Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 499

What we learned from day four of Afcon 2013: Côte d’Ivoire vs Togo

Full Time Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg. Côte d’Ivoire 2 v 1 Togo. Don’t believe the hype about Gervinho’s late winner. It was the much maligned Boubacar Barry who won this for Les Éléphants saving two certain goals in the opening and closing seconds of this intriguing match. In between Yaya Touré did his thing and Didier Drogba didn’t do his thing. The rest of the herd seem somewhat long in the tusk, with the exception of Max Gradel. Didier Six brought the best out of Team Togo. Goalscorer Jonathan Ayité and Serge Gakpé were prominent for much for match, but when each was substituted in the second half, it was a show of intent from the Les Eperviers. This was turning into a game the Sparrow Hawks could win. Yaya Touré’s second half shot rebounding off the post may make the highlight reels and suggest he was unlucky not to score more, but that would unfair on the Togolese and especially defender Daré Nibombé who kept an herd of Elephants in his pocket for the most of the match. Sparrow Hawk keeper Kossi Agassa had been a safe pair of hands for 88 minutes. He deserved better than to misjudge a lopping cross. I expect Didier Six give him extra crosses for breakfast.

Ethiopian striker Adane Girma plays for the home team

It is a positive that major cable networks are bothering to relay the results of the African Cup of Nations, though it is a shame their offerings remain annoyingly Eurocentric. After Alain Traoré equalized for Burkina Faso yesterday, CNN gleefully reminded the viewers at home that Traoré played his club football for Lorient in France! Adane Girma’s inspired response for Ethiopia drew no such parallel reference. For the record, Girma plays for St George FC in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s premier football club was formed in response to Italy’s invasion in 1935 and has long been a symbol of Ethiopian nationalism. Now that I would have thought is information the average CNN viewer could share with their cappuccino.

Ethiopia is one of the few teams composed of mainly “home” based players. A significant number of South Africa (in fact, the majority of their squad and team), Angola, the DRC, Tunisia and Morocco’s squads, play for domestic clubs.

There are plenty of home based players, but when western media comment on their contribution they almost never acknowledge the home based club, whereas when a player who plays in France, England or elsewhere in Europe scores, we are bombarded with references to the European club. Tuesday’s Ivorian goals were almost trademarked as the property of Manchester City and Arsenal, respectively. However, when, for example, Tresor Mputu clawed a great goal back for the DRC, there was no mention of TP Mazembe despite their seismic contribution to African and world club football. It’s tiresome and disrespectful, and also says much about control of the “product”. It’s unfortunate anchors and commentators of various backgrounds and genders representing all the major western media seem to stick to this script.

Post Script. That the St George FC’s stadium was largely bankrolled by Mohammed al Amoudi, a Saudi businessman who according to Forbes Magazine happens to be the richest black man in the world may be material for a whole CNN special or campaign. (BTW, below a reader, Arriam, reminds us Al Amoudi is partly of Ethiopian descent.)

Ethiopian striker Adane Girma’s plays for home

It is a positive that major cable networks are bothering to relay the results of the African Cup of Nations, though it is a shame their offerings remain annoyingly Eurocentric. After Alain Traoré equalized for Burkina Faso yesterday, CNN gleefully reminded the viewers at home that Traoré played his club football for Lorient in France! Adane Girma inspired response for Ethiopia drew no such parallel reference. For the record, Girma plays for St George FC in Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s premier football club was formed in response to Italy’s invasion in 1935 and has long been a symbol of Ethiopian nationalism. Now that I would have thought is information the average CNN viewer could share with their cappuccino.

BTW, Ethiopia is one of the few teams composed of mainly “home” based players. A significant number of South Africa (in fact, the majority of their squad and team), Angola, the DRC, Tunisia and Morocco’s squads, play for domestic clubs.

