In the past few months there seems to have been a drastic increase in media reports on gender-based violence with all manner of atrocities coming to light. We have heard reports of women being stabbed with kitchen knives, burnt with irons, and hacked with machetes.  It would seem that media coverage on GBV is on the rise. However, the media is not giving a comprehensive and gender-sensitive picture of GBV, but a sensationalized one. Pat Made of Genderlinks observed that most reporting on the issue is featured in the ‘Courts and Crime’ section of newspapers and that the issue of GBV is coming to the news agendas as events “and not as an issue that’s having a negative impact on the economic, social, and political fabric of our society.” She proceeded to say that the media “is not reporting it as a national issue, nor is it going further to put it into the context of the policy framework, and what needs to be done, in terms of the rights of women and girls. We don’t get that kind of coverage of reporting, which is more informed and helps us as citizens to be able to get a different kind of perception and conceptual way of dealing with the issue.”

Last year, Genderlinks, conducted a Gender and Media Progress Study for Zimbabwe to monitor how the different media in the country reported on and handled issues of gender. The study also included a detailed analysis of media coverage of gender-based violence in 2010, revealing that the proportion of stories on GBV were only 3% of total stories in the media in Zimbabwe, while the figures for the SADC region were not much better, at 4%. It will be interesting to see what the findings for this year’s study will reveal.

We have the MacDonald Park pool (that is, the Avondale public pool) up and running. Took us (a small portion of the community) a lot of time and effort, and donations (thanks for the paint, Astra, the bins, Beta Bricks) but I am told it is the best pool in Harare now!

But it took us over a year. Draining, cleaning with hydrochloric acid, pump fixing, new sand, painting the walls… but now it is in use (over 100 people one day) and we are looking at the right trees to put in the parking lot. Definitely a success. In that over a year though, I often wondered – especially while doing the acid clean, that stuff really rips your lungs out – “why am I doing this?” After all, the post independence Rhodesian euphemism for blacks was ‘non–swimmers’. And while I can swim, I am also a ‘non-swimmer’. (And although white, I am definitely an African, NOT a European – 11th generation along some lines North American.)

So why am I cleaning this pool? Is it just a white thing? (And most of the volunteers were white, or the gardeners of the local whites sent to work for the day.) Why am I here, scrubbing and coughing my lungs out, or getting paint on my new shoes, or just baking in the sun? Why am I here? Is it really just to save the trees in the park around the pool from ‘development’ (the construction of 18 cluster homes)?

But, it is open now. And used. I suppose the hot weather helps but it is FULL! The parking lot is full. Mercedes and BMWs. On the weekends, you cannot park. Even on week days (I know I am unemployed, but the rest?) there are many people there. Kids, fitness freaks, pretty girls, teenagers, the lot. Over 100 people a day! They are all there, swimming. And they are all non-swimmers! Hard to spot a white, and I know we stand out!

So where did the idea come from that blacks are non-swimmers?

Where did the idea come from that the pools could be ‘let go’. Allowed to turn green? – it has produced over $2500 so far this year, in gate takings, since we opened in October.

Why did they (the CoH) think the staff could be laid off (it has gone from 7 employees to 3)? Who agreed to a deal, signed (by the appointed commission) to allow someone to ‘revamp’ the pool in exchange for the land around so they could build 18 cluster homes? Who appointed the business department of CoH who signed this deal?

Who works for who around here? Do we work for the government (at all levels),or does the government fail to work for us?

Perhaps the real question is not “why don’t I understand blacks?”, that is obvious – I don’t, because I am white and was raised in Rhodesia. But why doesn’t/didn’t the new government understand blacks? All this was done by the regime that followed the Smith regime. The new independence regime. All this was done by a black government in Harare, Zimbabwe. A regime that had mobilised the black masses to defeat and overthrow the white regime and change Salisbury, Rhodesia into Harare, Zimbabwe.

Or did they/ do they understand the blacks? Do they understand that they can do what they want, that the black community (as it was under the Rhodesians) does not have the voice to stand up and say, “give us our pool, and make it clean and working?”

But the main question – how come it is full of ‘non-swimmers’ swimming?

