Category: zimbabwe

Source: Motherhood used as political weapon against women in politics | Newsday (News)

By Staff Writer

TABITHA Khumalo’s political journey is a perfect example of the trials and tribulations of women in politics.

Khumalo, an MDC founding member and former legislator for Bulawayo East, confesses she had to develop a thick skin to survive Zimbabwe’s rough political terrain.

“As women politicians, we have suffered all kinds of abuse including name-calling by our male counterparts,” Khumalo says.

“I am called Sekuru Khumalo, Chairman Khumalo and all sorts of nicknames; women who want to get into politics should be prepared for such.”

Several female politicians have been verbally abused for their sexuality, and called all sorts of derogatory terms like “prostitute”.

Motherhood has often been used as a political weapon against women in politics, investigations and research show.

Any attempts made by women to secure positions of power are often seen as taboo by their male counterparts, friends and foe due to the harmful socio-cultural norms which do not view women’s potential beyond domestic activities.

This leads to a backlash from society with the women being primary targets of any discrimination and psychological distress that comes with it.

This further tends to take a hard knock on women’s self-esteem and confidence which has the effect of undermining women’s capacity to see themselves as leaders and threaten female candidates’ potential to be successful.

This is even more pronounced in politics, Khumalo adds.

“As a woman, I have gone through serious political drilling. There are many challenges we face in politics as women,” Khumalo narrated while bemoaning that women are sometimes given leadership positions on “charity” basis.

“Women are unable to hold senior positions; if they do they are just given that position because one is a woman, not on merit.

“There is also the issue of sexual exploitation due to our biological make-up. We have organs that are seriously wanted by men which lead to men ending up abusing us. It is not a crime to be in politics and we have the rights to have sex when we want, but not to be abused.”

This abuse is prevalent during the election period, and in Parliament.

Last year, former MDC acting president Thokozani Khupe was often heckled as a “Hure” by her opponents as political temperatures soared ahead of that party’s congress to elect a substantive leader after the death of Morgan Tsvangirai

Also in 2020, Zanu PF Nkayi South legislator Stars Mathe was forced to storm out of Parliament in tears after she was heckled by MDC Alliance Mbizo MP Settlement Chikwinya saying she was heard screaming in a hotel room at night.

Khumalo, recalled MP Joana Mamombe (Harare West MDC Alliance), Jasmine Toffa (Bulawayo Proportional Representation MP MDC Alliance) and recalled former MP Lynette Karenyi (Mutare Proportional Representation MDC Alliance) have also faced snide remarks dismissing them as prostitutes.

Bulawayo MDC Alliance councillor Sikhululekile Moyo shared the same sentiments as she bemoaned the abuse of motherhood as a political weapon.

“The major problem (for women in politics) is that everyone looks at you like a housewife or a single mother and not as a leader,” Moyo said.

Moyo blamed patriarchal norms, religion and culture for relegating women to the periphery of the political terrain.

“What makes men view us as mothers comes from our culture and religion. When we grew up you would see that the girl child bought dolls, cups, pots which showed that they must cook and remain housewives.”

This is despite Southern African Development Community (Sadc) member states proactively working towards equal representation of men and women in politics and decisionmaking positions at all levels such as in cabinet, parliament, council, public as well as private sector.

The Sadc Gender Protocol Barometer produced by the Southern Africa Gender Protocol Alliance is one document that is aimed at measuring progress in the implementation of the Sadc Gender Protocol by the member states.

It is updated annually by measuring the success of these commitments at member state level. Zimbabwe is a signatory to many declarations aimed at increasing women’s leadership and decision-making.

Following the 2018 general elections, women held 60 seats out of 210 with Zanu PF bagging 35, MDC Alliance 24 and MDC Khupe one seat respectively.

Zimbabwe’s new Constitution came into effect in 2013, and provides a quota of 60 seats set aside for women for proportional representation in Parliament, increasing the number of women in Parliament from 16% to 34%.

However, the quota system does not have clear provisions on how to include young women, does not extend to local government, and expires in 2023.

Despite the fact that Zimbabwe is a signatory to several normative frameworks that seek the inclusion of women in major decision-making organs, the reality is still dire.

However, all hope is not lost, Khumalo and Moyo argued.