Post Script. That the St George FC’s stadium was largely bankrolled by Mohammed al Amoudi, a Saudi businessman  who according to Forbes Magazine happens to be the richest black man in the world may be material for a whole CNN special or campaign. (BTW, below a reader, Arriam, reminds us Al Amoudi is partly of Ethiopian descent.)

Why the rhino is Newsmaker of the Year in South Africa

I first heard of the National Press Club (NPC) via Twitter when the news that they had declared the rhino the newsmaker of 2012 hit social media. My immediate reaction, probably like many other journalists, was a mixture of surprise and anger: How could the rhino emerge as victor in the year of Marikana?

In a more inebriated state I perhaps unjustly accused the rhino of being the media harlot of the year, the Kim Kardashian of the animal kingdom, minus the sex tape and forthcoming Kanye hellspawn.

Surely, the worst act of state sponsored violence since the fall of apartheid and the heroic resistance of miners across the Platinum belt which followed would be the story of the year? It certainly was for me, it was all I could think about for months. When the anger subsided however, I realised it operated according to a twisted logic. It made sense, in the same way that Henry Kissinger and the EU being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize did. It exposes the entire spectacle for the deception it is.

This logic was not the pathetic defense offered by the NPC (“We agreed Marikana was the biggest and most shocking news event but the Rhino story ran throughout the year!”) but rather a logic which defines the range of acceptable opinions in much of the mainstream, which was perhaps best reflected in the coverage of the Marikana massacre. This is demonstrated in how much of the press continues to describe it as a “tragedy” in the style of a natural disaster rather than the massacre it clearly was.

As I have written elsewhere, one of the important stories which emerged in the aftermath of the massacre was the failure of the mainstream media to investigate what happened or even to engage with the actual victims of the massacre. This in turn both created and reproduced distorted narratives of the event which largely justified the massacre and defended the police. According to research conducted by Jane Duncan of the Rhodes University Journalism Department, only about 3% of the stories on Marikana bothered to quote actual miners for example.

Let alone the shameful SAPA stories which portrayed the miners shot down on that day as a muti-crazed rabble who charged the police in a murderous trance forcing the police to use maximum force to protect themselves from their Heart of Darkness style blood lust. There was even a story which blamed an unfortunate rabbit for the massacre.

Other narratives which dominated the coverage sought to portray the massacre as a result of a union beef between The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), with AMCU being portrayed as a rogue union intent on stirring unrest in order to undermine the established and reasonable partner which was NUM. The truth was that the AMCU president broke down on his knees on 16 August imploring the miners to return work, in order to avoid what was to follow. NUM even initiated the violent turn of the strike, when officials opened fire with guns on a column of miners who marched to the NUM offices the Saturday preceding the massacre.

Other coverage invoked the figure of our own ex-Gucci Chavez and now Versace potato farmer Julius Malema as the source of the labour unrest. According to these paranoid and mendacious reports Malema was inciting the miners to insurgency in an attempt to overthrow his nemesis Zuma. The truth was that Malema was the first politician on the scene and the first public figure to offer solidarity, while the rest were busy attempting to pass the buck for the massacre.

It took the courage and experience of Greg Marinovich and the Daily Maverick to actually inspect the site of the massacre and bring forth the truth of the second kill zone or the “killing koppie” into the equation. Through actually talking to miners and not simply reproducing press statements and the blatherings of the power elite as news, they managed to expose the truth behind the murder of 34 miners.

The responses of many journalists to the NPC’s award in the form of a mixture of outrage and criticism has been encouraging. But that doesn’t purge the profession of the collective culpability for the criminal negligence present in most of the coverage of Marikana. If not for the Daily Maverick and perhaps the most incompetent police cover-up in South African history, we would probably be still buying the police, state and capital’s propaganda.

In each case the narratives produced eliminated the agency of the striking miners and reduced them to a blind irrational mass rather than people responding to their social conditions and the failure of their official representatives by taking matters into their own hands.

