Every year, the first Monday of October is set aside to commemorate Habitat Day. On this day reflections are made on the state of our towns and cities, basic rights for all, and access to adequate shelter. For Amnesty International, World Habitat Day is a global day to take action to end forced evictions and other human rights violations suffered daily by people living in slums and informal settlements. In commemoration of this years’ World Habitat Day, Amnesty International Zimbabwe remembered the survivors of Operation Murambatsvina with the theme “End Forced Evictions’. Many families were displaced and left homeless when the government of Zimbabwe initiated its unpopular and inhuman Operation Murambatsvina. Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle then followed to resettle these families but, however, today years later no proper essential facilities and services have been provided for these families such as sanitation, education, housing and health.

A drama group from Hopley and Hatclife settlements where many of the families affected by Operation Murambatsvina are settled took time to remind Zimbabwe of how they are living. They had their own exhibition of their plastics shacks at the Harare Gardens. Some operate hair saloons, or bars and some sell firewood, or vegetables. The shacks take various shapes and forms but they all exhibit the plight of how our government has failed its people in so many ways. In these informal settlements education is a privilege whereas it should be a right for all children. In these settlements safe drinking water does not exist, as their water sources are unprotected wells. ‘The walls have ears’, is a saying you wont be caught saying in these settlements because their housing is little more than thin plastic.

Therefore Amnesty International of Zimbabwe in remembering the survivors of Operation Murambatsvina is calling on the government of Zimbabwe to:
End all forced evictions
Adopt guidelines based on the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development Based Evictions and Displacement
Provide free primary education for children living under Operation Garikai/Hlalani Kuhle

On Tuesday October 3, 2011 I attended a discussion on the topic, The Mobile Audience – Lessons for New Adapters, led by online media expert, Regina McCombs, on new trends in online media, in particular, mobile audiences. The discussion was based on the trends in mobile audiences in the United States (with a few global and even local statistics included), and the lessons that we can learn from.

Very early on McCombs mentioned that she was interested in the potential for mobile in journalism (news and other such information), but I found that her presentation revealed information that can also be used in the exploration of the potential of mobile in many other sectors.

Her talk began with an analysis of Smartphone usage, and most valued features, in the US.  Staying connected, research and news, navigation, entertainment, management and planning were among the major uses, with consumers valuing features such as GPS, social networking, internet browsing and music the most.

She then outlines more statistics on how a) smartphones have replaced PCs, especially in for browsing and searching for information, use of Apps and videos; b) smartphones are changing how people interact online, and how they do things in their daily lives. The main uses outlined were:
·    Staying connected 90% (excluding phone calls)
·    Research n news 82%
·    Navigate 75%
·    Entertainment 65%
·    Managements and planning 45%

Regina stressed multi-tasking as a key factor to consider when developing Apps or mobile pages. People in the US tended to connect to the web on their smartphones in short bursts, usually while doing other things such as waiting in a queue (59%), socializing (40%), on the loo (39%), cooking (27%), watching TV (60%) and so on. It is therefore important for App and mobile pages developers to create products where information can be seen quickly, with shorter versions of things and for less data, in order to grab attention in these small windows of opportunity.

She also shared information on how several companies are now moving away from making Apps for every different device, and are instead specializing more in device detection and automatically orienting their pages to suit these different devices. This is a far better, once-off way of dealing with the varied devices that constitute web traffic. An example of a company employing this clever system is The Boston Globe.

Regina then spoke a little about Tablets and other new forms of mobile Internet access.  According to her currently 69% (29 million) of tablets worldwide are Ipads. By the end of 2011, it is estimated that 62 million Ipads would have been sold. It is clear from these figures that tablets really are a big deal the world over. Tablet owners in the US tend to be mostly male, middle aged or younger, wealthy, racially diverse and early adaptors (ahead of the pack with technology). On average tablet users spend about an hour a day on the devices, mostly at home or while traveling.

Interesting points

The link between breaking of major news events news and mobile online traffic – Regina highlighted that on election night, 2009, 75% of CNN television viewers were also connected on CNN mobile. On 11 March 2011, the day of the Japanese tsunami, CNN once again had record mobile views, in the region of 13,9 million, and a further 1 million CNN App downloads in the next 10 days. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) also recorded that at election time a third of its online traffic was via mobile. I feel that there is something that local media agents can learn from this global trend, in order that they may better position themselves for mobile access.

Mobile advertising and its potential for revenue – Regina revealed something about the problems faced with online advertising, in the sense that people are now playing catch-up in the area of online advertising. With the development and growth, many failed to recognize and make the most of the commercial value or potential of mobile advertising. Google has now launched a page dedicated to mobiles advertising, in a bid to drum up more business in the sector.