Okay, I admit I am a racist. I see someone, and I see black or white (or oriental). I do believe there is a difference, just as there is a difference between women and men. Old and young. (Not sure about gays and straight though). Military and civilians. Shooters and non-shooters. Bikers and people who drive cars. Cat lovers and dog lovers. The important thing, I tell myself, is not to discriminate based on race or anything else (although I am sure I do, but I try not to).

So, the question. How did blacks come to be called ‘non-swimmers’?

And secondary, why were most of the volunteers, who did the work, white? Or sent by whites to actually do the work? I know it is not a white community!

The other Sunday I went to see the Messiah (or hear actually – Handel’s composition). And it was, as usual, brilliant. One of the best bits of music out there – even compares favourably with The Stones and Van Morrison. But there I noticed too, the hall was solid white. Not a ‘non-swimmer’ to be seen (except on stage). I know blacks are Christians, in some cases, very Christian (and I am not). I know blacks sing, and make music. Again, in some cases, very well. So why not come to the Messiah? Door charge was $10, but again I know many blacks make more than I do (not difficult, I am unemployed).

I assume the Messiah (the music, not the dude) is a white social club, that they have managed to keep blacks out of, but why is swimming not a white social club that they have not managed to keep blacks out of? What is the difference?

But of high importance, thanks for using the pool. In such HUGE numbers. The thank you (by demonstration and not some words) hits me in the face so hard I have difficulty standing up.

I have grown tired of hearing about these female rapists, and all the terrible things they have done to their poor victims. While it is sad that these men were violated and degraded in such a manner, I am struggling to understand why their rape seems to have taken precedence over all other rape cases. Countless male rapists are getting away with violating minors but we can rest assured that all these female rapists will be caught, and brought to justice.

For one thing, there has been more than adequate, (or necessary), media coverage of the atrocities, and it seems the police’s hard work on the case has paid off, as 3 of the offenders have now been apprehended, charged with 17 counts of aggravated indecent assault and released on $300 bail each. It is my hope that in the future that the police will be as swift with men who rape children because some of these monsters are getting away scot-free!

Several newspaper articles have described the large crowds that gathered outside the Gweru Police Station, wanting to beat the female rapists held there. Why is the same sense of outrage not shown when we hear of men raping minors and other vulnerable members of society? I read with outrage about a Masvingo man who allegedly raped his 18-year-old daughter at least 12 times, and was last month released on $100 bail. A $100 bail, for a man who lives with his victim? Are they crazy? Why, also, was this story only reported on once? If stories like this received even half the publicity that the female rapists have received, maybe the “playing field” would be a little more even. I was also surprised when the names and photos of the 3 female rapists were released. When was the last time we ever saw any one of the monsters that desecrate the bodies of minors photographed? Rape is rape, let’s treat all offenders the same! If we are now going to start photographing these despicable people, let’s take photos of them all!

Perhaps the manner in which this case has been handled and reported on can be a template for all incidences of this form of violence, especially against children.

With only two days to go until the beginning of the 16 days of Activism Against Violence Against Women, the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section played host to a presentation on the campaign, led by young Zimbabwean women’s rights activist, Cleopatra Ndlovu. She defined gender-based violence (GBV) as an umbrella term encompassing “any harm that is perpetrated against a person’s will, because of their sex – this violence has a negative impact on the physical, the psychological health, the development and the identity of the person”.

The theme for this year’s campaign is: From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women! Ndlovu said that the focus on militarism last year and this year, is due to the rise in conflicts and political unrest all over the world. In Zimbabwe, election-time has become synonymous with violence (especially rape), and many of our women shudder to think what will happen to them before and during next year’s polls.

“We live in a country that is not concerned about the issues of GBV,” said Ndlovu as she highlighted the lack of progress or significant change in the situation of women, despite the many protocols, treaties and declarations signed by the nations with regards to discrimination against women and the increase of increase of women in decision-making positions – Zimbabwe has failed to reach the 30% by 2005 goal, as female representation in Parliament to date, falls short of this target.

But the situation is not completely dismal, according to Ndlovu, as women have made huge strides already:

- Establishment of Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development
- National Gender Policy
- Domestic Violence Act
- Victim friendly units

Despite this progress Ndlovu says women still have a long way to go. Another problem she highlighted was the fact that the people who are at the forefront of the fight against GBV are mainly women, through the many organisations who are a part of the women’s movement. The involvement and participation can make it much less of a struggle.