But to get back to the rhino, I wrote a column last month that argued that the save-the-rhino fad was a symptom of the divorce between social reality of post-apartheid South African and White South Africa. I suggested that rhinos took the place of the struggles of poor and working class South Africans as the vogue cause of the middle class and that animal life mattered more than black life for many of the rhino groupies, who mounted a plastic rhino horn which closely resembles a cheap red dildo on their vehicles.

I received a plethora of enraged responses from some Finweek hack known as Garth who used his god-gifted ability to confuse ignorance and irreverence to suggest that I was attempting to argue that wanting to save the rhinos was racist. I didn’t expect anything more from someone who thinks overuse of the word “douche bag” and its derivatives passes as wit. I was actually arguing it was a symptom of a wider social malaise. I don’t particularly want the rhino to die out, but to be honest I don’t care that much.

The reason that the rhino is such a popular cause is because it is a safe one; it doesn’t force one to reflect on one’s own class position or inherited privilege. Corporate South African can donate tens of millions of rands to the World Wildlife Foundation in order to earn the corporate social responsibility badge without actually threatening their own interests.

A rhino conservation industrial complex of sorts has formed. The same goes for white South Africa, the same concern for the rhino here is burdened with a racist discourse which focuses on the savagery of black rhino poachers and the insatiable oriental desire for rhino horn.

As others have noted, the National Press Club is not really national or even occupied by that many journalists. Instead it appears to be the haunt of PR men and women who straddle the thin divide between corporate propaganda and reporting. This I feel is, if anything, symbolic of how the media is implicated like in Marikana in our current social malaise. The logic beyond the awarding of the prize to the rhino is indicative of this. In the midst of a similar struggle in terms of the farmworkers strike still ongoing in the Western Cape and reports of widespread police brutality, South African journalism and society as a whole can’t afford another failure.

* Image: the “rhino whisperer.“

Al Jazeera Joins The ‘Africa Rising’ Bandwagon

We recently posted a bit on Forbes Magazine’s list of the 40 richest Africans. In a similar vain, Al Jazeera has chosen to glorify Africa’s privileged few and feed into Western media outlets’ current obsession with the “Africa Rising” narrative by releasing their four-part series, “Tutu’s Children.” With the first two episodes up on the website, I’m still not entirely sure what the point of it all is supposed to be.

The series follows twenty-five successful business people (and a Kenyan TV presenter thrown in for good measure) from across the continent who have been chosen as ‘Tutu Fellows’ by the South African non-profit organization, African Leadership Institute (whose founders, Sean Lance and Peter Wilson, are themselves retired white South African oil and pharmaceutical executives). All twenty-five individuals are flown down to South Africa, where they participate in group activities and workshops, as well attend lectures from icons and experts alike (including Desmond Tutu, himself). The producers of the series would like us to believe that these twenty-five corporate darlings are ‘Africa’s leaders of tomorrow.’ Yet, the whole thing plays out like a cross between a poorly conceived and edited reality television show (not as bad as this, but close) and an extravagant corporate retreat. The take away of the series would appear to be that business entrepreneurship and corporate capitalism will be Africa’s saving grace.

Interestingly, the backdrop for the first two episodes is the ultra-luxurious Mont Fleur Conference Centre outside of Cape Town. I suppose this was intended to be symbolic, but without providing any context, all symbolic significance is lost on the average non-South African viewer. Mont Fleur was in fact the venue for a series of forums that brought together a number of South African political, business, and civil society leaders between 1991 and 1992 in what has become known as the “Mont Fleur Scenario Exercise.” The goal of the exercise was to develop a series of potential scenarios describing what might happen in South Africa over the following ten years. In the end, the exercise produced four main scenarios, which were lightheartedly labeled Ostrich, Lame Duck, Icarus, and Flight of the Flamingos. (For more on the Mont Fleur Scenarios, see here and here.) Broadly, Mont Fleur underscored a capitalist, neo-liberal growth path for South Africa. And we know where that got us.

