practices, good governance and protecting human freedoms and rights in compliance with Internationally accepted standards. An African renaissance is only possible when the whole continent unites against bad political and economic practices and promotes institutions that ensure that the governed are the ultimate beneficiary of every country’s resources. These goals have taken far too long to be achieved even in the greater part of Africa because of our leaders’ hypocrisy and greediness. But in recent years, the long overdue dream of our forefathers has taking shape, in different forms but the root cause of all being the awareness that has arisen within the masses of people.
I should mention that it was very easy then for presidents and key political people in Africa to go up on big podiums and preach the gospel of Pan Africanism and at the same time reign with a heavy hand in their home country and still be regarded as Pan Africanists. In this computer age, tyrants and dictators in Africa are, and will continue to find it very difficult to use the same tactic of hiding behind the weakening membrane of sovereignty to terrorise their own people in the name of bringing ‘home grown’ solutions.

They use very sweet and noble words like ‘our solutions for our problems’, ‘no to imperialistic solutions’ but in most distressed and panic ridden states in Africa they are being used as shields to cushion the heavy hand from inquisition. In old days these were working disclaimers for them but the global village has now put them in the spotlight. In as much as they may try to re-engrave their self-torn names on the continental walk of fame, their true selves are always haunting and outweighing their verbal efforts. Gone are the days when presidents and security chiefs could afford to be two faced shielding their dark and ugly sides while upholding and celebrating an artificial image of good governance. Gone are the days when their own citizens would live in abject fear and repression, find ‘peace’ in those appalling conditions and never know what others out there are enjoying and how much freedom they are missing out on.

The tyrant’s evil deeds are now a click away from the world eye and blessed is this our generation; no matter how much they may try to victimise us from the urban centres of Harare to the deepest parts of the country and many others, the world is now in the know and there is not a single panacea that our murderers and their masters could now administer to redeem their battered images from the mud they dragged themselves in.

Reading Lenard’s blog on recent protests around the world made me think of our Zimbabwean context. I was out running over the weekend and besides seeing an increased presence and movement of police across Harare, I also noticed that the 2 of the 3 water canons that the Zimbabwe government has in its armory were zipping along the streets. And I thought that water canons in Zimbabwe are For Display Purposes Only. Because as Lenard points out, we’ve endured a lot of unemployment, corruption, and abuse of power but we limit our uprisings to grumbling into our lagers in the pub.

Usually a revolution comes with a change of government or system and some revolutions have even produced another wave of repression. From Tahrir Square in Cairo to Gezi Park in Taksim now Viva la Revolución in Brazil. 84% of the people taking part in the in the protests or civil obedience in Sao Paulo, Brazil are not aligned to any political party. They are educated and most of them are first time protesters. 53 percent are under are under 25 years of age and 22 percent are students. I guess they are also tech savvy. These statistics are quite similar in almost every country where uprisings have been witnessed. The images coming out show young people in running battles with police. Maybe the young people are the hardest hit by the soci-economic and political injustice world over.

Some say the protests were started over an increase in transport fares but this is just part of why they are protesting. Some of the grievances include police brutality, inequality, corruption, dire public services and the extravagant preparations for next year’s World Cup. The cost of hosting the World Cup is now taking its toll on ordinary citizens just like happened in South Africa 2010. If a small increase in fares could make people go out on the street in thousands what about a country with over 80 percent of the population unemployed and where water and electricity have become luxuries?