Softly
Wipe away the bitterness
From my brow.
Heal my soul, and
Calm the rage of betrayals.
- Chris Magadza in ‘Sun on my Face’

You can cage the singer, but not the song.
- Harry Belafonte

Visit Kubatana’s aggregated information on the unjust arrest of civic and social activists under charges of treason in Zimbabwe.

Sandra Tembo walks past a billboard on her way to Mbare vegetable market in Harare, Zimbabwe, that gives advice she says friends can’t afford to follow: “Your future is brighter without a sugar daddy.”

“I’m sure they realize the risk,” Tembo, a 20-year-old dressmaking student, said of the friends. “But they say being broke all the time also has its dangers, as you could starve.”

African girls who sell themselves for sex to older men, known as sugar daddies, are fueling an AIDS epidemic in Sub- Saharan Africa, home to two-thirds of all people infected with the HIV virus. Young women in the region have HIV infection rates three times higher than young men: 3.4 percent of women aged 15 to 24 and 1.4 percent for men in the same age group.

Now the World Bank is proposing to pay girls like Tembo’s friends as an incentive to keep them in school and prevent AIDS. Cash may be the “ethical policy instrument” of the 21st century, said Mead Over, a health economist at the Center for Global Development, a research organization in Washington.

Read more from Bloomberg.com

Full page advert in The Standard newspaper on 13th March 2011:

ATT: Honourable Minister P. Chinamasa
Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs
New Government Complex
Block A 6th Floor

Dear Minister Chinamasa

We write to your attention the fact that Dr. Munyaradzi Gwisai, Hopewell Gumbo, Welcome Zimuto, Antonator Choto, Tendai Mambeyarara and Edison Chakana are being held unjustly in Zimbabwe’s remand prison. The 6 were unjustly arrested while conducting a meeting at the International Socialist Organisation, in which developments in North Africa were shared verbally and visually on the 19th of February 2010, and have been incarcerated since. This group is now charged with treason, which as you know is a serious crime carrying he death penalty. We demand that the 6 be released urgently for the following reasons:

·    The 6 have been incarcerated long enough to allow the prosecution to conduct investigation, and now they are unjustly being denied of their freedom.
·    The charges are frivolous and it is clear to us that watching videos and discussing political developments elsewhere do not constitute a crime.
·    Our constitution allows the freedoms of association and assembly which they were exercising at the time of their arrest.
·    Democracy is not treason.

We would like to protest the subjection of Dr. Munyaradzi Gwisai and his co-accused to inhuman, cruel and degrading treatment at the hands of the police while in custody.

This matter deserves your urgent attention, because justice delayed s justice denied.

Yours Sincerely

Concerned Zimbabweans

Dr. Gwisai and 45 others Detention Timeline

19 February 2011: Dr. Munyaradzi Gwisai and 45 others arrested while watching a video and discussing protests in Egypt and Tunisia. Amongst the 45 are people living with HIV and AIDS, diabetics, students and economic justice campaigners.
19-23 February 20011: Accused held with no access to lawyers, medical  attention and running water.
23 February 2011: The 46 formally charged with treason (a crime that carries the death penalty in Zimbabwe), and make their first court appearance.
24 February 2011: Defence Lawyers, raise concerns around torture and denial of medical attention for the ill, or legal counsel for the group.
Monday the 7th March 2011: Magistrate Munamato Mutevedzi, releases 39 of the 45 due to lack of evidence. Dr. Munyaradzi Gwisai, Hopewell Gumbo, Welcome Zimuto, Antonator Choto, Tendai Mambeyarara and Edison Chakana remain in custody.

Our Appeal
Dr. Gwisai and his 5 colleagues remain in custody for a crime they did not commit or for which they have not been found guilty. We urge you to join the campaign to have the six innocent people freed. You can do so by signing the letter above, cutting it and sending it out to the Minister of Justice. You can also sign an online petition at www.freethemnow.com and be sure to attend their next month court appearance on Wednesday 16 March 2011.

·    Justice delayed is justice denied
·    Democracy is not treason
·    Today its Dr Gwisai, tomorrow it could be you

Help free Dr Gwisai and his 5 colleagues. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. An injury to one is an injury to all!!

Minister of Justice and Legal Affairs
Hon Patrick Chinamasa
Government of Zimbabwe
New Government Complex
P. Bag 7751, Causeway
Harare,
Zimbabwe
Fax: 00 263 4 790901
Salutation: Dear Minister

The Attorney General
Johannes Tomana
Government of Zimbabwe
P. Bag 7714, Causeway
Harare ,
Zimbabwe
Fax: 00 263 4 777049
Salutation: Dear Attorney General

HE Mr Gabriel Mharadze Machinga
Ambassador of the Republic of Zimbabwe
Embassy of the Republic of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe House,
429 Strand,
London WC2R 0JR,
United Kingdom
Telephone:00 44 207 836 7755
Faxes:00 44 207 379 116
Email:zimlondon@yahoo.co.uk

From PlusNews:

NAIROBI — As the world celebrates the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day, women and girls across the globe continue to be disproportionately affected by the AIDS pandemic – HIV is the leading cause of death and disease among women of reproductive age worldwide.

IRIN/PlusNews presents five important ways to reduce women’s vulnerability to HIV:

Education: According to UNAIDS, illiterate women are four times more likely to believe there is no way to prevent HIV infection, while in Africa and Latin America, girls with higher levels of education tend to delay first sexual experience and are more likely to insist their partner use a condom. Educating girls has the added advantage of delaying their marriage and increasing their earning ability, both of which reduce their vulnerability to HIV. Educated women are also more likely to access health services for themselves and their children, and to oppose negative cultural practices such as female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

Access to reproductive health services: In many developing countries, women have very limited access to vital reproductive health services. A combination of biological and social factors means women are more vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections (STIs), which, if left untreated, increase their vulnerability to HIV. Women living in humanitarian crises are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence and require services such as free, easily available condoms and safe blood for transfusions. Improving access to reproductive health services enables women to make informed choices in determining family size and preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Ending gender violence: One in three women has been beaten, experienced sexual violence or otherwise abused in their lifetime, according to the UN; one in five will be a victim of rape or attempted rape. More often than not, the perpetrators are known to the women. Practices such as early marriage, FGM/C and human trafficking all increase women’s vulnerability to HIV, but more accepted forms of violence, such as marital rape, also play a large part in increasing women’s HIV risk. According to UNAIDS, investment in HIV programming policies and addressing gender inequality and gender-based violence will help to achieve universal targets of HIV prevention, treatment and care.

Economic empowerment: In his book, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, Richard Robbins states that women do two-thirds of the world’s work but receive 10 percent of the world’s income and own just own 1 percent of the means of production. Poverty prevents poor women from controlling when sexual intercourse takes place and if a condom is used, and often forces women into risky transactional sex to feed themselves and their families. According to a 2010 US Government study, empowerment activities such as micro-finance give women access to and control over vital economic resources, ultimately enhancing their ability not only to mitigate the impact of HIV, but also to be less vulnerable to HIV.

Involving men: More often than not, men control the dynamics of how, when and where sex happens. Encouraging more men to use condoms consistently has the knock-on effect of protecting their sexual partners from unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Men are less likely than women to seek health services; in the case of men involved with multiple women, this means STIs remain untreated for long periods while their female partners are also at risk of infection. Teaching boys and young men to respect women, to be more involved in family activities and to avoid negative behaviour such as gender violence and alcohol abuse helps groom a generation of men who are less likely to take risks that endanger themselves and their families.

Online at: http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=92135

Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you’ve got.
- Janis Joplin, American singer