Ironically, both Tutu’s Children and the Mont Fleur Scenario Exercise seem to be endeavors of little consequence – ambiguous events that are more publicity stunt than substantive problem solving and action.

But let’s get back to Tutu’s Children. In just the first two episodes, the fellows have already debated the roots of corruption, gender bias, the Arab Spring, being white in South Africa (as usual this is handled very clumsily), and whether or not African nations are ready for democracy. The thoughts expressed by the fellows on these subjects are an exercise in fuzzy and rather outdated liberal attitudes. Perhaps the most revealing discussion of all is the one on democracy and, to a lesser extent, the discussion on popular uprisings (particularly those of the Arab Spring in North Africa). The entire group, with the exception of a Tunisian participant who had been involved in the Arab Spring, quickly comes to the consensus that Africans are not yet ready for democracy; implying at times that the so-called ‘masses’ are not intelligent enough, or too easily bought for democracy to work. They instead consider a “benevolent” dictatorship, like that of Paul Kagame in Rwanda, to be a better alternative. The Zimbabwean sounds like he was making excuses for Mugabe, and so on. This rather patronizing view of less-privileged Africans extends into the fellows’ discussion of the popular uprisings in North Africa. First of all, instead of seeing these popular uprisings as still ongoing, many of the participants interpret them as being finished. This view then allows them to deem these revolutions as failures in many regards and place the blame on those involved in these uprisings by arguing that they did not think ahead enough.

How deeply unsettling it is to see that these folks, who are supposed to be the new generation of African leaders, have such little faith in the people they will ostensibly be leading.

Afcon 2013 Preview: Drogba’s last chance of Nations Cup glory with Côte d’Ivoire

By John James*

One day Côte d’Ivoire will lift the cup, said captain Didier Drogba, shortly after the team’s arrival in South Africa, though I may not be in the team to see it. Côte d’Ivoire are used to the pressure, they’re used to being called favourites, they’re used to being the continent’s top under-achievers, and they’re used to the Cup of Nations. The core of the team – mainly academiciens – graduates of Africa’s first great football academy at Asec Mimosas – remains unchanged. So don’t expect any surprises.

There’s something predictable about The Elephants – they won every qualifying match before last year’s Afcon, they won every match in the finals before the penalty shoot-out with Zambia, and they beat a respectable Senegalese side home and away to qualify this time around. While others have slipped up, failed to qualify and broken up, Côte d’Ivoire have stayed pretty solid. Since the close of the World Cup of South Africa they’ve only lost two matches – the final with Zambia and a friendly with Poland.

The analysts have done their best to explain the Ivorian failures in the Cup of Nations – unfortunate in 2006 (beaten on penalties in the final by Egypt), too attack-focused (2008 – well beaten by winners Egypt in the semi-finals), too many egos/shell-shock of Togo bus-attack (2010) or too defensive (2012). But having seen all but one home match in the last five years the play has been largely consistent – exceptional players, usually confident about scoring, but lax and lacking fluidity.

Each coach has tried to tweak – Sven Goran Eriksson brought the passionate Didier Zokora into defence alongside Kolo after Bamba’s disastrous quarter-final against Algeria. That seemed to work well, as last year’s finals testified – they didn’t concede a single goal, not bad for a team more famous for its attack. But new coach Sabri Lamouchi has brought back Bamba to defence. Otherwise, not much has changed – Lamouchi experimented with the entertaining wild-card Kader Keita (aka Popito) before dropping him entirely. Old regulars Arouna Kone and Romaric are back from the cold, while fresher players – Max Gradel, Lacina Traore and Abdul Razak are starting to get a look in. Out goes Gosso-Gosso whose heart-on-sleeve combativeness made him the star of last year’s finals, at least for Ivorian fans.

