Aloes at Hillside Dams

There is something human about aloes.
They smell  -  and feel, if you probe the slimy
parts – like sex.  They have cuticular roots
and they object to being planted in rows.
Their welcome is arm-like, sometimes grimy
with white scale, sometimes polished absolutes.
Their process of dying is shameless: top
down (or bottom up).  In their multitudes
they elaborate these Dams, not, somehow,
as genus, or variety, or crop,
but as comrades, citizens, darlings, dudes.
Their spaced teeth are not vicious.  Then and now,
past and present, something human. The name
invites a greeting… all winter… aflame.

John Eppel

Women are considered to win every argument especially in relationships because they raise their voice the loudest. Personally, at the back of mind right now I can hear the echoes of my voice of my last argument. This is one characteristic that I associate WOZA with. To me they strike me as women who will surely raise their voice. The kind of Zimbabwe that we now live in leaves no room for smooth talk, one has got to be aggressive and speak loud to be heard. I remember last year when WOZA took to the streets in a demonstration against ZESA. The women were chanting “Tinoda magetsi” (We need electricity). Everyone was so fed up with ZESA and we still are but it took the guts and bravery of WOZA to march outside ZESA’s office along Samora Machel Avenue in Harare. There has been a lot of other strikes and demonstrations by WOZA but yesterday’s demonstration is among one of the major highlights in the constitution making process in Zimbabwe.

As we are aware, COPAC produced a second draft constitution, which had been approved by all parties. Soon after its release Zanu PF’s politburo made a u-turn and made amendments to the draft constitution. The MDC stood by the second draft constitution and the party launched a ‘Yes’ campaign for the draft constitution. But back to WOZA, the brave women demonstrated yesterday outside the Parliament of Zimbabwe, to remind Zanu PF and MDC that they have gone several steps ahead of the COPAC constitution making process itself. This is so in the sense that Zanu PF has made amendments to the second draft released by COPAC and MDC is close to launching a Yes Campaign. Initially, COPAC had planned that when a second draft constitution was released, an All Stakeholders Conference was to be held to discuss the draft constitution and the way forward would be mapped from the outcome of the conference. Meaning if Zanu PF had amendments to make they had to table them during the conference and the MDC voting for or against the constitution should be made after the conference.

During this demonstration WOZA reminded the political parties that neither of them owns the constitution. The constitution is made by the people and it’s for the people. It should not in any way favour a political party but should always be found abiding by the interests of the citizens.

Work in and for Zimbabwe. Help grow our nation. Check out the vacancies below. If you’d like to receive this sort of information, as well as civic and human rights updates, by email each week drop us a note saying “subscribe” to info [at] kubatana [dot] net

Please note that the job vacancies we carry are related to the NGO and civil society sectors only.

Assistant Coordinator: Disabled Women in Africa (DIWA)
Deadline: 17 September 2012

DIWA is an independent women’s wing of the Pan-African Federation of the Disabled (PAFOD), which is the umbrella body of Disabled People’s Organisations in Africa. The mission of DIWA is to give women with disabilities in Africa a voice and empower them to claim their human rights wherever they are violated.

Duties and Responsibilities
-Strengthening the institutional and programmatic structures of DIWA
-Enhancing the institutional building of organizations of Women with Disabilities
-Conceptualizing, designing, planning and implementing activities for women with disabilities
-Designing and implementing an information and communication strategy
-Facilitating the implementation of gender policies on all levels in the disability movement of Africa
-Co-operating and networking with Disabled People’s Organizations on regional and continental level and beyond
-Lobbying and advocating for the human rights of disabled women
-Raising awareness and do public relations work on disabled women’s demands
-Fund-raising and writing proposals, including budgeting, for DIWA
-Reporting to donors about DIWA projects

Qualifications
The applicant must have exceptional talents in conceptual, logical and creative thinking and be able to work with minimum supervision. Experiences in outcome oriented programming and financial and narrative report writing are highly appreciated. Knowledge of the Pan-African Disability Movement would be favourable. The capacity to work on an international level is required. Excellent communication skills in English are imperative. French or Portuguese skills would be of advantage.

Period: Oct 2012 – June 2013. The contract will be prolonged if the collaboration has been successful and funding secured.
Location: 19 Lobengula Street in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Please send in your applications with detailed CVs to DIWA Chairperson: rachel.kachaje [at] diwa [dot] ws

Persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Fundraising and Partnerships Coordinator: Restless Development
Deadline: 21 September 2012 (1630hrs)

Restless Development is the global leader in youth-led development – demonstrating at the grassroots and policy levels that young people can and must play a lead role. Go to www.restlessdevelopment.org for more information.

