This morning I went to get my national ID so, eventually, I can register to vote, however this is easier said than done. Outside Market Square there are long lines of people, some had been there since 9 o’clock the night before, sleeping on cardboard boxes outside the office – just to get basic documentation!

The actual process only takes about 5 minutes per person; they take a picture, your fingerprints, and ask you to sign some papers, then you are done! Yet you still have to queue the entire day for those few simple processes. It seems an unfair waste of people’s time and energy.

Possibly the hardest is for people trying to get birth certificates. There are dozens of women with new born babies tied to their backs, standing in these horrendously long queues just to get a simple piece of paper for their babies. It is not so bad for families who can support and help each other, but single mothers really have it hard. Opposite me were two mothers, both with tiny babies, they had a friend with them to help, but to sit in that queue, on the dirty benches for hours on end with a child that young is unfair and insulting to the new mothers. If anyone should get privileges, it should be the mothers with their children, who are already suffering from post maternal stress, and need to rest, rather than stand in the cold for the whole day.

Recently, in Washington, it was ruled that human genes may not be patented. This is a huge step forward in genetic research, as it will disallow privatisation of information on important genetic studies. This court case was mainly concerned with the company Myriad Genetics, which in the 90s, won two patents on the human genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, which if varied can significantly increase breast and ovarian cancer risk. This patent allowed them to offer an exclusive test at high prices (over $3000). However, with the new court ruling, others will be allowed access to the information and therefore allow further research and cheaper tests for cancer risks.

Whilst this is a huge step forward for genetics research, it seems ridiculous that these large companies can have so much control over our very make up, and that they can control and sell important knowledge. It seem unfair how they claimed a patent on something they did not make (as it is natural human DNA) and then charge ludicrous prices for a test, especially as most of their data which allowed them to discover the genes came from the public database.

Yet the battle for the research is not over. Although the patent has been removed, there are still problems with access to the data as the company holds it as a trade secret. These kinds of closed policies in the pharmaceutical field are really slowing down valuable research, which could save lives, all for the need for profit.

Zimbabwe makes a very bad case of state enterprises and parastatals that are in the habit of casually dismissing any financial obligations that accrue to them because of their negligence.

ZESA is a very bad case in point.

An alarming number of cases have arisen where Zimbabweans minding their own business have been left scarred for life after coming into contact with live electricity cables the victims say were very negligently left exposed by ZESA personnel.

A recent case is one of a 10-year old who is said to have been left badly disfigured after being electrocuted by live ZESA cables that had been left exposed.

The young lad who is said to have been an athlete, soccer player and a traditional dancer at school had his left hand amputated after the incident which occurred on October 30, 2011.

He also lost two toes on his left foot and four toes on his right foot.

He is claiming USD60,000 which I still think is paltry considering that he has been maimed for life.

In other highly litigious countries, he could have “easily” claimed millions, but what does Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) say?

“In response, ZETDC pleaded with the court to dismiss the application, arguing there was no link between Zesa cables and its firm. ZETDC is a separate and distinct legal persona; defendant on this basis denies any liability. Any assistance rendered was for an accident involving the defendant and was made on compassionate grounds,” ZETDC said,” according to the news report.

But this not the first such case and it has come to typify how our public enterprises deal with issues of compensation for their brazen negligence.

In early June of this year, it was again reported that a Banket farm worker who was electrocuted by naked ZESA cables in 2010 was still struggling to get her compensation.

The woman who had her left hand amputated and her eyesight affected by the electrocution told a local daily that “although she had approached the power utility seeking $30 000 compensation for her injuries, she had not yet been paid “a single cent”.”

A medical report says about the woman: “Long-term complications are post electrical burns syndrome, which include cataracts, seizures and chronic pain. Left below elbow amputation will result in permanent disability, phantom limb pain.”

And she is yet to get a cent?

In May this year, it was reported that a man who had been electrocuted in Zvishavane had sued ZESA subsidiary Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) for USD80,000 after coming into contact with exposed ZESA cables in 2010.