Speaking of fans, Ivorians know the script by now. They start off in mid-January saying ‘Those guys will let us down again so I’m not watching’. Pretty soon the passion builds in Abidjan and people start saying ‘Maybe this will finally be our year’. The place goes crazy, and then comes the huge let-down. Though they have shown an aggressive side – reacting badly to defeat against Algeria in 2010 by attacking some people linked to the players, they have also shown generosity as well – last year, despite their unexpected defeat to Zambia, the tearful players got a heroes’ welcome in Abidjan – by some accounts larger than the Zambian airport crowd. It took the team most of the day to work their way through the city to the team hotel and the day was declared a national holiday.

Is there any reason to believe this year will be Côte d’Ivoire’s year? Well, there are few things that stand out – victory against Egypt last week was far from convincing but they did the job. The new coach hasn’t created a team that looks too different from the one that played under the unfortunate Francois Zahoui. Perhaps Côte d’Ivoire are humbler – and from what I’ve seen there seems to be a genuine thawing of the ice between the big egos that have clashed in the past. Still, I think the defence could be in better shape – Kolo Toure doesn’t get as much football as he once did and on the flanks Eboue and Tiene both look well past their best.

Vahid Halilhodžić, now coach of Algeria (who ended his run as Côte d’Ivoire coach in 2010) used to say in his Yugsolav flavoured French ‘great players, bad team’ – confessing that it was only after Angola 2010 that he realised there were such deep divisions in the squad. The fault-lines have never been clear – in the Ivorian media it was seen as Kolo v Drogba, or Yaya v Drogba. When the team were last in South Africa, for a friendly with the host nation in 2011, Yaya and the then captain Didier Zokora had a big row in the tunnel about who was jealous of whom. Still, some of these disputes have been hyped by the local media, and the bonhomie between the Ivorian ‘cadres’ as the regular players are known has appeared good recently – perhaps the great Elephants are mellowing with age.

With so many star names, most people know which players to look out far – and lesser known players struggle to shine. Yaya Toure didn’t look exceptional 12 months ago, but we know he can dominate the midfield. Gervinho tends to do well with the greater space he sees in national games. Among the younger players, Gradel has looked useful for me. Special mention I think needs to go to goalkeeper Copa Barry – five years ago Ivory Coast were mocked for their goalkeeping, but Copa has become a firm favourite with the fans, and the Tupac look-alike has saved their skin more times than he’s given credit for.

The competition will be a big test for coach Lamouchi – a highly controversial choice as coach. He replaced Francois Zahoui who had a good standing with the fans and came so close to winning the cup. Zambia of course had a great backstory last year – but a Côte d’Ivoire win would have meant a huge deal for a country coming out of a conflict, but also for a top African side willing to put faith in a national coach. Perhaps he should have made changes in the final, but few faulted him. His salary was paltry compared to Eriksson, put fans were prepared to see him replaced by a bigger name, with a bit more experience. Out of the blue, the Federation plumped for the completely untested Lamouchi – the players seemed mystified while the fans talked of a boycott. Things have settled down now, but unless he wins the cup, there’s little love for him in the Ivorian sporting media.

On paper the Elephants still have as a good a claim as any – Drogba remains the continent’s most high-profile player and knows this would be the final achievement in a remarkable career. Yaya Toure is officially Africa’s best. At some point, as Drogba says, it will be Côte d’Ivoire’s turn. For all the hype, as Drogba, Kolo and Eboue head to retirement, others will and are coming, so expect this team to be near the top for a while yet.

Côte d’Ivoire play their first match against Togo today, kick off 15.00 GMT

* Anglo-Ivorian John James was the BBC correspondent in Côte d’Ivoire from 2007-2012 and set-up the Elephantsonline.com website.

What We Learned From Day Three of The 2013 African Cup of Nations

Ethiopia’s wily head coach Sewnet Bishaw turned this game with a substitution on 64′, bringing on Addis Hintsa in central midfield. It was Hintsa’s through-ball that opened up the Zambian defence, which four minutes earlier had been reduced to three players when Herve Renard went for more goals and swapped full-back Musonda for striker Jacob Mulenga. Bishaw saw the chance to exploit Zambia’s stretched back-line and Adane Girma’s found the space with an intelligent run between Chisamba Lungu and Stophila Sunzu, hammering in the equalizer at Kennedy Mweene’s near post. It was the first goal an Ethiopian had scored at the Nations Cup for 37 years.