Restless Development Zimbabwe is seeking a talented and dynamic leader to take up the role of Fundraising and Partnerships Coordinator in our growing Country Programme.

The successful candidate will be part of the Restless Development Zimbabwe Management Committee, taking responsibility for leading on proposal writing, work closely with the Country Director on donor management, and support the Country Director on networking. This position will also lead on developing and implementing the country strategy for Fundraising and Partnerships. This is an exciting opportunity for a young leader with an interest and commitment to international development; excellent inter-personal skills; self-motivation; desire to improve skills in resource mobilisation in the context of international development.

Annual Net Salary: $ 11,361 (Approximate Gross Salary: $14,278)

Full job description and application form (No CVs accepted) can be downloaded from www.restlessdevelopment.org/work-with-us and sent to: infozimbabwe [at] restlessdevelopment [dot] org

M & E Assistant: Childline
Deadline: 25 September 2012 (4pm)

Program: Specialised services for abused and neglected children
Reporting relationship: M&E officer
Place of Posting: Harare

Purpose of the Job
Childline’s continued success depends upon an effective Monitoring and Evaluation system for accountability and strategic decision-making. As such a well-managed M&E system is essential to the running of the organisation. The M&E assistant’s role is to support the M&E officer in designing, implementing and managing an effective Monitoring, Evaluation and Research system.

Roles and responsibility M&E Assistant
-Ensure accurate and timely data collation from drop-in centers
-Design tools and processes to collect data which may inform policies and procedures
-Spearhead training to project staff in data quality processes and procedures to gather required data
-Ensure the reliability and accuracy of data collected
-Regular data entry to produce primary reports
-Prepare M&E reports on request by management
-Initiate and spearhead operation research
-Maintain database of beneficiaries
-Support analysis of reports and providing feedback on reports from drop-in centers
-Assist in compiling donor reports

Qualifications and competencies
-A first degree in Statistics, Social Sciences or its equivalent
-Demonstrated experience of M&E
-Research experience in both quantitative and qualitative research methods
-Sound understanding of OVC, child protection and community development
-Experience in the use of statistical analysis packages – STATA; SPSS, Epi info an added advantage
-Excellent communication skills (both written and oral) and a team player
-A valid class four drivers licence with at least 3 years driving experience

Interested candidates who meet the above criteria should submit applications and updated curriculum Vitae to: Tamlyn [at] recruitmentmatters [dot] co [dot] zw or register at www.recruitmentmatters.co.zw

A piggy bank sits on a bedside table in one of the houses at Musha Wevana. Beside the piggy bank is an empty yoghurt container with Zimbabwe dollars that had been saved and are now worthless.

More photos here

Last week I attended yet another ‘constitution meeting’ – this time organized by the Women in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU) to discuss the place and voice of women in the ongoing constitutional debate. I say yet another because this is easily the fifth or sixth I have attended of such nature in the past month. The meetings always fascinate me one way or the other, but the WIPSU one took the cup for two reasons.

First, a large group of women suddenly and disrespectfully stood up and marched out of the venue right smack in the middle of one of the esteemed panelists’ opening remarks. Their marching out process was so fluid, so mechanical and in your face that there was a hush momentarily as people tried and failed to comprehend what was going on. We were soon to find out that the people who had marched out had done so in protest of failure – apparently – on the part of the organizers to officially acknowledge Beitbridge Senator, Tambudzani Mohadi. Aptly dubbed by some in the meeting as ‘Mohadi’s people’, the Zanu PF supporters made it clear that they had been extremely slighted by the botched protocol to the point of actually ditching a meeting that was critical for them to participate in not as party minions, but as women in solidarity with others.

But if you really think about it, how many ordinary people in Zimbabwe actually know the names and faces of ten public officials? Not necessarily suggesting that the WIPSU representatives probably just did not recognize Senator Mohadi, but it is a possibility. However for her to actually storm out even after the usual ‘all protocol observed’ announcement was a tad childish and an unwarranted display of self-importance. I remember back in 2005 when I was as a cub reporter attending an event where security detail at the then Sheraton Hotel failed to recognize Minister Sekai Holland and demanded that she register her name like all other mortals. Of course, Holland was offended but simply informed them that her minions would do that for her, and the message was received loud and clear. I recall that even I didn’t know what she looked like till that day.

