Operation Murambatsvina : will the damaged be fixed ?

By Anotidaishe Manyangadze

On 25 May 2005 the Zimbabwean government began an officially known as  operation restore order but popularly known as operation muramba tsvina in an effort to clean up the country from illegal structures . The informal businesses , tuck shops and street vendors were displaced and over 300 000 people lost their source of income during this exercise  .

However, it was the destruction of housing that caused immediate hardships , people where given just but a few minutes to take all their belongings and move into a legal structure before they bulldozed or burnt down their homes . there was strong condemnation from non governmental organizations , opposition parties and the international community during that time . The displaced families struggled to find a place to sleep without fear of being brutally evicted. In Marondera i know of a group  of families who moved in an incomplete abandoned two storey house in my neighborhood . So It is hard for me to get past it because I see the damagecaused every time  I cross the road to buy airtime. 19  families found a home at the idle estate and have been living there ever since the "clean up " exercise.

Ironically the government characterized the operation as a crackdown against illegal housing and commercial activities and as an effort to reduce infectious diseases in these areas but they created the same environment they wanted to destroy . The ladies who live there were kind enough to show me around the house .

To my surprise the 1 acre yard has turned out to be a community of people with different beliefs cultures and religion. The little girls playing nhodo by the corner of the yard the only place where the is space for the children to play . the big backyard is now a host for two  "temporary" structures built with cardboard and plastic and a home to a family of six . Surrounding it is long grass and dried out maize from last season . By obsevering this i became worried about their sanitation . So i politely asked to use their restrooms .

The two nice ladies pointed at a black plastic held up by four thick logs . Walk towards it in fear of my own health , but when I got there there was someone bathing so I could not see the inside of the toilet / bathroom . When I got back to the ladies  a young gentleman had joined them , I asked them if it was the only toilet I could use because i felt that with close to 70 people living at one palce they should have another . The young Gentleman facetiously said " Sango rese iro ! "( use the bush ) pointing towards the back yard . this clearly showed me how unhealthy they are living .

I sat down with one of the ladies and asked her a few questions about her situation and how she feels about her living conditions and murambatsvina. She did not have much to say about murambatsvina but clearly said she had a better life before the 2005 events now she meets ends from selling airtime and tomatoes .

She explained how she has made more enemies than friends since moving in the crowed house early in 2006 . She also complained about the lack of privacy and how she dreams of moving out everyday and live a normal life without having to witness other peoples problems and domestic violence that goes on at the house nicknamed " pamabhebhi" in Winston  park Marondera.

spending a few minutes at this residence showed me the complacence of the town council and how operation Garikai did not work its full purpose its been years now and these people have not received any aid or help from the government . I do not think they will receive it anytime soon and it is now in the hands of the well wisher to extend it and help . If the owner is still out there and decides to come and finish his house , its the beginning of a new struggle

Hip Hop & Poetry Documentary launch

Hip Hop & Poetry Documentary launch

Naison “Russy” Ngoma  

The 14^th of March marked a significant day in the arts industry as  Shoko international Festival launched a documentary titled “our word is our weapon” that showcases the best of Zimbabwe as well as international poetry and hip hop performances that were witnessed at the 2012 shoko international festival in September.

The launch which was held at a fully packed book café saw people from all walks of life get access to view and purchase the much awaited documentary.

Shoko International Festival Head of Marketing and Production Outspoken said that the documentary is captures the moments that happened at the festival mainly focusing on the inputs and outsputs of the event.

The festival that saw artists from more than 8 countries including USA, UK, Germany, Senegal, Botswana, Kenya, South Africa and Malawi get together and break bread with locals and Shoko  Festival Media Liaison  Tafadzwa Sharaunga alluded to the fact that the documentary is meant to show Zimbabwe as it is and not as some negative media shows it to be.

The documentary launch was also graced with a performance by zimbabwe’s songstress and mbira artist hope masike in collaboration with hip hop band monki nuts as they belted some of the hits that are on their collaboration album entitled “Something out of nothing”.

Poet Breezy who  took part in different events of the festival also said that it is assumed that the documentary would gain more mileage to their careers as artists as those who did not attend the festival now have a chance to discover them thereby the artist becoming exposed.

 

The festival will also be held in September this year and it is expected to be  bigger and better as it has lined up different international and regional musical, poetry and comedy acts.

City council, Rain and the Resident

While the farming populace has been prepared for the rain, the city council Department of works has been caught unaware and unready. They have again like in the past years dilly dallied with time and resources.    

It is 5 PM and Glen Norah residents shuffle and heave, the water threatens to wash away precious furniture and even the very essence of sanctuary. Outside, the kombis and cars are immobile and nearly awash. Yet indoors they heave some more dreading the prospect of their beds turning into rafts at night but the water draws in again, this time knee-high, faster and dirtier. They heave again until the muscles tire. The tide is turbulent, the gutters are now chocking and clogged, sofas are afloat, beds submerged and the linen wet. It is the third day and the rain has not ceased. Sandbags are worthless now as the water cuts right through them.