“We need political maturity. Women need to go to an election just like their male counterparts by merit, not by virtue of being a woman. There is also violation of laws when it comes to women, but surprisingly we have very beautiful laws in this country which govern the safety and well-being of women,” Khumalo said.

“We must capacitate ourselves as women to be able to bring the maximum results with minimum resources. I do not believe there is something called a position for a woman or man. We should have a plan on how we can go about it to make sure everyone has equal access to any political position.”

Moyo argued the anomaly of women under-representation should be corrected, first, at household and family level.

“Let’s teach our children from the young age that they should know from birth that they can be leaders and encourage them to go to school so that they can be the leaders of tomorrow who know the challenges we are facing at house levels,” Moyo argued.

“”The problem being faced in the country is better known by us women. The problems we face in councils are everyday problems faced by women and as women we know them better. The majority of the problems faced in communities affect women and children the most.”

Emthonjeni Women’s Forum representative Melissa Ndlovu argued the stereotype of women being primary caregivers is still very much a lens that society views women through.

She argued this reinforces gender stereotypes because despite changing roles in society, the prominent idea of women is that they are mothers.

“There is a need to educate men on issues of power balance and the positivity thereof when it comes to positive development. Women also need to be empowered towards supporting each other in political spaces and create formidable movements that can bolster their interest (solidarity),” Ndlovu said.

“There is a need for the government to enforce legislative and international agreements that focus on equal representation of men and women in all spheres of life including political life. The enforcement should stipulate 50/50 in all positions regardless of gender.”

The post Motherhood used as political weapon against women in politics appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

TABITHA Khumalo’s political journey is a perfect example of the [...]

Source: University of Johannesburg: Zimbabwe wrestles with its moral conscience as Zanu PF leaders succumb to Covid-19 | India Education,Education News India,Education News | India Education Diary

Sizo Nkala is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg. He recently published an opinion article that appeared on Nehanda Radio on the 1st February 2021.

In Zimbabwe, the cadaverous Covid-19 pandemic has gripped the apex of the country’s political leadership. Three government ministers and a retired top ranking army official succumbed to the Covid-19 pandemic in rapid succession in a space of a week.

Ellen Gwaradzimba who served as Manicaland Minister of State for Provincial Affairs died of Covid-19-related complications on the 15th of January 2021. Five days later on the 20th the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, retired Lieutenant-General Sibusiso Moyo succumbed to the virus.

He was a key figure in the military-led ouster of the late former president Robert Mugabe in November 2017. On the night of the 22nd the Transport Minister Joel Biggie Matiza and the former Commissioner-General of the notorious Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) who was also a retired Major-General, Paradzai Zimondi, died of Covid-19.

Moyo, Matiza and Zimondi were buried at the National Heroes Acre on the same day. Six months ago the Minister of Agriculture Air Marshal Perrance Shiri died on the 29th of July 2020. He also succumbed to the same disease making it a total of four cabinet ministers to lose their lives to the ravaging virus.

While death is ordinarily and perhaps universally greeted with sombernes and sorrow, the recent and rapid deaths of the Zanu-PF bigwigs have elicited polarized and starkly contrasting emotions among Zimbabweans. Evidence that even the most sacred of our cultural customs and moral principles are not immune from our divisive politics.

On the one hand are the ruling party members and supporters who are solemnly mourning their fallen leaders. On the other hand are Zanu-PF opponents who seem to be celebrating or at least swearing that they will not mourn the deaths of their oppressors.

They argue that the ruling party has done nothing for them other than making their lives miserable through corruption, human rights abuses and violence. They cite the contrast between the opulence and affluence of the ruling party leaders and their associates and the grinding abject poverty which consumes the lives of the majority of Zimbabweans.

Appalled over their heads by this ‘abominable’ behaviour, those whose sympathies lie with Zanu-PF quickly draw-out the cultural card. They accuse their compatriots of lacking Ubuntu which prescribes collective sympathy and sorrow in the event of a misfortune such as death.

The Zanu-PF spokesperson Simon Khaya-Moyo posted on his twitter account counselling that “wishing for the death of political opponents is unAfrican. Ubuntu is being stronger together”.

