This letter to the Standard, written by the Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU), has been circulated widely:

Subject: Letter to the editor The Standard Newspaper

Dear Vincent Kahiya (Editor in Chief)

Zimbabwe is a signatory to the AU and Un instruments that speak gender equality and more recently the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. This protocol urges member states to take measures to discourage the media from reinforcing gender oppression and stereotypes as well as degrading or exploiting women especially in areas of entertainment and advertising and undermining their role and position in society. It is our belief that media houses, especially those that claim to be independent and progressive, like the Standard, reflect these values and principles in their publications and conduct. (more…)

Timetable via Veritas press release:

Photo of a Zimbabwe storm taken by rickinzim (via Flickr).

I am a Zimbabwean who has lived out of Zimbabwe for 10 years now. Though this is hardly an unusual revelation, I do somehow have the sense that I am making a guilty confession. I retain something of a deserter’s sense of shame. The shame of having left a sinking ship. The guilt of having left friends and family behind. Of course, there are none who leave Zimbabwe without losing a part of themselves. We fly far away to find new job opportunities and education possibilities but we live with the phantom pains of a lost limb. There are few Zimbabweans abroad who do not feel like ships, bobbing on foreign seas, waiting for a storm to clear so that they can one day make their way home. Of course, we have been bobbing on those foreign seas for years now. The storm has still not abated. (more…)

Press Release – 23 October: Platform for Youth Development (PYD) is concerned by the acceleration of the voices speaking in favor of holding an election in Zimbabwe. This talk is frightening and nerve-racking because it is not anchored on genuine and a watchful consideration of the consequences.PYD’s entry point is neither to deny nor to call for these elections but to raise a serious alarm- that -merely calling for these elections without reforms is not only dangerous but suicidal.

PYD is fully aware that the Inclusive Government constitutionally expires after 2 years, which is February 2011. We acknowledge that, this is the strongest point for those who are advocating for elections to be held any time soon. The assumption being that election should be culturally held when due, and also that we can salvage a stop to the ZANU PF’s big brother mentality through an election process. More over, the parties involved are equally no longer happy with their explosive marriage. (more…)

Twitter is an amazing social networking tool, with rapid fire sms-style updates from people all around the world. I was browsing Twitter today when I noticed a series of very fast updates coming from Professor Welshman Ncube, the Zimbabwe Minister of Commerce and Industry and also the MDC Secretary General (Mutambara formation, for those who find the similar acronyms confusing). The snippets I saw were intriguing enough to prompt me to visit his twitter feed page to read more. I saw then that he’d been posting for two hours, all his tweets amounting to an online statement. For those of you who don’t use twitter, I’m copying them here below, in the snippet format as they appeared on his feed, in chronological order:

We as a party (MDC) have, acted faithfully to our values in every respect. As the MDC we have not been wrangling over positions

To us it is not about positions but rather about what we can do to improve the lives of ordinary people

We r frustrated that our partners have slowed the full GPA implementation over issues including the appointment of Gono, Tomana and Bennett (more…)

On August the 6th 2010, Sokwanele launched a constitution survey, available to complete online and via MS Word for those who preferred to work through the questions offline. We have had a very good response, and we thank everyone who has taken part. We are especially appreciative of the efforts made by the many Zimbabweans who completed the survey online despite slow internet connections, or who requested we send them the form in MS Word format via email even though it is a large file.

We would like to announce that Sokwanele’s constitution survey will be closed at the end of this month after which we will start the process of collating the hundreds of responses into a report. We will also be submitting responses to COPAC. The last day for completing the survey will be Sunday, 31 October 2010.

There is still time to add your voice to the process if you have not yet had a chance to do so! (more…)

Press Release – 22 October: The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (The Coalition) greatly appreciates the opportunity to engage with President Jacob Zuma’s Facilitation Team. The Coalition acknowledges and appreciates, the sterling work and commitment that President Zuma and his Facilitation Team have put into executing their mandate to find a lasting solution to the challenges in Zimbabwe. It is hoped that this engagement is the first of many such meetings through which civil society in Zimbabwe can formally and meaningfully contribute to ongoing efforts to sustainably resolve Zimbabwe’s multi-faceted challenge.

Two years have passed since the official signing, on 15 September 2008, of the SADC- guaranteed and mediated Global Political Agreement (GPA), which led the formation of the Inclusive Government of Zimbabwe. The Inclusive Government is aimed at ‘resolving once and for all the current political and economic situations and charting a new political direction for the country.’ (more…)