Zambia piled forward in search of a winner and pushed their wide players high up the pitch, but this left Nathan Sinkala unsupported in midfield, and Ethiopia held on for a memorable point without too many hairy moments.

The Ethiopian fans were having a party all afternoon long, and they look to have a team that could yet provide more shocks. Saladin Said looked elegant and menacing – he was awarded man of the match despite having his penalty saved by Mweene.

And here’s Davy Lane on the Nigeria vs Burkina Faso 1-1 draw:

Emmanuel Emenike’s goal was another in a series of magnificent goals at this African Cup of Nations. A goal that surely delighted connoisseurs of the art of the Centre Forward and Midfield maintenance. It should been enough. Yet somehow the Super Eagles choked on their Stallion prey. Efe Ambrose incurred a red card for a second bookable offense in the 74th minute. The Stallions finally got their noses level when substitute Alain Traoré stroked home Pitroipa’s cross in the 4th and final minute of injury time.

In commentary, Mark Gleeson said Emenike’s goal was like watching Nigerian legend Rashidi Yekini back in a Super Eagles shirt. Between Emenike, the ginger-haired Ahmed Musa, and Victor Moses on the bench, Nigeria look to have a fine set of attacking players coming through.

We’ll leave you with the enduring image of Aristide Bancé’s bonce:

Tomorrow it’s Côte d’Ivoire vs Togo and Tunisia vs Algeria.

In search of ‘African redemption’

Traveling ‘off the beaten path’ in Africa seems to have become the next ‘big thing’ for recent graduates looking to set themselves apart from their peers. And what better way to promote yourself (and fund your trip through crowd funding) by combining the demand for reality TV and social media; film your trip and post it on a website. Take the latest incarnation, this time on Dutch TV: Since this week we can enjoy ‘The African Dream’, a project of brothers Jaap and Bas Pronk in cooperation with Dutch public broadcaster VPRO. The duo, according to their first blog post documenting their journey, entitled ‘Good intentions,’ they are going “to look for answers for their Western questions and African solutions for their problems.” Reverse development aid, as the brothers call it. The blog promises that videos will follow soon.

The motivation for why Africa is chosen as the place to deal with ‘first world problems’ and personal issues (one of the brothers writes he feels rather depressed), is for the two to find out how it is possible for “the poor wretches, who don’t have anything, to still be happy?” They acknowledge that this insight is a part of the “general Western thought on Africa.” Therefore Africa seems to be the right place to find a ‘cure’ for problems such as stress, depression and burn-outs — problems, as can be read in the post, that can have grave consequences for the Western society as we know it: plastic surgery, social media addictions and loneliness.

The ultimate goal of the brothers is to create a documentary of their trip, which they hope will be shown at the bigger international documentary festivals.

It almost seems like they are working in tag teams: young Dutch ‘adventurers’ traveling to parts of the African continent for a ‘greater good’, or at least, some kind of redemption.

The Pronk brothers are not alone. Just recently, the Thumbs Up Africa trio project reached their final destination of Cape Town. Three ‘Dutchies’, two guys and one girl, hitchhiked from the Dutch city of Groningen to the southern tip of the African continent. A journey of 15,000 kilometers. Along the way they utilized all aspects of social media (see here and here), informing their followers of each step on their way.

At first glance their endeavor might seem pretty standard: three young westerners looking for an adventure. But a closer look reveals the initiative is in fact yet another product of the Western ‘sustainable development’ discourse.

What better way to convince young people of your message by having them watch and share YouTube videos of their peers meeting people on the ground affected by the ways of living in the West? African school children still proof to be the best prop.