A local newspaper, the Daily News, which of late has been charitable to the ruling party came out guns blazing. The paper thundered at “the depth of depravity that has been exhibited by a few pinheads who have celebrated the death of people linked to Zanu-PF”.

In places the paper labels the behaviour of those who have not shown sympathy as “shocking witchcraft”. However, doubling down, the other camp is quick to quip back reminding the sympathizers that it’s the corruption and incompetence of the same Zanu-PF leaders which has collapsed the country’s healthcare system.

When the healthcare professionals protest the poor conditions in hospitals, they argue, they are battered and brutalized by the police. As such, now that Zanu-PF leaders cannot skip the border as they usually do to seek attention to their ailments, they are facing the consequences of a health sector that has crumbled under their watch. The underlying tone being that those who died deserved their fate.

It is clear that Zimbabweans are at loggerheads and there appears to be no common ground. The pandemic has aroused and amplified political differences and divisions and set the country sliding dangerously towards Manichean politics of good against evil.

We are losing our shared sense of right and wrong on account of politics. We are shredding age-old cultural customs that have long defined our civilization and gave us a sense of identity. There is need to take perspective before we reach a point of no return.

It is true that Zimbabwe has become one of the poorest countries in the world while its political elites have become some of the richest people in the world through plunder and looting. The country is ranked 157th out of 180 countries in the prevalence of corruption.

State institutions are consistently used to repress dissenters in the most egregious of ways. Today the Zimbabwean state cannot provide basic public goods like decent jobs, justice, health, education, roads and food security among others.

Millions of Zimbabweans, young and old, have had to migrate to countries like South Africa or take on informal jobs to earn precarious livelihoods in dehumanizing conditions. All this while the Zanu-PF elites and their associates live their best lives untouched by the economic disaster around them. However, the Covid-19 pandemic should be a moment of reflection for the political elite.

The money, power and wealth which has made them look invincible over the years cannot shield them from the rampaging virus. A robust and well-resourced health system and impartial and effective law enforcement could have gone a long way in containing the pandemic.

Instead of invoking Ubuntu and insulting those who struggle to sympathize with the deaths of their leaders, the ruling party should look in the mirror and understand why an otherwise decent citizenry would breach sacred cultural values. Without acknowledging their mistakes and committing to change, the ruling party’s appeal to Ubuntu sounds self-serving and insincere.

Just as important, it is understandable that people may express unsympathetic sentiments when their perceived tormentors perish. However, while such sentiments may not be motivated by bad intentions, they do encroach on and erode cultural customs and moral values which ground our shared identity and humanity. Cultural and moral values that bind us together are the starting point in nation-building. In their absence, the nation will have no ground on which to stand.

Celebrating and even wishing for the death of your political opponents is certainly not the most effective way of convincing them to change their ways. Especially if they are in power and you need concessions from them. It only reinforces their perceptions of you as evil and unpatriotic.

Politics becomes a vicious circle of two camps defined by their mutual hatred of each other. Already the government spokesperson Nick Mangwana has recklessly insinuated on his twitter account that doctors linked to the opposition may have assassinated Zanu-PF leaders under their care. This is dragging politics down a perilous path and no side will win.

The economy, people’s livelihoods and thousands of lives have fallen prey to the coronavirus pandemic. Now cultural and moral values are taking a hit. Their weight and importance is diminished by Zanu-PF’s convenient invoking of Ubuntu while its government is happy to maim, kill and abuse dissenters exercising their human rights.

Our cultural and moral values also take a blow when, under the urge of otherwise justified anger, Zanu-PF opponents breach the most sacred of cultural customs and celebrate the death of their political rivals. We should not let politics trample on the very foundations of our civilization.

The post University of Johannesburg: Zimbabwe wrestles with its moral conscience as Zanu PF leaders succumb to Covid-19 appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

ON World Wetlands Day

Source: TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT, PRESERVE AND RESTORE WETLANDS – The Zimbabwean

 

ON World Wetlands Day, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) calls
upon policymakers, local and central government to take concerted and
coordinated efforts to develop and implement action plans to stop the
ongoing degradation of wetlands and protect, preserve and restore
them.