Secondly, I found it very interesting that one of the panelists, Hon. Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga chose to deliberately mislead all the women in the room into believing that the current squabbles and draft disagreements between political parties were “at least not touching or affecting women’s issues”. Really? It really got me thinking of the one previous meeting I also attended where the Copac comedians clashed in a heated discussion to a point where Hon. Paul Mangwana lied through his many teeth to an audience of over 300 people, that he did not in actual fact sign the Copac draft, but only appended his initials. Signing and initialing: big difference. Fortunately, I had had the privilege of seeing the Copac draft and could not believe that the man could lie about something so easily verifiable. But then again, I know someone who believes and maintains that Zimbabwe is a nation of super-literate people who just don’t read stuff. Perhaps that’s the thinking Mangwana tried to harp on.

Anyway, back to the constitution draft squabbles not ‘touching’ women’s issues; I think this was the biggest understatement of the day. The most fundamental issues that Zanu PF wants amended are the very ones that to a significant extent affect mainly women. Issues to do with citizenship, devolution and electoral systems among others, are ones close to women’s hearts and lives. It also does not help any to make vague references to ‘women’s issues’ without assessing how the larger context affects the realization of those same issues.

What are women’s issues anyway? Because as a woman, I believe that if Zanu PF is trying to scuttle progress by removing clauses on devolution; removing the clause on the establishment of a peace and reconciliation commission; removing provisions of an independent constitutional court; restoring a wide range of unlimited executive presidential powers including appointments of the judiciary; reintroducing a compulsory national youth service – those are the very issues that affect me and my kin directly. So, which issues was Misihairambwi referring to? I certainly do not take any comfort in being informed that at least 70 percent of ‘our issues’ as women are covered and remain untouched if they do not include positive clauses on the above. I am particularly concerned that we are being encouraged to celebrate the 70% percent victory partially with the reasoning that after all, women can always challenge or advocate the other 30% through the proposed constitutional court. Somehow, people seem to conveniently forget that the subject of an independent constitutional court is one of the issues Zanu PF wants scrapped too from the draft. Nonnegotiable.

Nonetheless with all its shortcomings, the COPAC draft is still worth voting for because it reads like a much better devil and is a significant step towards the democratization agenda. It is just unfortunate though that because of the latest ‘deadlock’, the majority of women have actually not seen or read the draft constitution. They will vote whichever way without having clarity of what the actual content of the document entails for their future.

In the Zimbabwe women’s movement I have observed three kinds of people; there are those who know what’s really going down but choose to misinform people on technical issues while trying to push own political agendas by playing on the ignorance of the populace. There are those who know squat and sit there clueless like puppets just waiting to be instructed to make either a yes or no vote just because they foolishly answer to being referred to as somebody’s people. Then there are those who genuinely know stuff, want to impart knowledge as best as they can but whose efforts are undermined and frustrated by extenuating political circumstances. I look forward to a day the women’s movement actually operates as such and not as fragmented sections caught up in politicking at the expense of people’s welfare. This is the movement’s Achilles heel.

For the second time today – and easily the sixth time in two weeks – I saw my new pet peeve: A “Police ATM” (Read road block where police hussle combi drivers and other motorists out of money for “spot fines”) within about 100 metres of a set of non-working traffic lights.

Now, neither of these things, the police road blocks or the out of order robots, are new or unusual occurrences in Harare. But what irks me is the proximity of the police to an obvious, present problem needing their intervention, which they are not acting on. Anyone who’s driven in Harare knows how frequently accidents happen at intersections where the robots are out of order. Particularly during the morning and afternoon commute, motorists back up, get frustrated and then try and barge their way through oncoming traffic – and regularly end up in accidents. Pedestrians trying to work their way across these intersections, including school children, face even more problems.

The helpful presence of a police officer or two directing traffic, signaling to motorists when to stop and when to turn, effectively acting as a human traffic light in the absence of a working automated one, could do a lot to ease tensions, prevent accidents, and make our roads safer. But instead of policing these intersections to help traffic flow smoothly and safely, the police literally turn their back on these accident traps, preferring to persist in the task which can get them more money in fines and bribes.

This year numerous government officials have spoken out against corruption, promising that graft is being fought at every level in the police force. If this is the case, the police should prioritise the public safety elements of their work – particularly in cases where there is such a glaring, obvious need for their helpful involvement – instead of blatantly looking for bribes.