Now that the trio has reached its final destination and a fresh duo is about to embark on a new journey, we wonder whether the trip will also answer why ‘first world’ Western documentary makers can’t stop using ‘Africa’ as a blank canvas onto which they can project their experiments/hopes of “finding themselves,” whilst reproducing the stereotypical image of a poor continent?

In the meantime we can follow all the adventures of the Pronk brothers on the social media: here and here.

Performing democracy in Zimbabwe

A few days ago the BBC reported on Zimbabwe’s impending elections, amidst concerns of renewed violence and human rights abuses in the country. However, what is often lost in the sensationalization of political violence, by this and other news articles is the revolutionary impact that non-violent actions can have in transforming a national political landscape. Performative democracy provides a perspective through which to understand the importance of a parallel nature of collective shifts in consciousness of a country’s citizenry as a catalyst for political change. Take the Zimbabwean women’s organization, Women of Zimbabwe Arise, also known by its acronym WOZA. WOZA operates within what is considered the realm of the forbidden, engaging in organized protest and bringing to light previously suppressed narratives. The group’s members inhabit this realm comfortably — or rather uncomfortably as many WOZA members face arrest on a daily basis for their peaceful actions to promote justice and fairness in the country.

The organization’s name means “come forward” in Ndebele. What better phrase to call to action the masses of Zimbabweans who have long been disillusioned by a violently repressive state? Below is an excerpt from an article by the Zimbabwe Civic Action Support Group. The writer aptly captures the power of the “speech act” with which WOZA calls its members to action, and is reminiscent of the war cries of Zimbabweans’ ancestors preparing for battle.

It could be just another ordinary week day in Bulawayo … But to the experienced eye, there is something afoot! As long as I live I will never forget those familiar words that will, on the stroke of the hour, peel out across the noise of the traffic. “Hey Ta” which calls the thronging women to attention followed by “Woza moya”, which means “Come Holy Spirit”. The reply from the multitudes is “Woza”!! The word reaches a crescendo and goes up in a mighty roar. “Umkhonto wo thando” again a mighty roar from the rapidly swelling masses. This means a love spear and the retort is “Zhii” a mighty cry which sends shivers down the spines of all who know just how strong is the bond and might of these women who have dared to make such a difference to the lives of so many, who have been down trodden for so long. “Woza” choruses the response and yet another WOZA march begins in the City of Bulawayo, founding home of the many thousands of WOZA and MOZA men and women. Suddenly as if from thin air, a crowd amasses, banners are unfurled from beneath long skirts, posters and flyers emerge from shopping bags and the Women of Zimbabwe arise once more, as they have done countless times since 2002.

WOZA has conducted hundreds of projects since 2003 and has run a series of campaigns aimed at raising awareness about human rights abuses and violations within Zimbabwe, all utilizing the simple notion that the power of love can conquer the love of power.

Despite continued ill-treatment at the hand of the state, WOZA continues to struggle, non-violently for positive change in Zimbabwe. The organization’s commitment to that simple but effective notion of love conquering hate illustrates the power of “speech acts” and performative democracy, particularly in light of the much anticipated violence-fraught upcoming elections. Basic words and concepts serve to highlight what should also be basic — the right to fundamental rights, currently being infringed upon by the state.

Instead of living under a shroud of fear, WOZA members have chosen to publicly equip themselves and each other with the armor of rhetoric, the armor of love. Such a simple approach to the reprehensible, hate-filled actions taken by the state to repress the Zimbabwean people does more to highlight the need for change from this regime than anything else could.

* Jacquelin Kataneksza is an international affairs practitioner.

Afcon 2013 Preview: Can Zambia’s Chipolopolo do it again?

