The Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) also sent us this open letter to the editor of The Standard, objecting to their recent article DPM Khupe dispels pregnancy rumours.

I agree entirely that The Standard needs to be challenged on their journalistic priorities on this article. Who decdied that an article that leads like this was newsworthy:

Deputy Prime Minister Thokozani Khupe is reported to be expecting her fourth child, though she denied the reports saying she was not in a position to have a baby. Khupe has been spotted with a hugely visible bulge, prompting speculation that she is pregnant.

But is some of this critique also stemming from a loyalty to or softness for Khupe in particular? Where are the similar critiques of the sensationalistic journalism and misogynistic stereotyping that has characterised, for example, recent rumours of an affair between Grace Mugabe and Gideon Gono?

Read the letter to the editor below:

Dear Editor in Chief

Zimbabwe is a signatory to the AU and Un instruments that speak gender equality and more recently the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. This protocol urges member states to take measures to discourage the media from reinforcing gender oppression and stereotypes as well as degrading or exploiting women especially in areas of entertainment and advertising and undermining their role and position in society. It is our belief that media houses, especially those that claim to be independent and progressive, like the Standard, reflect these values and principles in their publications and conduct.

We at Women in Politics Support Unit are angered at the blatant undermining and sexualization of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Zimbabwe Honorable Thokozani Khupe that was exhibited by the Standard newspaper. The article that was given front page prominence in the Standard newspaper of 24 to 30 October 2010 was sexist and demeaning to the public stature of a whole Deputy Prime Minister.

It is with great concern that we question the role of media in reinforcing stereotypes that continue to be used to oppress women. The reproductive role of a man no matter his political prominence has never been front page news. Yet we see the pregnancy or lack thereof of the Deputy Prime Minister being topical at a time when she is doing great work for and on behalf of the women of Zimbabwe in her portfolio as Deputy Prime Minister of this country, UN Ambassador on the Global Aids Network and as a member of her political party. She has a recently entered into dialogue with urban councils to reduce the maternity fee that women were being charged. Is that not newsworthy?

This also concerns us as it is a reflection of the mindset of the reporters and editors of the Standard who view a prominent politician as a sexual being instead of according her the respect she deserves as a national representative.

This is contrary to the principles of the SADC Protocol and shows that the only “leading” the Standard is doing is in perpetrating the gender stereotypes that are used to discriminate against women, and in this case, women in public office specifically.  This was further demonstrated by your failure to meet with our staff to discuss our concerns about this article, even after an appointment had been set and confirmed. It is this lack of respect for the opinions, time and work of women that manifested itself and continues to do so in gender biased reporting and coverage.

It is our sincere hope that an apology to the Deputy prime Minister will be given the same prominence that your demeaning article was given. Failure to do so will encourage us to begin to mobilize the women of Zimbabwe and in the region against your publication.

Poetry International is currently featuring poets from Bulawayo. The poem, Martha’s Tavern, is by Lilian Dube, described by Poetry International as ” a young poet of mixed race: her father is Ndebele and her mother is Russian. She is an upper-sixth student at Speciss College. A recipient of the Joshua Nkomo scholarship, she has also won a scholarship to do her tertiary education in the United States of America.”

Martha’s Tavern,
The braai is a colourful affair
Someone’s burning the beef
Sipho
Is being beat up
By his wife
Jeered on by his cronies
Listening to the 7th remix
Of DJ so&so
Converse soles upon
The polished dance floor
Sweaty boys!

Deliwe
Naked in her skirt
Smelling out prey
Pretty nose . . .
Infusions of warm smoke
Tobacco . . .
. . . marijuana?
The cobbler is on his 8th
And enjoying it
Eyelids of a gecko
Heavy
Wondering why
Everybody has
Two replicas in tow
& he can even feel
His beard grow –
Even Deliwe by the bar
Doesn’t look like
His brother’s daughter anymore.

