Rather amusing really to see the MDC pushing for a Yes vote in the Referendum through full page adverts in the press. Amusing because, whilst a robust Constitution is a must have, I wonder where the MDC get off saying this draft is worth supporting. For example the new Constitution says that every Zimbabwean is entitled to free basic education. Hmmm … and where is the money for this? The MDC also trumpets that the elderly are entitled to reasonable care and assistance, health care, medical assistance, AND social security and welfare from the state. Hmmm … and where is the money for this? Then of course we have the war veterans who, according to the new constitution are entitled to pension and basic health care. Hmm … and where is the money for this? Gloriously triumphant the MDC excitedly says that the new constitution does not allow for members of the security services to be members of political parties – this is a real HA HA HA moment. Because as we all know the security services take their orders from ZPF and if (a real long shot) the MDC ever occupies real office in Zimbabwe, the security forces would take orders from them. Another part of the MDC’s why you should vote Yes advert says that aliens who were born in Zimbabwe but of parents from the SADC region are now Zimbabweans by birth and they can now vote … hmmm, why only SADC Mr T?

COPAC, ZPF and the MDC should clearly state that whilst the new Constitution promises a lot, the inclusive government is unable to deliver on those promises.

People are being asked to vote Yes for a lot of hot air.

Think about it – politicians will say anything for a vote.

There has been a massive failure on the part of the Inclusive Government in Zimbabwe to provide adequate supplies of clean water. There hasn’t been regular municipal water for several years in many suburbs in Harare – low and high density.

The mushrooming of “we sink wells” adverts in the medium-to high density suburbs indicates the lack of clean running water.

Photographs by Crispen Rateiwa

Call for Applications / SADC Water Fellowships: Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa
Deadline: 15 March 2013

Applications are invited for the SADC Water Fellowships offered by Inter Press Service (IPS) Africa as part of its SADC programme on reporting on water issues in southern Africa, the Southern Africa Water Wire (SAWW). The SADC Water Fellowship will be awarded to three fellows from the SADC region to produce a short documentary, photo reportage or short publication that tells a compelling story of the importance of water as a resource in any one of the SADC river basins. The story telling should draw the linkages between water as a life-giving resource and any one of the range of development objectives and priorities that are critical to the sustainability of water resources. Applicants can address issues of water management; water governance, infrastructure development, capacity development, climate change adaptation, and/or social development, making the critical linkage between these priorities and the impact on ordinary people.

Three fellowships will be awarded up to a maximum of US$8000. The winners will have four months to produce their outputs. Each fellow will be guided and supported by a media mentor selected by IPS to ensure the best possible story telling. The fellows will present their productions at a major event to be held later in 2013.

Application procedure

Applicants should submit concepts that outline, in no more than two pages:
-Your story idea
-The geographical area you intend to cover
-Who you would speak to/interview as part of your story
-The medium you intend to use and why
-Your expected overall budget

Applications that get through the first round will be expected to further develop their ideas into a proposal with a detailed budget to compete in a second and final round. The deadline for concept submissions is 15 March. Successful applicants for the second round will be informed by 29 March.

Please send your concept, together with your CV to africahq [at] ips [dot] org with the subject line SAWW Fellowship_your name. Due to the high volume of applications we receive only successful short listed applicants will be responded to.

Eligibility & Criteria
-Applicants must be nationals of any SADC member state and currently residing within the SADC region
-Applicants must have completed or be in the final year of tertiary media training and be able to demonstrate a specialisation in the medium they intend to use in their story telling
-Proposals may be submitted for story telling in any medium – print, audio, video, stills, animation, etc or a combination
-Applicants can be groups or individuals
-The story of water can be told in English, French, or Portuguese but please specify which language you intend to use for each output.

Applications from women and people with disabilities are encouraged.

About IPS Africa Inter Press Service (IPS) is a communication institution with a global news agency at its core. IPS Africa is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa with a regional office in Cotonou, Benin. Focusing on Africa’s untold stories, IPS strives to produce regular features and multi-media products focusing on development issues. The Southern Africa Water Wire provides in-depth coverage of a range of water-related issues in Southern Africa, linking water to economic development, social well being and environmental protection. Local journalists from across the region explore the challenges, failures and successes of managing this vital resource.

The slogan on my t-shirt when I’m out running or walking would read “If you can’t say just Hello and treat me like a normal human being, not some female body to pepper stupid arse unwelcome comments with, you can just Fuck Off” … Tatyana Fazlalizadeh in this New York Times article might have a better approach.

Shorty. Sweetie. Sweetheart. Baby. Boo. If you’re a woman, you’ve probably heard it.

If you were to respond, what would you say?

Last fall, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh began replying — through her art — to the dozens of men who approached her in public each week. As night fell, she slipped out of her Bedford-Stuyvesant apartment armed with a bottle of wheat paste, a couple of posters and a paintbrush, and began to pepper Brooklyn with messages:

“My name is not Baby.” “Women are not seeking your validation.” “Stop telling women to smile.”

Since September, Ms. Fazlalizadeh has plastered walls in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bushwick, Clinton Hill and Williamsburg. As winter came and night temperatures dropped, though, she retired her paintbrush. “The wheat paste starts to freeze before it actually dries,” she said. “So the paper wasn’t holding.”

But as slightly warmer weather has returned, so have the messages. She recently tossed up two posters on the corner of Tompkins Avenue and Halsey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant. And Ms. Fazlalizadeh, 27, an Oklahoma-born oil painter, illustrator and after-school art teacher, was headed back out Friday night. “I’d like them to be out in Manhattan somewhere,” she said.

The project grew out of a desire to explain that for many women, “hey sweetums” or “let’s see that smile” isn’t a compliment. “These things make you feel like your body isn’t yours,” she said.

Of course, her target audience may still need convincing. On Friday afternoon, Andrés Carlos, 50, stood by the freshly pasted posters on Tompkins Avenue. “A woman likes nothing more than being told she is beautiful,” he said. “For me, this is ridiculous.”

A friend of his, Richard Johnson, 29, passed by. Mr. Johnson is married, and no longer calls at women on the street. But he did his share of aggressive flirtation. Did women respond negatively? “Sometimes,” he said. Did he stop? “No,” he said. “I’m persistent.”