Guest Post By Charles Mafa*

Zambian fans know what it’s like to participate in the Africa Nations Cup. Their national team take part in 15 tournaments (0ut of a total of 28) so far. The team twice lost in the final: first to Zaire (as the Democratic Republic of Congo was known) in 1974 and then in 1994 against Nigeria. Despite the team’s triumph in last year’s finals, the fans are keeping their hopes low because of Zambia’s lacklustre performances since that famous win against Cote d’Ivoire. The scoreless stalemate for Zambia in a practice match against Norway has not helped matters. Preparatory matches for the team known as the Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets) have been far from impressive and at times the team has even looked rather chaotic. Many soccer fans and pundits had hoped for a win against Norway to reinvigorate the euphoria that had erupted in Zambia when the team won the Africa Cup of Nations last year, but instead that optimism is still waning.

The people have reasons to be concerned. The reigning African champions have not won a single match in all the friendlies that they have played so far, losing to Saudi Arabia (2-1), Tanzania (1-0), Angola (2-0) and the draw against Norway. The other source of concern is the team’s inability to score goals. From the time the team was crowned African champions, they have not scored more than two goals in a single match. These statistics have further aggravated the nation’s fears about their team’s ability to defend the trophy.

When team coach Herve Renard was asked whether he was worried about his team’s failure to put the ball behind the net after the Norway match the Frenchman gave a cheeky response. “We are keeping the goals for the Africa Cup,” he said. Renard and his charges will have to prove this when they take on minnows Ethiopia in their opening match later today in Johannesburg.

There is some consolation though because a similar pattern of results was recorded before the Nations Cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. Renard has also retained 19 of the 23 players who took part in last year’s finals. Notable inclusions are Jacob Mulenga, the player who missed the last tournament due to injury, and a tournament debutant, Mukuka Mulenga, who was voted Zambian footballer of the year for 2012. These two players will add another dimension to the team that triumphed in Gabon, and Mulenga could be a solution for Zambia in front of goal. Many players in the team are still unknown to the world, but key midfield players like Rainford Kalaba, Nathan Sinkala and Chisamba Lungu have great individual skill capable of disturbing any defences in Africa. They showed this by ripping apart Ghana, Senegal and even Ivory Coast on their way to winning the trophy last year.

Team captain Christopher Katongo, the 2012 BBC African Footballer of the Year will lead his men out when the team takes to the field in South Africa. In Emmanuel Mayuka, the top scorer at last year’s finals, Zambia can look to impress. He is one player you ignore at your peril. Ask the Ghanaians, they will tell you what the Southampton FC striker is capable of doing. He broke the hearts of the Black Stars when he scored the deciding goal in the semi-finals of 2012 for Zambia to win the tie 1-0. The defence led by Stoppila Sunzu, the man who scored the deciding penalty in the final and Hichani Himonde is probably the best backline on the African continent. Sunzu is attracting interest from top European teams, notably Arsenal, and is currently in England finalising his move to Reading. Kennedy Mweene in goal is another star with plenty of experience in goal.

The Zambian team enjoy playing possession football, building from the back with short interchanges of passes. They are a deadly side when they keep the ball on the ground, always comfortable going forward and preferring to play a lone striker in attack. This might change though because it has proved ineffective in providing the much needed goals for the African champions. Chipolopolo’s strength lies in midfield where they have very creative and energetic players, and the elegant Rainford Kalaba to supply the much needed balls forward.

Most of the Zambian players are small in stature but are capable of overrunning teams like Nigeria who have muscular and strong players in built. They showed it last time when they stopped Senegal in the first round with all their big star players such as Demba Ba and Papiss Cisse in the team.

There are good reasons to be hopeful. South Africa is a second home to Zambia, as many of our players have played for PSL clubs. The team will therefore have plenty of support from both locals and Zambians living in South Africa. This team has also been together for a long time and like any settled side they understand each other very well. At club level many of the squad are either playing together at TP Mazembe or else meet every week during matches in South Africa. The team has also received adequate support from government and the corporate world, meaning there will be no internal wrangles over winning bonuses and upkeeps during the tournament.

Zambia play their first match in Afcon 2013 against Ethiopia today at 15.00 GMT.

* Charles Mafa is an award-winning investigative journalist based in Lusaka, Zambia. His personal website is The Investigator.