Kubatana.net ~ an online community of Zimbabwean activists

Archive for May, 2010

Female artists in Zimbabwe learn the basics of business

del.icio.us TRACK TOP
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 by Zanele Manhenga

A couple of female artists are taking a more serious look at the arts industry – me included. We are realizing and appreciating that there is more to being a performer, let alone a female one in this man’s world. All thanks to the Flame Project by Pamberi Trust, we have been getting lessons on branding, pricing, marketing and related subjects that make what we do not just entertaining and enjoyable on stage but that it is a serious career and we ourselves much treat it as such.

For anybody outside yourself to realize your worth, you first need to realize it yourself. That is just the essence of what we have been learning. We had such an amazing session last week and it was a different meeting all together. I guess with a lot of artists in the same room, no meeting is the same as the last one! We have become sort of a family; there is a sisterhood going on with us and it has been growing since we began our first module. However we did not do the typical artists in one place act but we did accounts. Yes we did accounts and we had the most fun! Our facilitator was Virginia Phiri. That lady does not walk on ice skates – she is the most down to earth person. She made it all seem so easy and by the end of day two of our workshop we were accounting and it was making sense. Accounting for me was just demystified. You know how it is that when you hear accounts you are thinking mathematics but it is just simple algebra. If there is one thing that I think all of the ladies that were there came away with is that basic understanding of business will make things easier especially in the arts industry.

Above all, for me I realized that anything is possible if you set your mind to it.

If your vagina could talk what would it say?

del.icio.us TRACK TOP
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010 by Zanele Manhenga

You realize you men out there, that this question is not directed to you, but to all my mothers, sisters and female human beings. The Vagina Warriors have an agenda; to show women and men alike that there is an issue here and as long as it is not discussed they are going to come right out and ask if the vagina had a mouth what would you hear it say? To be a bit precise these are called The Vagina Monologues.

If you did not attend a function by the Young Women’s Leadership Initiative (YOWLI) that was themed reclaiming our bodies, demystifying sex and sexuality, let me then tell you it was about dissecting issues relating to young women’s sexual and reproductive health and rights.

Yes, you read right; this is not from foreign lands but stories of young Zimbabwean women in our communities subjected to a whole lot of different experiences. I was shocked at what other people think and feel about sex. From the monologues that were there, issues ranged from having sex without using condoms to shoving some liquids down your privates so that you are relatively tight for him.

After that function I read somewhere that these mentalities are the ones causing HIV and AIDS to be on the rise in Southern Africa – that is creepy and scary. The article said that if a woman shoves ice into her vagina she is bound to experience pain and bruising, making her body vulnerable to a lot of infections.

African as I am there is a lot of things that I would have loved to say about this whole subject but my culture prevents it. I can only encourage you to go to these functions and get enlightened. Who knows maybe we are the generation to kill these mentalities and restore our bodies, male and female to God’s original intent. To be adored, cherished and treated fearfully and wonderfully just the way we were made.

Issues in Zimbabwe’s Constitution should have equal importance

del.icio.us TRACK TOP
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 by Zanele Manhenga

What are main issues for the new Constitution? Who determines what is petty and trivial at this point in Zimbabwe? Which issue is supposed to take more weight than the other in forming our new Constitution? I have just read a blog from someone saying that homosexual and gender issues are trivial and should not be magnified as they do not have anything to do with the governance of this country.

I am not for homosexuality but I am a Christian who has been instructed to love the next person as I love myself. I do not hate homosexuals, I just do not agree with what they do and what they believe in. But I am a woman, and gender issues involve me whether I like it or not. The blogger continues to say that Constitutional campaigns have magnified these issues. My question is what campaigns are these? If you have a burning issue and you want it put under the microscope I suggest you have your own campaigns just as those people campaigning for gender are having theirs.

I will talk about what affects me here. It is very important that we deal with gender issues once and for all. Why should I keep quiet when I know that if this issue is left behind, my daughter will face the same challenges that I am facing as a woman? This is an opportunity to make a difference and I am going to grab it by the horns.

