The Zimbabwe government continues to pay mere lip service to its commitment to domesticate and implement the SADC protocol on Gender and Development.  An event held on the eve of Africa Day held in Harare was organised by MISA, and Tsitsi Mhlanga from Women in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU) said they were doubtful that the country was going to meet the 2015 deadline of the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.

Mhlanga pointed out that there was a glaring lack of representation by women on the thematic committees who are currently compiling views of the people gathered by the Constitution making outreach teams.  The unequal number of women involved is a clear sign from government that they are lacking in the commitment needed to politically and economically empower women.

Government’s reluctance to domesticate the regional treaty means that women’s voices remain stifled and unheard. This also means that women will continue to be portrayed negatively by the local media, thereby making women’s issues and rights almost non existent. (more…)

Surely if the responsible authorities do not intervene in the high numbers of sexual harassment cases which have just been reported by young female journalists aspiring to penetrate into the mainstream media industry, very few of them will realize their dream of becoming editors one day.

The licensing of new media players by the Zimbabwe Media Commission was a milestone achievement and well received by journalists but it’s not the same to young female journalists who have become victims of harassment in the work place.

A number of young female journalists coming from college have raised complaints that they are being asked to go out with some of the editors of these newly established newspapers if they want to get employed. This is vey sad given the vulnerability of such young girls, especially considering how desperate they are get the job which they trained for.

The Zimbabwe Union of Journalists which during the World Press Freedom Day Commemorations announced that because of such reports it received from female journalists it has established a team which will look into the issue and deal with it once and for all. The Union says the gender mainstreaming committee it has given the investigative task will soon visit newsrooms, after conducting workshops with journalists educating them on issues of sexual harassment at the workplace.

One of the significant dangers of sexual harassment in the media and any other places are that the victim may end up exposed to HIV &AIDS.

My wife in politics – how horrible. Images of women wriggling their bodies, gyrating to political songs are just too much for me to accept. So, no I will never allow my wife to be a political vessel.

In Zimbabwe women have always been treated as praise singers of politicians and loyal bootlickers who sell their souls in order to get close to the politicians whose pictures are displayed loyally on their clothes.

In the ghetto these women are given all sorts of bad names largely because of their undignified sybaritic and sycophantic behavior but also because of their perceived loose morals. I do not want to see my wife stained with this kind of mark. (more…)

Press release – 27 May 2011: The Cabinet has reportedly approved the proposed amendments to the Electoral Act which by and large contribute positively towards the effort to sanitize Zimbabwe’s electoral system and processes. It is however necessary for the new regulations to be informed by past mistakes and controversies in order to minimize the recurrence of election related disputes.

In the table below, the Election Resource Centre (ERC) highlights the risks and opportunities emanating from the proposed reforms in view of the broader electoral reform spectrum. (more…)

The Panel of Elders

The secretary-general of the SADC council of NGOs Mr Boichoko Ditlhake and your colleagues

The executive chairman of the Centre for Peace Initiatives Africa, Dr Leonard Kapungu

Government ministers here present

Traditional leaders

Members of the diplomatic corps

Invited Guests, Ladies and gentlemen

It is with great pleasure that I stand before you today on the occasion of the launch of the Panel of Zimbabwe Elders, one of the many brilliant initiatives to ensure that our country achieves peace.

Many a time, we have often failed in Africa to live in peace amongst ourselves because of conflicts arising from differences based on tribe, race, religion or political affiliation.

We have fed the stereotype of a violent Africa because of internecine wars, conflicts and our desire to mete out violence on political opponents.

We have confirmed the negative belief held by Africa’s critics by decimating each other through political violence orchestrated mainly by organs of the State.

Indeed, ours has been a story of violence and conflict from the Sudan to Somalia, from the Ivory Coast to the Saharawi Republic and from Libya to Zimbabwe. (more…)

Media reports in April indicate that Zimbabwe’s political turmoil continues to grow and that the positions adopted by the MDC parties and Zanu-PF are becoming increasingly polarised. As the MDCs continue to oppose Zanu-PFs policies, the latter’s methods to resist political change in Zimbabwe are evolving and becoming ever more inventive. This, it seems, is resulting in surprising changes in the distribution of the categories, and numbers, of violations being recorded under the ZIG watch project.

We recorded breaches in 82 media articles published in the month of April. Each recorded article signifies a unique breach of the terms set out in the Global Political Agreement (GPA). By categorising these articles according to the nature of the breach, we have generated representative statistics.

Violations in the form of violence, intimidation, hate speech, threats, abductions and brutality were identified in 27 articles (32.9% of total). Legal harassment of perceived opposition politicians and supporters followed with breaches found in 21 articles (25.6% of total), while cases of corruption, or efforts to entrench corrupt practices, were found in 14 different articles published in April (17.1%). The fourth category of breach – violations in the form of gross non co-operation of a GPA partner with the terms of the GPA – was identified in 9 articles (11.0% of total). In total, these four categories of breaches (71 articles) accounted for 86.6% of the total analysed. Within these four categories, Zanu-PF was accountable for 93.0% of the violations in April.

(more…)

The struggle for equal representation on political positions by Zimbabwean women is prudent especially at a time when the country starts preparing for possible elections in the coming year.

However, what is possibly more important is that they should demand equal access to financial resources with their male counterparts because without economic empowerment their dreams will never be realised.

In most cases, men flourish in politics because they are economically empowered for they are the dominant sex in the country’s business world, and this is where they get funds for campaigning.

Women lag behind their male counterparts in contesting for political positions because of financial constraints and the uneven play field in politics. Organising political meetings needs heavy capital injection, and unlimited time.

Women often do not enough time to do some of the things men have the luxury of free time to do, as they have to get home early and perform their domestic duties as prescribed by our culture and tradition.

I recently attended a meeting held by the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe and I applaud their move to engage political parties’ to lobby for women’s economic empowerment ahead of elections, whenever they may be.

As talk of a possible election in 2011 begins to make serious discussion currency in Zimbabwe’s ever undulating political terrain, it is once again to the electoral environment that all observers will turn. As usual, the error will be made to focus on the election as an event, thus missing out the bigger picture of viewing it as rather a process comprised of various factors. However, this error of judgement is understandable ostensibly because many in our midst think that what matters is how conditions are on election day(s) in particular and/or the few days or weeks preceding it. Yet years preceding an election, the election period itself and indeed the period after are all aspects of what will eventually be determined by whoever as a so-called ‘free and fair’ election or otherwise. This is the fallacy of election observers and monitors that continues to be missed. This advice is particularly urgent in a country like Zimbabwe where elections have always been an area of fiercely contested terrain in many ways than the orthodox electoral competition. But there are many more matters arising as regards elections in Zimbabwe. This is in part drawn from the lessons of our past electoral history as well as the other external dynamics that we have gone through as a maturing post-colonial state. (more…)