The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation, in collaboration with the Mass Public Opinion Institute hosted a conference recently for politicians, civil society and scholars to share their perspectives on Zimbabwe’s Transition. Among the presenters was Cyprian Nyamwamu who shared some experiences of Kenya’s transition.

In concluding his presentation Mr. Nyamwamu made the following remarks:

Monitoring and enforcing accountability in government must be made a systematic process that is carried out by political non-state actors. In Kenya this has been largely successful except that the entrenched culture of impunity makes it to secure behaviour change and governance.

The state cannot be left to reform on its own. It is the role of forces outside and inside the state to escalate the demands for reforms. This requires a deliberate construction of democratic movement that galvanises the energies to force democratic negotiations about the future of our democracies be it in Kenya or in Zimbabwe. Innovative strategies for ensuring sustainable reforms can only be realised if reforms are held within a political and transitional justice framework where reforms are broad rather than confined to some formal changes that do not open up the state to concerted reforms.

In Zimbabwe like in Kenya, democratic reforms and political transition shall not be sustainable without a thorough transitional justice agenda where public and private citizens, officers and groups get to account for violations and injustices that may have been committed in the past. A new democratic state and cohesive nation cannot be expected in countries where victors’ justice is the order of the day and where impunity has taken root.

There is need for the Inclusive government of Zimbabwe to be sustained even with it inherent limitations until the national democratic project is delivered. V.    It is our view that elections in Zimbabwe before 2013 shall not add value to the Zimbabwe democratic deficit. It is feared that elections before 2013 may precipitate a return to the multiple socio-economic, humanitarian and political crises that were witnessed in the aftermath of the 2008 elections.

It is hoped that the democratic forces in ZANU-PF, MDC, civil society, the private sector and other sectors of the political economy shall adopt an attitude of ‘no reforms no elections’. Reforms here must mean both reforms on paper and in the real world. Reforms cannot happen if the only logic of the political actors is power for the big boys. Those in power must be convinced including through positive sanctions to embrace and champion reforms for the sake of the people and the nation.

SADC must construct a better national democratic reform framework for Zimbabwe than the current one. In the 1989 Poland political Transition example, the President was offered assurances and immunities and Western European countries invested economic incentives into the reform pact that saw the end of the monolithic one-party state rule. This is important seeing as is the case that unlike Kenya, the international community seems ready to leave Zimbabwe to suffer on the ropes for longer. In the Kenyan case in the wake of the post election crisis, the international community made it clear that Kenya was too important to be left to Kenyans alone.

Hello everybody in yo great organisation! Please send me the much needed news! We r tired of this tyranny. MDC is not doing enough 2stop zanu’s rot. Am afraid pple may b butchered again next yr if it remains like this. Please do something now!
- Text message to Kubatana

I had told myself I was not going to comment on the Zimbabwe Big Brother candidate – Munyaradzi Chidzonga’s loss conundrum. I mean, enough criticism already. However, for someone who supported the state’s parting with $1.8 million for the Warriors-Samba Boys friendly, I have recently been accused of hypocrisy for not supporting the Munya (as he is affectionately known) money initiative by some close friends. I have defended the former by saying; at least over 40 thousand people were involved, versus just one person. But that is fodder for another post.

When I watched the unprecedented meet with the president on the news yesterday, I was motivated to highlight that the kerfuffle around Munya and his subsequent reception of 300 thousand USD in ‘compensation fees to cushion him against depression’ served at least one good purpose for me; the opportunity to witness our leaders demonstrate their ability to raise big funds in a considerably short space of time.

One word from a flaky professor and another from an obscure land tycoon and just like that, on a whim, thousands were raised in less than a week. If this were to be done on a sustained basis for more meaningful things, imagine what that would do for our country’s development. Imagine what 300 thousand can do for the non-working traffic lights and potholes littering Harare’s streets; hundreds of needless deaths would be avoided. Imagine what a similar initiative would add to the lives of the displaced folk living and scavenging like animals at Borrowdale race course…

Hopefully none of that money was donated from the collective taxpayers’ pocket.