In conclusion, Ndlovu said that the media also had huge role to play in accurately informing the nation on the plight of women in reporting on gender-based violence.

In an analysis titled Debating Zimbabwean-ness in Diasporic Internet forums, researchers Wendy Williams and Winston Mano explore the way in which national identity and citizenship were debated in an online discussion forum on the tabloid news site NewZimbabwe. The analysis focuses on an online discussion of Makosi Musambasi, who participated in Big Brother UK 2005, providing an interesting insight into how we as Zimbabweans construct our collective identity.

Like many Zimbabweans of my generation and more in the succeeding ones, all I wanted to do after high school was leave the country. Yet it was when I left and had experienced otherness in another country I wanted nothing more than to come back.  There is nothing that makes you feel more Zimbabwean than leaving Zimbabwe. In my time away, I spent hours on the Internet looking for anything and everything I could find that might possibly bring home to me. Including other Zimbabweans and time and time again I was disappointed. The group that was supposed to create a soft landing for fellow émigrés was mired in infighting and political struggles. Other Zimbabweans would get in touch only when they needed something.  I remember one African Union like gathering that was so overwhelmed by Nigerians that there was nowhere for them to sit. And even though there were several thousand Zimbabweans living in that city, our table for ten could hardly find three people. This is not to imply that that we are an exception among nationalities, but it is peculiar that even Zimbabweans themselves have observed that we are the least united of all the nationalities. There is not a single person living in or who has returned from the Diaspora who cannot recount at least one story of Zimbabweans being taken advantage of, excluded and sometimes even oppressed by fellow countrymen. An example is the news story of the man who was accused of selling the names of undocumented Zimbabweans to the Home Office in the UK.

The report observes that the Internet has provided a means for Zimbabweans both in and out of the country to set up a vibrant media culture, therefore a space for a more robust and inclusive debate regarding Zimbabwean-ness. It also notes that ‘[t]he discussion has shown how diasporic Zimbabwean media culture incorporated and subverted mainstream representations on the British media. The intensity and scope of the debates around the participation of a Zimbabwean nurse, Makosi Musambasi…are a good example of the mobilising aspect of national identity on the Internet.’

Disappointingly, those posting comments on the forum reject Makosi’s authenticity as a Zimbabwean because her parents were not born in the country.  Reflecting on this, Williams and Mano write:

Although Makosi had lived her whole life in Zimbabwe, forum participants excluded her from the nation in similar ways as the Zimbabwean Government sought to disenfranchise Zimbabweans of Malawian, Zambian and Mozambican descent from their citizenship. In this way highly exclusionary notions of the nation were thus reproduced on the New Zimbabwe forum.

I can see why the state chooses to broadcast propaganda, it works. And ironically it has worked on the very people who by virtue of their location outside Zimbabwe are economically if not politically opposed to the party’s authoritarian grip on everything Zimbabwean, including identity. But regardless of where they live, their political affiliation and even skin colour, for many people being Zimbabwean is no longer defined in terms of what country you were born and grew up in or common experiences. As Zimbabweans we define our Zimbabwean-ness in terms of what it is not, rather than in terms of what it is. We are just as guilty as ZANU-PF of perpetuating a nationalistic misconstruction of our common identity. Individually, we divide and create an ‘other’ based on what is perceived as mis-culture or acculturaltion. This becomes personally unacceptable, and instead of uniting and embracing the diversity within our culture we reject each other for petty small-minded reasons. It’s no wonder then that there are people in Matebeleland who believe in creating a separate Ndebele state, or that Zimbabweans of European descent are first white then Zimbabwean. In fact depending on where and how we grew up, we are all Zimbabwean second.

I am disappointed by Zimbabweans. Even as we create conversations and actions about rebuilding Zimbabwe, the same breath is used to exclude other equally capable Zimbabweans, be they ZANU-PF or MDC-x members, Diasporans, white farmers, or Angolan/Malawian/Mozambican/Zambian-Zimbabweans. Surely this is a process that will require every Zimbabwean, regardless of location, language preference, political affiliation and most especially ethnic origin.