World Wetlands Day, which is commemorated every year on 2 February,
aims to raise global awareness on the vital importance of wetlands for
human beings, flora and fauna and our planet as a whole.

World Wetlands Day is also an occasion to commemorate the adoption of
the Convention on Wetlands, the “Ramsar Convention” on 2 February 1971
in the Iranian city of Ramsar. The Ramsar Convention seeks to protect
and preserve wetlands. Zimbabwe is a party to this Convention and in
terms of which has designated 7 ‘Ramsar sites’ of wetlands of
international importance.

In 2021, World Wetlands Day is being commemorated under theme
“Wetlands and Water”, which highlights the need to protect and restore
wetlands since they are a significant source of freshwater, at a time
when the world is facing a growing shortage of freshwater.

This day is an opportunity for people around the world, including
Zimbabwe, to reflect on how water and wetlands are connected in an
inseparable co-existence which is important to life and the health of
the planet and highlight the detrimental effects of the destruction of
wetlands on the quality of life for humans, other forms of life and
the environment.

Wetlands are critical in the water cycle, providing freshwater for
many people around the world. Wetlands absorb water throughout the
rainy season, preventing flooding and runoff carrying pollutants
causing siltation of water sources. The wetlands store the water,
replenish ground aquifers, and slowly release this water in the dry
season into streams and river systems around cities until it finds its
way into the major water sources supplying the cities. Without
wetlands, these water sources would quickly run dry in winter months
and poor rainy seasons, causing major water shortages. Wetlands also
act as natural filters for pollutants and provide safe drinking water
as a result. The water found in wetlands supports agriculture and
aquaculture, thereby providing income and sustenance for millions of
people across the globe.

In Zimbabwe, the loss of wetlands has been mainly caused by human
interference and mismanagement. In particular, the drainage of
wetlands to pave way for human settlements, industrial activity and
agriculture has caused wetlands to disappear rapidly.

Across the country, some local authorities and the so-called land
barons ignore the need to protect wetlands by approving housing
developments on wetlands despite the existence of many domestic and
international laws against such conduct. This has been disastrous for
some residents, as their houses have been flooded and destroyed with
some local authorities having the temerity of blaming residents for
constructing houses on wetlands rather than providing progressive
solutions.

For several years, ZLHR and its partners have consistently challenged
such conduct by local authorities, non state actors and other
government departments and ministries in the courts.  Many notable
successes have been recorded in our bid to preserve and protect
wetlands.

The protection and restoration of wetlands guarantees the right to
water. Section 77 of the Constitution of Zimbabwe provides that
everyone has the right to safe, clean and potable water.  Section 74
provides for an environment that is not harmful.

Government must develop sustainable strategies for the protection and
restoration of wetlands. This is a human rights issue that requires a
human rights-based solution.

To protect and restore wetlands and secure the availability of
freshwater for present and future generations, ZLHR urges local and
central government to;

o    Stop destroying and start restoring wetlands;

o    Commit to the maintenance of the ecological character of wetlands
that are considered to be Wetlands of International Importance or
Ramsar Sites;

o    Increase awareness about the importance of conserving wetlands
through educational campaigns and media coverage;

o    Immediately stop approving housing developments on wetlands;

o    Establish an Environmental Tribunal to investigate violations of
environmental laws and impose punitive action;

o    Introduce a new Bill in Parliament governing wetlands and covering
the problem of private individuals holding title deeds over wetlands;

o    Treat wetlands solely as a water resource and legislative provisions
protecting water resources;

o    Domesticate the provisions of the Ramsar Convention and Convention
on Biodiversity and incorporate them into Zimbabwe’s municipal law so
as to uphold the obligations under international law to maintain
Wetlands of International Importance.

The post Take action to protect, preserve and restore wetlands appeared first on Zimbabwe Situation.

SEASONED broadcaster Sandile Ngobese, popularly known as KaNqose, has passed on. The passing of the 42-year-old presenter, who is best known for anchoring sports on eNCA’s prime time news, was announced by his colleague Nandi Tshabalala. Taking to social media on Monday evening, Nandi said: “Rest well, colleague. It was an honour.” “A face all […]

The post JUST IN: Popular eNCA broadcaster Sandile KaNqose Ngobese has died first appeared on My Zimbabwe News.