A news report puts ZETDC’s response this way: “ZETDC, however, hit back on Mavenga’s claims and said it was not negligent in any way since its power lines are constantly maintained. ZETDC further said no report of a broken power line had been made. The Plaintiff (Mavenga) was negligent in failing to keep a proper lookout whilst using a footpath that was close to the power lines,” ZETDC said in its papers.”

Where is the responsible minister to stop all this nonsense?

And then when people boycott paying their bills, ZESA cries foul!

One of the books in my current reading list is The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Is Not Working by Robert Calderisi. Riveting stuff. Calderisi writes: “ ‘Continued rule for half a generation must turn a man into an autocrat,’ thought Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes and author of The Great Boer War (1901), ‘The old president (Paul Kruger) has said himself that when one gets a good ox to lead the team it is a pity to change him. If a good ox however is left to choose his own direction without guidance, he may draw his wagon into trouble.’ ” Calderisi, a former World Bank senior official who for many years worked in Africa, then adds his own voice: “One wishes that later African presidents could be described so indulgently.”

Benjamin Franklin once said;  “Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety”.

Early in the morning before I got to work I wake up for a daily fix of world news from various channels, from ZBC ‘s political machinations to Press TV’s anti-West propaganda from Iran. Yesterday I almost got lost on time as I got to drawn into an Edward Snowden interview on CNN. This is one guy who turned from being a spy to a whistleblower and in the end he exposed the ridiculous.

From the George Bush era to Obama’s second term in office, the US government has been on a mission to do data mining and eavesdropping on people’s conversations and online activities through a programme called PRISM. The scam involved some of the social media companies we have been trusting with our valuable private information. From big telecomms companies to social media and search engine companies like Facebook and Google, the US government has  been able to access private information on citizens and all this was done in the name of national security. Holed up in Hong Kong the former spy revealed that a total of nine mobile and technology companies knew about PRISM and collaborated in turning over citizens’ private information to the government.

To me Snowden is a hero because he took an oath to defend the Constitution but when he realized that the Constitution was being violated he decided to go public. Of course there are those calling for his head for treason and some may argue and say if you have nothing to hide then why worry but the bottom line is citizens’ liberties are being given away for temporary safety. If a government can have access to people’s private telephone records even without any wrongdoing is not a violation of human rights then what would stop Swaziland or Sudan’s government from investing in such technology that can used infringe on citizen’s rights under the same banner of national security. Like any previous laws passed in US which infringe on online freedoms PRISM has set a bad precedence to countries with repressive regimes as this will be a justification to wiretap and monitor online activities of citizens.

I am currently developing a Ward 7 (Harare City Council – Strathaven, Avondale, Alex Park, Gun Hill) directory, so people who live here can also buy and play here. It’s about building community, getting to know your neighbours. I walk from shop to church to police station to school to sports club to next shop, and get the contact details for public consumption.

I am amazed at how many places, mainly shops, but even a hospital; do not want to give out information.

“What do you want to know for?”
“Why should we tell you?”
“We can’t give that information out”
“What will you do with it?”

Is this the legacy of thirty years of democracy? That Zimbabweans are so mistrustful that they will not tell the public what the phone number of their shop is? Do they believe ‘Big Brother’ is watching them with CCTVs, Internet devices, etc? Is there some conspiracy I am unknowingly a part of by gathering their (not even private) information?

Or do Zimbabweans simply mistrust their government (unity or otherwise), and have such fear of the ‘authorities’. Most public establishments have a posted on the sign board outside on the street – which is why I have gone in to talk to them – but they are afraid to let anyone take any details. Has the government grown so far away from the people … a favourite phrase from so many liberation speeches of the 50s and 60s, (from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address)? We want a “government, of the people, by the people, and for the people”. And what have we got? A government of elites, by elites, for elites; we have ‘Representatives’ that do not drive or walk the same streets, do not buy in the same shops, do not have children in the same schools, do not see the same doctors, as us.

Or do I look like a Nigerian spammer? Is it just me they don’t trust? Why is there such fear, belligerence, refusal, denial, and hostility, towards giving the community information that will make them find you, come into your shop, and buy something?