Infanticide!

A 24 year old Harare (Zimbabwe) housemaid strangled her newly born baby to death using a plastic bag.Renisah gave birth to a baby boy around midnight on August 16 in a toilet while the rest of the household was asleep. After delivering, she strangled the infant with a plastic bag before wrapping it in a skirt and hiding it under a bed.

The following morning, she dumped the body in a bin outside the house. Renisah has since been arrested and appeared in court. She was convicted on her own plea of guilty to infanticide charges and remanded in custody to August 28 for sentencing.

When asked by the Magistrate why she had committed the offence, Renisah said: "I do not know what had gotten into me." The Prosecutor urged the court to pass a severe and deterrent sentence on Renisah. The Prosecutor said the sentence should reflect the court’s abhorrence to crimes of that nature.

Semenya, the Man!

Tests have revealed Caster Semenya's testosterone level to be three times higher than those normally expected in a female sample, an article on BBC Sport reports. Leaked test results show Semenya testosterone level is 3 times than expected.

This is not the official result!

Undressing Semenya!

By now you may be aware of the news surrounding South Africas 800 metre sprint sensation Caster Semenya. After setting an 800 metre world record sprint time at the ongoing Berlin Olympics, rumours of "her" gender have clouded her victory. Is she a "she"? That is the question.

Semenya looks anything but an 18 year old girl. Semenya also acts anything but a woman. At the finishing line of the 800 metre race in Berlin she performed weird gestures that are uncharacteristic of females. Her pictures circulating on the internet also show a small bulge on her trunks depicting what looks like a not so well endowed male organ. The whole fiasco is dumb founding!

Yet can any person be judged on looks alone? Why was she not tested before the race as this is not the 1st time these rumours have erupted around her? Is she a victim of an unfair process? Why has this been announced before the test results are out?

Interestingly her former High School Headmaster even admitted that he only discovered Semenya was female when she was about to graduate! But her father has said he is prepared to say a hundred times that Semenya is a girl. Her grandmother is shocked! Her mother cannot understand why the world is being cruel to her little girl.

I am looking at pictures of Semenya right now. She does not look or act like a woman. What tests are they going to conduct on her? How? Where? When? Who? Many questions, little answers.

Your thoughts!

"Shower Boy" Clocks 100 Days in Office!

Shower crazy South African President Jacob Zuma has now been in office for 100 days. No one would have imagined we would be blogging about this man as a President two years ago. Pitted against the intellect Thabo Mbeki, all political fortunes seemed against the Zulu Boy who had not seen the insides of a classroom beyond the equivalent of Standard II. Yet, in a shocking turn of events, the man took to dancing in semi naked costumes, rubbished the efforts of Aids Activists by claiming he had taken a shower after sleeping with an HIV positive woman to wash out the disease and the South African masses were mesmerised.

Today, it remains to be seen whether this "Shower Boy" will wash out the poverty strewn across the South African plains, rinse the country of crime and corruption, and flood the ever present threat of colour divide. Some have already started crying foul, whilst others are calling for the man to be given time. Whatever the case, Jacob Zuma has showed such a spirited fight for the presidency that he should re-direct his efforts towards solving some of the problems be-develling South Africa. Of course, it will require much more than asking for a machine gun and dancing semi-naked in front of helpless women.

We also want to go to UK!

Its all out in the open now. Robert Mugabes government has now classically disclosed the bone of their contention with respect to the so called sanctions imposed on them. Essentially, the sanctions are an elaborate travel ban. Last week, a spokeperson for Mugabe`s party finally said it all. According to him, all they are asking for is to be allowed to visit the UK, to send their children there for school, and to allow their their wives to shop at Harrods! This Africa my brother!

What happened to Mugabe bringing the best education ever? Why would the liberators want to send their children to the imperialist land? What happened to Zimbabwe being the land of milk and honey, and Mugabe and his cronies never wanting to be there because its cold? What happened to "...keep your England, and I will keep my Zimbabwe?" What happened? Whats happening?

So after all these years of unleashing untold suffering on us the poor and innocent citizens, its all about your shopping trips, your children`s education at Oxford, your wifes monthly shopping at Harrods!

How disgraceful can we sink? Please stop this nonsense, please take care of our fathers, mothers, sisters and cousins who are suffering. We need a government, by the people and for the people. We do not need self serving pervets who masquarade as revolutionaries. NO!

His Excellency, The President, Head of Government, Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces!

Zimbabwe: The state controlled but Party abused daily Herald newspaper in Zimbabwe has been ordered to call Robert Mugabe as The President, His Excellency, Commander-in-Chief and Head of State and Government each time they mention him in any article, news bulletin or program. Zimbabwe never ceases to amaze me, but on the whole, I am a depressed man.

The reason why Mugabe now wants this chain of titles is because since the formation of the Governmnet of National Unity in Zimbabwe on February 10, 2009, Morgan Tsvangirai has been inaugurated as the Prime Minister and Head of Government. Indeed the Agreement that sets out this unity Government clearly states that the Prime Minister shall be the Head of government. However, fearing for his waning light because of being in the shadow of a fairer minded Tsvangirai, Mugabe who because of his iron fist on the state media, has ordered that his name be called as such everytime his name is mentioned.