To educate you a bit my fellow blogger, gender refers to widely held beliefs, expectations, customs and practices within a society that define masculine and feminine attributes, behavior, roles and responsibilities. Now if anyone is going to be of a governing body which is going to be governing a society, don’t you think they need to have their own individual beliefs and expectations in check?

My point is this; good governance is not going to come about when people in governing spaces do not know their social standing, be they male or female. In fact good governance has got to do with gender issues for a government to work. Every person needs to know who they are, what their roles are and what they are entitled to as human beings. So I say viva to anyone who wants to magnify any issue that they feel is important to them and these issues should be dealt with, and included in the Constitution. If people want to lobby for homosexuality and gender issues let them go ahead. Better yet if there are others who want to have anti homosexual and anti gender campaigns they should also go ahead. What better way to exercise our hoped for democracy and freedom to choose who we are and what we want to be?

Wielding a sword against corruption

del.icio.us TRACK TOP
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 by Dydimus Zengenene

Corruption is a deplorable activity that haunts Zimbabwe across all walks of life. Corruption is spreading like a veldt fire and a tough stance by all stakeholders is well overdue. The African Parliamentary Network Against Corruption (APNAC) Zimbabwe chapter has taken it upon its shoulders to weather the storm by calling their first press conference to publicly express their denunciation of any form of corruption in the country.

Speaking at the conference, the Chairman for APNAC, Honourable Willas Madzimure, expressed concern that some public office bearers are busy enriching themselves at a time when the taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet. He called upon the President of Zimbabwe to quickly appoint the Anti Corruption Commission, which might help look into these issues. He also added that the Commission so assigned should promptly give feed feedback to the parliamentarians. Honourable Madzimure also called upon the government to implement the law that requires members of parliament and senior government officials to declare their assets to the state before assuming public office, stressing also that their accumulation of wealth should be put under public scrutiny.

Honourable Madzimure made it clear that Members of Parliament have the right to access any sector to find facts on behalf of the people whom they represent. His statement comes amid reports that the government barred MPs from the Mines and Energy portfolio committee from touring the Chiadzwa diamond fields on a fact-finding mission to understand the background to the allegations of corrupt dealings involving senior government officials.

APNAC expressed condemnation of the mis-allocation of residential stands, approval of substandard and incomplete infrastructure developments and abuse of council property including vehicles. He also expressed concern over the reports that councilors are allegedly allocating themselves houses belonging to the poor and on reports that illustrate corruption by high-level government official and influential business people. He called upon the police to desist from assuming a reluctant stance when handling corruption cases that involve government officials when they are reported.

Though the Honourable Madzimure did not mention any names, it was apparent that the APNAC criticism was directed at the council house scandal and the corruption that has entangled Minister Chombo and the flamboyant businessman, Chiyangwa, who boasts of owning almost a fifth of the city of Harare. The two men are alleged to have connived with top city officials to allocate themselves vast tracts of land. The case is still under police investigation, though a council report clearly pointed out anomalies in the manner in which land deals were undertaken.

Responding to the question whether APNAC is prepared to shoulder potential victimisation and dangerous consequences in their endeavor to combat corruption involving very powerful politicians, APNAC members stressed that they have sacrificially placed themselves on the persecution altar, for the cause of good governance. However to achieve better results the APNAC called for synergies with the police and other interested parties that share the same hatred for corruption.

What could I have done?

del.icio.us TRACK TOP
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010 by Mgcini Nyoni

In Zimbabwe I recently traveled in the back of pick-up truck with several other people.  At one point the truck stopped to pick up a man along the route to town.  In his attempt to get onto the truck, he held onto a woman who was seated next to me. She protested; she did not fancy any man besides her husband holding her shoulder.

There was an angry retort from the man, who felt that the situation called for a suspension of what he termed ‘stupid and immature’ moral stands. There was a chorus of condemnation of the woman; with some saying it was the likes of her who pretended to be saintly in public, but were in reality, ‘snakes’. As much as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a village to rape a woman.

I was not happy with the way the helpless woman’s rights were being violated and I said as much.  It was well within the woman’s rights to choose who held her shoulder and who did not; the circumstances did not matter. She did not want her shoulder held by another man, end of story.