As I watched the news, I vaguely couldn’t help drawing thin parallels between the big rush for the ‘Diamond boy’ and the diesel n’anga circus. Quite an embarrassment to see such big men getting caught up in such silly things. As someone I know would say it, it just somehow feels super-stupid.

When the First Spin Crowd set to work, the Munya fundraising campaign seemed to suddenly precipitate into something of a publicity gimmick masquerading under the guise of wish granting, with Munya in the centre as the oblivious pawn. Words like youth empowerment, sovereignty, and son of the soil interestingly found their way into the President’s speech at the colourful reception at state house. Talk about grabbing slight opportunities.

And who would have thought Gushungo was a fan or even had the time to watch Big Brother. Perhaps we can put this down to the work of an excellent briefing by the First Spin Crowd, who are we kidding? But one thing is for certain, they conveniently neglected to inform the president that the son of the soil had just come back from a house that harboured totemless, nicotine addicted youths among which were women who often kissed each other full on the mouth. The First Homophobe would have rather died than be remotely associated with such.

For the icing on the cake; asked (Big Brother style) what he was going to do with all that cash, the ever grinning young man looked into the camera and said, “I’m going to use the bulk of it to market and promote my movie,” referring to some obscure production in which he featured, that we are yet to know the full details of. Let’s just say it was a relief to know that speech was going to end and that he was courteous enough not to abuse the redundant and clichéd charity card. Now that would have defeated the whole idea, wouldn’t it?

Mona Eltahawy writing for The Africa Report discusses the power of new media in an article called Facebook Against Faceless Authority. Here it is:

Khaled Said was not the first Egyptian to be brutally beaten by the police. What was unprecedented was the number of Egyptians who have protested police brutality since the 28-year-old businessman died on June 6 – up to 8,000 at one silent protest in his hometown of Alexandria alone. On July 27, the two policemen initially connected to his death stood trial on charges of illegal arrest and excessive use of force. If convicted, they face three to fifteen years in prison.

Social media – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs – were central to organising those protests and to bringing together activists and many ordinary Egyptians who turned out to demand justice for Said. Around 3.4 million Egyptians use Facebook, meaning that Egypt has the largest subscriber base in the Arab world and 23rd-largest globally. One of the many Facebook groups launched in Said’s memory now has almost 250,000 fans.

Social media have connected Egyptians and amplified both the voices and the courage of those who want to protest against President Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for 29 years.

Across the Arab world, these forums have given a voice to the voiceless, providing a platform for the most marginalised to challenge authority, be it political, social or religious.

Long ignored by the state-owned media, young people and women are using the Internet to reach those who had been most eager to ignore them.

In Saudi Arabia, which fuels most of the world’s cars but bars half of its population from driving, women’s rights activists have used Facebook and email to collect petitions against the driving ban. One of the activists, Wajeha al-Huwaider, posted a video on YouTube of herself driving as she narrated an open letter to the Saudi interior minister.

In Lebanon, Meem – a group of lesbian, bisexual and transgendered women – uses a website and Twitter to offer shelter and support.

The desire to take on both the current regime and the old guard of their own movement compels young Muslim Brotherhood members in Egypt to blog. One of them, Abdelmonem Hahmoud Ibrahim says that he started his blog Ana Ikhwan (I am a Muslim Brother) “so that I can show my true self”. The desire to express oneself and to circumvent censorship has created a thrilling equation in the Arab world: one person + the Internet = one very angry president.

Regimes throughout the region intimidate and arrest bloggers, which begs the question: what do all those rulers, in power for so long, have to fear?

Back in Egypt, young people who have known no other ruler than Mubarak and who realise that any one of them could have been Khaled Said, seize the chance to challenge the state and its once-absolute ownership of the narrative.

The majority of the Arab world is younger than 25 years old. The power of answering back – that is now the power of social media.