Sunday 19 November 2017

Freedom March: November 18, 2017

18/11/2017 - picture credit: Glenn Morgan


What happened yesterday was historic. Hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans, at home and abroad, stood together to say that WE WANT CHANGE. 

Yes, how we each envision that change may be different. Yes, there are still many, many obstacles to overcome before we are truly 'free'. But for the first time in decades, there was an overwhelming sense that Zimbabwe has a chance to start over. For the first time, people gathered in their thousands with no fear of violence or retribution: no 'button sticks', no water cannons. There was no party regalia to be seen. Every single person on those streets yesterday knew that for that day, we were all the same: Zimbabweans who love their country and want better. Strangers hugged and took selfies together, shared flags, sang songs, danced.

We cheered together as the armoured vehicles rolled through the streets and got goose-bumps as a soldier fist-pumped from a low-flying helicopter: not because we want military rule or because we naively believe the army is our saviour from tyranny, but because extreme measures were taken in extreme circumstances and we have an opportunity now to make this about us, the people.
Of course these remain uncertain times. But the will of the people is clear: the time has come. Change must come. Opposition and civil society MUST NOT waste this opportunity to direct the change we are desperate for. The leadership vacuum in opposition must be plugged and the discourse unified, otherwise ZANU-PF WILL emerge stronger than ever.
Hope flows through the country today and it must be channeled for transformation.
I am reminded of a certain school's anthem based on Romans 12, and it is my prayer for all Zimbabweans:

"...Let joy keep you hopeful, 
in trouble stand firm.
Persist in prayer,
Have equal regard for one another.
Do not let evil conquer you
But use good to defeat evil."

Thursday 5 October 2017

Harare, October 2017

















You are gorgeous -
Replete with blossom:
Purple, yellow, red.
Bougainvillea tangles in
Careless clusters
And jasmine perfume hangs in the air
as night falls.
Skies are hazy blue
And soporific sun lulls us
Into feeling
Everything is OK.

Sounds of the city rise:
Chatter and laughter and
Business as usual
And a red-gold light-snake
Weaves its way through
Jacaranda-ed streets.

Your beauty is a curse
Permitting men,
Believing that they own you,
To exploit and abandon and
Numb themselves to
The ragged child begging cents
Under the purple rain
And the thousand thousand
Stomachs sleeping hungry.

We patch our pockmarked roads
Like we patch our integrity
And our pockets
And our make-a-plan spirit:
Plastic surgery disguising
Ugly Truth.

Monday 2 October 2017

Msasa Season



Somewhere under the dry, cracked earth, a match
Is lit, and flame is fanned by August wind,
Setting fire to the roots set deep in hills:
The air is garnet-filtered radiance.
Flickers of bronze and gold and rusty red
Fuse in extravagant pin-pricked grandeur.

This is the fire that births new life, not death.
Memory: the ancient wisdom and wonder
Before innocent expectation green -
Emerges in first light against blue hills.

It is a brief moment of majesty,
The blazing glory of deep-down magic
Stirring to remind the observant soul
To source the echo in the fire. 

Monday 28 August 2017

Be the Change

I left the UK to come back home and be part of change. I was all full of hope and inspiration after the #thisflag campaign and had visions of marches and protest signs and stay-aways – no really, you can ask my family. There are no photos of me at any marches or protests - not in this country anyway. Perhaps it was my Jessastrous energy – my return spelled the end of the social movement – but it seems unlikely I would have such a cosmic influence.

So what to do? I attended an inter-party open forum on Zim after 2018. Bad news folks, it does not look good. According to that meeting, post 2018 Zimbabwe is a black hole. Not a single party represented had anything remotely inspiring – or even concrete – to offer a room full on young, interested, voters. The major parties ‘were not at liberty to reveal [their] post-election strategy’ for fear there were Zanu-PF spies in the room. Really? What is the danger of revealing a plan to improve, I don’t know, ANY of our current socio-economic woes? Zanu-PF was predictably not in attendance but after 37 years of being in the driving seat, it seems foolish to expect anything other than more of the same. I left that meeting, as I would assume most people did, utterly depressed.

A fortnight later, Fadzayi Mahere announced her decision to run as MP for Mount Pleasant constituency. My gut reaction? Hallelujah.

There comes a point in a moment of crisis when each must ask herself what she should do that would be most beneficial to the cause. With a year to go before the National Election, I don’t honestly believe there was another logical option for Fadzayi – other than to bow out and say she had tried – which would have been a perfectly justifiable choice.

Fadzayi is running in a constituency in which I believe she has at least a decent shot at victory and she has a team behind her who are loyal, honourable and committed – and they keep her grounded. She has taken an enormous personal risk and has put herself on the front line - but she is no fool and she is no coward. Fadzayi and her team know it will be hard and long and possibly painful, but if we can get her over the finish line, there will be at least one MP in parliament who I know will speak on my behalf and fight for issues to be addressed that are not only relevant to residents of Mount Pleasant constituency, but relevant to all Zimbabweans. She will argue intelligently and eloquently about policies that matter to ordinary people, and she will not be hamstrung by political infighting and party politics.

In parliament, a lone voice may well have no breadth of influence but that’s not on her – frankly it’s (over)time for politicians to recognise that they have a personal choice to follow conscience or selfish interest.  And maybe one courageous voice is enough to inspire a choir.

She has a lot to learn – of course she does – but I would rather support an inexperienced but passionate and qualified independent candidate than a party of empty promises and lacklustre leadership. And besides – the campaign isn’t actually about Fadzayi Mahere alone. It’s about Zimbabweans coming face to face with their own civic responsibilities – change doesn’t happen in parliament – it happens in individuals and neighbourhoods and communities. If you want change, you have to be the change.


So that’s why I’m backing Fadzayi. Because she offers a small flame of hope. And that is all you need to keep moving forward.