‘This is what we have experienced in the past few days that the rain has beat the ground,’ said a resident by the name of Mudhara Banda. It is the mandate of the council to clean thecity gutters and drainage system before the rains set in but guess what, they pilethe debris just next to the drainage, cars and people trump on it and it goes back into where it doesn’t belong. In Harare’s Glen Norah C area, the drainage system has partially or not at all been serviced for some time now owing to whatever reasons.

‘What these workers do is that they clean the part that is visible and leave the essential part,’ (he points at the tunnel leading up High Glen road), one that is clogged with soil, tree branches, maize stalks and a washed away makeshift stall(musika). Anonymous residents described the reticulation process as flawed,’ hongu vanoedza kuchenesa mugero nguva nenguva asi vanosiirira mwena uyo uripasi uyo uriwo unovhara mvura ndoosaka tichiramba tichiona dambudziko iri gore negore(yes they partially clean the drains, and they dread that tunnel there, yet it is part of the system, that is why we are faced with this problem every year)’The MP and councilor have not done their jobs.

Anonymous victims of the rains, those who had their furniture destroyed went to the department of works and were told that some the machinery used to clean the drainage was in Dzivarasekwa doing maintenance work there. But the drainage system has not been fully serviced for years now!

The residents have had to sleep on wet beds year after year while everyone else slips in the warmth of their homes. Are the taxpayers getting what their money is worthy, who is following up Department of works activities. Has the machinery been servicing Dzivarasekwa all along or should we call in UN because frankly we now have the problem of seasonal internal refugees. 

SOCIAL MEDIA PANIC BUTTON

By Tafadzwa Sharaunga

The March 16 referendum saw an increase in social media activism with a vast number of people tweeting and posting their pink fingers as evidence of their participation. Four days after there was a report in a local newspaper claiming that our government had brought in a specialist to monitor this trend! I visited Harare media center where a lot of freelance journalists access their internet and blog from we could say it is a hub for brilliant media minds.

Andrew Moyo and Tawanda Marwizi at the Media Center

 it has media practitioners with many interest from sport, entertainment, politics, gender issues and tourism. I interviewed couple of writer on how they received the news of government attempting to monitor their operations apparently some journalist present had their email accounts hacked by suspected a government operative disguised as a freelancer, they claim to have never discovered who exactly it was. The general mood at the media center was calm and one person who refused to be named for fear of victimization because of his stance on political issues claimed it would difficult for government to clamp down on social media activism for example they said had it been possible for them to hack Face-book the popular Mugrade7 account would have seized to exist by now! The majority of social media activists use ghost accounts to prevent information being tracked down to them directly!

Tawanda Marwizi an entertainment writer also said it is possible for them to monitor individual accounts and try to locate the origins of unruly elements in Zimbabwe’s blogosphere. He however stated that in the case of the referendum the activity was so overwhelming that government can only use it as barometer for public mood or an opinion census a crackdown would impossible

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Upenyu Makoni Matenga an expert blogger spoke about how it is highly unlikely our government could read the contents peoples email account as they have no access to web servers in the United States of America and judging from relations between the two it is safe to say will not have access for a long time to come. She however reminded people that if your account is hosted in Zimbabwe say for example any account that finishes with zw there is a possibility it can be hacked and monitored closely even though it will be too tasking for the government.

MEDIA IN THE DIGITAL AGE

By Tafadzwa Sharaunga

 Media in the digital age is characterized by rapid sharing of information at lightning like speeds. Imagine this fact before discovery of radio broadcasting it used to take up to 3 days to convey an urgent piece of news, then radio came and it became a close to instant a process. The internet has turned all this up on its head providing an ordinary citizen with the capability to publish breaking news events as they happen.  

Welcome to the generation of instant news, a converging of ideas and cultures to one communal global society known as the thumb tribe!

 This age has introduced a lot of new concepts for example the ability of a general citizen to become an opinion leader in their society. Social media has allowed this through micro-blogging sites like twitter and face-book but there is a major down side to all this technological advancement. The lack of professionalism that can be apparent as the public does not uphold the code of conducts held by media practitioners without knowing citizen journalists can incite violence if they go unchecked a good case study for that will be how the masses mobilized themselves during the Arab spring.

Issues of surveillance by state run organizations are now popular in countries around the world in an attempt to monitor internet activity and mitigate the effects of social media. Traditional media is now also investing a lot in this form of new media in order to stamp authority as leaders in current affairs for example CNN has a very strong social media presence to allow them the same capability to break news as it happens sending it straight to the reader using the same platform of blogsites both micro and macro.

Now the state of social media on the international front has been reduced to a level of hackers and hacks, hackers referring to developers and hacks the journalists with the lead story! This starts on a national level with governments creating regiments that monitor suspicious activity on these social networks during the referendum a lot of social media reports were issued on twitter and aroused new interests in reigning in the effects of free expression held by the people, there was a report in the Newsday where there are claims that our government has acquired surveillance equipment from the republic of China to monitor social media activity during the next election!