It reminds me of Kamuzu Banda of Malawi who wanted to be called Life President, Ngwazi, President Kamuzu Banda. But that is short of Mobuthu Sese Seko who ended up with about 12 names including Marshal, First Citizen, Liberator etc. Obviously Idi Amin fared very well in this category. You may ask whats in a name? The underlying common thread in all the leaders I have mentioned is their dictatorial tendencies. Dictators are usually so afraid of anything, everything. They fear their shadow. They fear their people. They fear their friends. They fear their enemies. They fear the west.

They love fellow dictators in the east.

Facebook Vs Freedom of Speach!

From facebook...

"...Facebook appears to be upping the ante against Twitter with the launch of Facebook Lite, a simplified version of the site, which provides a stream of user updates and looks similar to the microblogging service.

The social network has invited a select group of its users to test the new stripped-down version of the site while it is in beta phase. Some industry pundits believe Facebook is rolling out 'Lite' to compete more closely with Twitter's real-time news and search capabilities.
However, according to technology blog TechCrunch, the development is more focussed at this stage on providing a simpler version of the site so it will work better in countries where bandwidth is limited and on mobile phones, where downloads are slower than broadband...."

As Africans, the advent of so many sites has created some confusion amongst us. The proliferation of these sites has also seen rogue governments cracking down of those who wish to freely express their opinions. Clearly the advent of internet in Africa has meant that banning newspapers and radio stations perceived to be anti satus quo is progressively becoming less and less relevant.

I have noticed amongst my friends of facebook, the overwhelming urge to vent their anger or express an opinion over some issues dominating our lives.

Question: How long will it take the internet to enhance freedom of speech in Africa?

Has America come a full circle?

I found the caption below, which hit the headlines on Thursday last week very revealing of what the US policy is. Here is Mrs Clinton:"It is long past time for Eritrea to cease and desist its support of al-Shabab and to start being a productive rather than a destabilising neighbour. We are making it very clear that their actions are unacceptable. We intend to take action if they do not cease."She added: "There is also no doubt that al-Shabab wants to obtain control of Somalia to use it as a base from which to influence and even infiltrate surrounding countries and launch attacks against countries far and near."Mrs Clinton said if al-Shabab obtained a haven in Somalia "it would be a threat to the United States". And America would act if this continued!

The US policy does not change, whether there is a black, pink, blue or white boy at White House.

Obama Scandal brewing in Kenya

I find it odd that Clinton arrived in Kenya this week after the recent explosion of Obama’s Kenyan birth certificate throughout the media. It was said that Clinton was going there to talk about corruption scandals, which happened in 2007. It was also said that she was going to see Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who is now the Prime Minister. Odinga is Obama’s cousin, who is dogmatically claiming that Obama was born in Kenya. It has also been claimed that Odinga is the agent responsible for helping Obama cover up the birth certificate scandal within the Kenyan government.

Sec. of State Hillary Clinton was where the buck stops in the birth certificate fiasco. It is her underlings that are responsible for clarifying Obama’s citizenship, making this story interesting. Call me paranoid or conspiratorial, but I think this is a coincidence worth noting.

By Geoff Linsley.

How far would you go?

In all discussions with fellow Zimbabweans we always come to a deadlock when the question of how far we are prepared to defend our principles we can go. For starters, President Mugabe has made it clear that he has once fought for Zimbabwe and is therefore ready to die for the "gains" he obtained in his fight. It is because of this fight that he feels ordained to rule to his last breath. On the other hand, we the younger generations always have so much to lose, our jobs, our houses, our cars, our girlfriends, comforts etc.

In South Africa, and indeed across over parts of Africa, I have come across people who have branded us as cowards, people who cannot unshackle themselves from the bondages of an old tyrant. To make it worse, about 5 million able bodied Zimbabweans have fled to other countries. Can you imagine how much difference 5 million people would have made in the last election, or in protest marches, or in anything. So much strength, so many numbers, all gone to waste.

Will you die for an ideal which you believe in? The boers in South Arica ruled for about 4 centuries because they declared that it is better to die fighting for an ideal which you believe in than live without it. The same courageous words have been used by icons such as Mandela and abused by tyrants such as Mugabe.

Will you die for your country?

Meet Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

Name: Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein

Age: Unkown

Sex: Female

Country: Sudan

Crime: Wearing a trousers

Punishment: Flogging (40 special Lashes)

Should the "civilised" world be allowed to fight unfair religious practices?

Naijimboz

Thats what we call our brothers from Africas most populous nation, Nigeria. Last week, the army ended up killing about 700 people in pursuit of a rebel group that was seemingly small and seemingly relatively harmless. But it turned out the group was not that small. What worried me though is the fact that the army captured the rebel leader alive. They then handed in over to the police. This is perfectly legal and normal, except if you become aware of the fact that this guy had orchestrated the deaths of several policemen as his rebel outfit was targeting them.

And so whilst the world was being shown a video of the man confessing his sins and expecting to hear of the court dates, and trial dates etc, we were shocked hours later to see pictures of an arrested man who walked into the police station come out in a body bag with his body riddled with bullets.

Did the end justify the means? That is the question we need to ask. In most cases in Africa decisions and actions are taken on a populist basis or they are taking riding on emotions. I agree the rebels had to be eliminated (Legally of course) for the government to take effective control of the whole country. but riddling a person with bullets under police custody still baffles me.