18 May 2007. I saw a rather curious advertisement in The Herald today. It was inserted by the Zimbabwe Republic Police giving details of the Southern African Region Police Chiefs Co-operation (SARPCCO) Games to be held in Harare in August. Apparently a whole bunch of police chiefs from SADC are going to get together to challenge each other in athletics, soccer, volleyball, darts, chess and netball. They say that this is an effort to "build lasting relationships among law enforcing agents in the region for the betterment of all SADC citizens". - How"s that! All SADC citizens. Presumably this includes Zimbabwe where the police recently beat up a group of lawyers in downtown Harare. One o…

-  There's a lot of discussion in cyber space at the moment about the impending Australian cricket tour to Zimbabwe. I would certainly support a boycott if the Australian cricket team intends coming to Zimbabwe to play ball as usual. However there are other options for them to consider, especially in the light of the fact that the US$2 million fine will be going into the coffers of the Zimbabwe Cricket Union.  Normally one would think that the money would be put to good use, like in the development of facilities and coaching of youngsters like this playing dusty township cricket. But a more likely scenario is that the money will be sucked up by the "chefs" of Zimbabwe cricket for t…

-  26 April 2007, by Natasha Msonza. Last week I boarded a "chicken bus" (you know; the ones with the not so comfortable seats, ugly, dirty looking and often associated with the poor, because they are cheap). I was in a mad rush to get to Gweru and back the same day.There were all kinds of unpleasant smells in the bus ranging from unwashed bodies to boiled eggs. Along the way the bus made a point of stopping at every major rank, picking up all kinds of folk, some of whom were bare foot and dirty, carrying live chickens among other things. I started to feel out of place in my casual corduroy pants, sneakers and designer shirt. The bus was getting overloaded with standing passengers…

 17 April 2007. Taurai, my groovy dread-locked work mate, just asked me what I was doing 27 years ago.It"s hard to remember all the details (I"m 42 now) but I remember that I was living with my mother and brother in a flat in a complex called Hatley House on what was then North Avenue. We"d moved into Hatley House because it was sort of like a hotel which provided meals and with my mother recovering from a heart attack it made her life easier. It was close to Girls High School (GHS) where I was enrolled and also close to State House where Ian Smith had been riding out the last of his days in power. -  Being white on the eve of Independence meant being fearful. At least this was tru…

 One thing that"s been on my mind is this word "momentum" which I"ve heard quite often lately. - Since the violence around the Highfields rally on Sunday 11 March, people have been asking how to keep up momentum, or build on momentum—how to leverage discontent and a seeming willingness to act.I was reminded of this question of momentum when I was running the other night. I noticed my shoelace untied some 20 minutes or so from my destination. I knew I should stop and tie it, as I could feel my shoe working itself loose on my foot and I didn"t want to trip over the laces. But I didn"t, because I didn"t want to lose momentum. So I figured I"d wait until I got to a good place to stop.Of cou…

 Anna, a domestic worker living and working in the suburb of Greendale, Harare angrily said to me "Zimbabwe is finished - FINISHED!" -  I thought wow, this violence over the past few days has really gotten to her. Finally she"s enough, as we say here. But when I talked further with her she believes that Zimbabwe is finished because it now costs her Z$5000 to get from Greendale to Mabvuku - one way. Again we see that some Zimbabweans are viewing the downfall of our dictatorship through an economic rather than an opposition toyi-toyi lens.I felt similarly when I went to the supermarket (Bon Marche, "Have a Nice Day" - yeah right) on Sunday looking for some washing powder. I had to lo…

- On the Kubatana weblog Zimbabweans share their personal opinions and life experience in Zimbabwe. They all blog from within the country.