The republic of China has been on record as having a stern policy against new media and its western influence. In February reports were awash on CNN with the CIA claiming there was a cyber war-fare regiment which is responsible for hacking into the Washington post and the Pentagon websites. The last level and biggest disadvantage of the internet new media is the threat of Cyber war which will leave crucial sectors of both developed and developing nations economies crippled alike Citizen journalists ought to be extremely careful how they handle their business in this Media age!      

New Media: (Mis) Informative

I heard somewhere that, ‘…humans cannot, not communicate…’to relay a message is a natural reflex to the individual. Be it the reclusive philosopher, who will one day present society with a book. The skinny jean, colour blocking teenager walking through the city in this fashion statement.

Communication, over time has been a means of education for many a civilization, that very civilizations preservation of heritage, their culture and way of life. From as simple as ‘Gogo’ telling stories to children, forms of media have since advanced to what we, today refer to as ‘traditional media’, the TV, Radio, the printed press, etc.

The setback with this type of media is that information is centralized and someone or some people determine what people know. An example is the amount of from Matabeleland on national radio and television. Looking back at the 90’s there was a balance of national art being broadcast, then one day it just disappeared. Whereas its beauty is that almost everyone is reached with the same message, although it is a one way communication process since no feedback is fed back to the information disseminator.

With time, humans advance into the age of new media, where information is at the tip of each person’s finger…literally, as people twit, pock and Google. Researchers say it is an age heralded by Jesus himself, the Age of Aquarius. Where knowledge is decentralized, where each of us has a voice. We are constantly informed and entertained by the fact that a comedian is cooking ‘lay fish’. And we can Google what ‘lay fish’ is. Communication has become even simpler because we wait not for 3 months for a letter from the UK. We can hold group chats or phone calls. Girlfriends can tell now that their messages have been read now. That the not replying is deliberate.

The problem with new media is that there are so many people talking at the same time and no one listening. At the end of the day no one is informed or learns anything. We are all empowered to start our own virtual thing now.

‘Hey, I don’t like Kalabash, so let me start my own blog. And I will call it … um… Sh..aba…laK. yes shabalaK. With a capital K.’

So many ideologies are being thrown out there with the hope that at least someone will catch one. People do not talk to one another anymore. Teenagers would rather be online on their phones, the older but not too old on their pads and tabs. And the problem with many of these platforms is they try to use unintelligent ways to attract attention.

As accessible as new media can be, like any other system it is flawed. Even though the same people that centralize and hog information can still do this with new media, like the Copac site not allowing downloads of the new constitution when we are supposed to access the it there. The more dangerous thing is a mass of uninformed people, putting out information, or better yet, misinformation.

Whose eye is on social media?

By Owen Chirinda

Zimbabwe has over the past years experienced so much turmoil and distress, trends of domestic violence, hunger and starvation and religious cloud seeding scandals.  This has affected people in the high tower urban towns, in the dusty suburbs and those in the dusty, hot, treeless and dung scented villages in the peripheral towns.

Violence, negligence, embezzlement and even issues that affect women have been widely discussed on Zimbabwean media platforms. This has been necessitated by the advent of new technologies like phones and the web and the rapid and spontaneous creation of content by internet users. Social media has therefore thrived where the national broadcaster has failed or has been overwhelmed to capture the minutest of details and events that have proved important to the audience.

In the post election period of 2008 and recently the referendum, social media in Zimbabwe has played a very crucial role. According to Wikipedia, it has more or less captured events as they occur and some of these can be found on ‘Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, microblogging, wikis, social networks, podcasts, photographs or pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking.’ It is on these platforms that pressing socio-political and economic issues have been discussed. It has proved a worthy source of news even though it is not very reliable as information can easily be manipulated owing to personal opinion.

What is depressing about social media in Zimbabwe is that however effective it has been in addressing some problems, the very people who perpetrate the offences that people complain about also access it. Politicians are on tweeter, Facebook and they blog hence it has become easier for them to influence public opinion, to argue in favour of some of their policies and they further manipulate information thereby creating a potential support base. This form of hypocrisy also highlights the very idea that the state can easily monitor information on the net- inasmuch as we would like to deny it; we are being watched and driven in some direction.

While occurrences in the towns have been conceptualized and documented, the rural towns have been neglected. In most instances the relaying of news has been hindered by the technological barrier. As easy as it might seem in the towns to tweet, blog and Facebook those in the rural areas lack the technology hence they have been left behind in the social circle that creates a sphere. As such, decisions have been made in irrelevant power vacuums, ideas have been formulated and those in the rural towns have been sidelined.

 So social media is a new concept that can better people’s lives but needs to be extended to the marginalized areas of the country. Sadly the internet was first commissioned by the US government and like it or not, our content isn’t safe on the so called social ‘sphere,’ where the government is involved, the bloodhounds lurk somewhere near each punctuation mark or link.