Why should anyone ever say, what could I have done? The doctor asked me to strip me naked, what could I have done? You could have said you are not comfortable and you will not do it. I have heard people say it is backward for a woman to demand that a female nurse examine her. Well, it is within her rights to demand that a male nurse not touch her and that a male doctor not ask her to undress. It is well within her rights to be ‘backward’.

Malaysia recently introduced women only train coaches.  Those women who are not comfortable with harassment from men can travel in peace. Those who are okay with their bottoms being slapped and obscenities shouted at them are free to travel on the regular coaches. That is what I call upholding human rights!

Why should we see abuse of human rights only in the political sense; the burning of buttocks, burning of homes and so on. If someone is made uncomfortable in any way then a human right has been violated, it does not matter how many believe otherwise. Human rights, especially women’s rights, have been trampled upon so much that rape is now considered a small infringement that should be ignored. Young girls cannot move in peace as ‘suitors’ lay ambushes for them. I know of a number of young girls who refuse to be sent to the shops. They would rather face the wrath of their parents than face the vagabonds on the way.

As long as we do not see the violation of human rights as making someone or group of people uncomfortable regardless of their numbers or how trivial we think their case is, then we are a long way off.  No one should ever say, ‘what could have done?’

‘The teacher asked me to come to the storeroom and fondled my breasts, what could I have done?’

‘The doctor inserted his fingers into my vagina, even though I did not understand that my vagina had anything to do with my headache. What could I have done?’

‘The taxi driver asked us to pile into the taxi, women on top of men, what could I have done? The situation demanded it.’

‘The police officers whipped us, despite the fact that it is taboo for a man to lay hands on a woman without her consent. What could I done, he is a police officer.’

‘The human resources manager asked me to hold the desk. What could I have done, I wanted the job desperately?’

No one should ever say, what could I have done? Because there is always a choice, always a decent and dignified way out.  I remember a case when I was growing up of a man who used his wife to pay off his gambling debt. He instructed the guy he owed money to, to go to his place and ‘have’ his wife. The wife ‘consented’. After years of abuse, she could not think of going against her husband’s wishes, but she could have. In narrating her ordeal, the refrain was, ‘What could I have done?’  She could have said no, because she was not comfortable with the whole nonsensical setup. But she did not take the dignified way out.

In our fight for human rights, we should make sure that no one ever says, ‘What could I have done?’ What could I have done is not the dignified way out.

Zimbabweans have no respect for time

del.icio.us TRACK TOP
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010 by Dydimus Zengenene

It does not need an expert in any field to inform the Zimbabwean populace that this country needs them in terms of production and economic resuscitation. In as much as we are aware that the economy is not functioning as expected, the few working systems that we have need maximum efficiency for sustainability.

One element that the entire national system does not respect is time.

For instance, if one goes to the bank to do a withdrawal the tellers are not in a hurry to serve you. As a result unnecessary queues form. If one goes to buy lunch, it takes a long time before the order is processed. Commuters are my witness when we see the police slowly doing their duty especially when they inspect public transport. So instead of people appreciating the role of the police in maintaining security and safety, people just get annoyed by unwarranted delays that are usually a result of unnecessary negotiations and kick back payments between the police and transport operators.

And if one goes to collect a National Identity card, the provision of services is slow. These are just some examples.

The entire economy is run in a manner that is slow, without any efficiency. We as citizens should start to think beyond our own selves, and start to act far beyond the call of duty as well. Those who work in positions where they serve people should now start to think in terms of production hours that the country loses by delays in services provided.  I mean, if you tell someone to wait, consider that you have not stopped that person alone, but you have also stopped production somewhere else. As a result you also stop national recovery! If you alone delay ten people for six minutes then you have cost the whole economy one production hour.

This knowledge only comes with an understanding beyond where you are at the moment. The no-hurry approach to life must not apply anymore if we are serious about making the country as vibrant as it was before. We therefore have to revisit our conscience when we tell someone to wait a moment, park there, of come back later.