Apparently 40% of online mobile users from Zimbabwe have smartphones. I have a smartphone myself, and it is nice to see that, network allowing, I’m not doing too badly at making the most of my device’s capabilities, according to these statisticsglobal standards. This cannot be said for many smartphone owners in Zimbabwe. At the moment, l would say, (and I think many of you would agree), that most smartphones are just being used as GSM phones, cameras, music players, and light internet browsers. Yes, they are flashier, and more expensive, but these phones don’t really get the chance to serve their real purpose and be “smart”. Even though it is true that many of the things a smartphone can do are either not supported by Zimbabwean networks or are too expensive to even be considered, many people just have no idea how smart their phones really are. Smartphone social networking Apps such as WhatsApp and Nimbuzz, the Gmail App, CNN App and a few more, are among the few apps available in Zimbabwe

A problem that was identified in the discussion was that Zimbabwe is not producing enough online content. We Zimbabweans need to package current, local information in such a way that is attractive, relevant, practical and useful. It is also necessary to explore how people can make money by putting this information online, as many people, especially those in the print media, are hesitant to put information online, because they fail to see how they will make money from it. Wouldn’t it be useful to have a mobile website where, for example, tobacco farmers can get objective, up to the minute updates on what’s happening on the sales floor (delays, price hikes of falls, weather), at the click of a few buttons?

I feel these gazetted wages are fair on the employee as these domestic workers deserve the best as well. One thing people should realise is out there in SA, the States, Britain etc, hama dzedu mamiads and they have been sending money back home & they tell you kuti ndirikutambira zvinoenderana neni. Isusu muno muZim we feel a maid mumwe munhuwo tinomuoona as a second class citizen. These domestic workers are abused mudzimba umo & on top of that opihwa mari shoma. On the other hand these gazetted wages are not fair on the employer because, the monthly salaries that people are earnign are not enough. One can’t spare a $100 on a maid then arnd $100 for ZESA then another $100 on your water bills yave marii, $300, tell me who can afford to dispose such huge amounts on a monthly basis, apa hatina kutaura rent coz majority of the people are tenants. The equation is just not working out. Hameno ministry of labour kuti ukufugnei but I feel they should adjust these salaries across the board, munhu wese needs an increment.
- Sandra, Kubatana subscriber

In the last edition of our Kubatana newsletter we included the recently gazetted wage increases for domestic workers in Zimbabwe. Pretty much unlivable wages don’t you think?

But the response that we got was unanimous in saying that wages are so low across the board that its unsurprising that employers can’t afford to pay domestic workers more. What do you think?

Government has set wages and conditions of service for domestic workers in a move that will result in the highest-paid such worker earning $100 per month. The new wages and working conditions were approved by Cabinet recently and are with effect from October

Domestic workers – including child minders, cooks and gardeners – will now be paid between $85 and $100. Workers not residing with their employers are now entitled to accommodation, transport, electricity and fuel or cooking allowances. A yard worker or gardener will now get $85 per month or a weekly wage of $19,60, while a cook or housekeeper is now entitled to $90 per month or $20,79 per week.

Those domestic workers looking after the disabled had their wages pegged at $95 per month or $21,94 per week.

Some domestic workers with Red Cross certificates or similar qualification who take care of the disabled and the aged are paid $100 or $23,10 per week. Those who do not stay with their employers are now entitled to monthly allowances of $50 accommodation, $26 for transport, $5 for lights, $5 for fuel or cooking and $5 for water.

~ An extract from The Herald, 29 September 2011

I never liked Apple products up to the time when I bought my first iPod player and then later when I was introduced to iTunes. Due to the high costs of Apple products many people with a passion for technology in Zimbabwe have been restricted to HP and Dell products, but that changed when Apple started to launch its wide range of products including the iPod, iPhone, iPad and the iMac thanks to the work of Steve Jobs. Born in 1955 Steve Jobs co-founded Apple Inc, a company which has made computers accessible to non technical people and reinventing the cellphone and music industry with the iPhone and iTunes.  Steve Jobs inspired so many young people through entrepreneurial skills and ideas which have revolutionarised the way we see technology and how to make it work for us. The world was made better because of Steve Jobs.

Reacting to Steve Jobs’s death the American President, Barack Obama he said,

“Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it. By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but also intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.”

After his death Steve Jobs shall be remembered many generations to come for his immense contributions to the information technology revolution and for the inspiration he gave to others – even his rivals.

Amnesty International Zimbabwe today held a press conference launching a report titled Left Behind: The impact of Zimbabwe’s mass forced evictions on the right to education. The report is based on research assessing the level of access to education at Hatcliffe Extension and Hopely, two settlements created by the government under Operation Garikai, which Amnesty International Zimbabwe has been monitoring since 2005.

Under Operation Garikai, the government provided a small proportion of the 700 000 victims of forced evictions either with houses that were not fully constructed or with un-serviced plots of land, on which those who were resettled were permitted to build houses without receiving any further government assistance. Both Hopely and Hatcliffe extension did not have access to government amenities such as health, education, water or electricity. The majority of households were allocated plots by the government were unable to build decent shelter, and were living in plastic shacks or other poorly constructed structures.

The data presented, was collected between December 2010 and August 2011. Interviews were conducted with 83 individuals, including children, young people, parents and guardians of children affected by Operation Murambatsvina and living in the settlements. Teachers and volunteers at community schools, NGO workers, members of teacher’s trade unions and representatives of UN agencies were also interviewed. The report estimates that at Hopely there are about 2000 children attending makeshift schools constructed and staffed by community members.  While UN Special Envoy on Human Settlement Issues Anna Tibaijuka’s report estimates that Operation Murambatsvina estimates that Operation Murabatsvina disrupted the primary and secondary education of 222 000 children, Mwanza noted that a comprehensive study of how many children had lost access to education in Zimbabwe was yet to be done.

Speaking at the launch, Amnesty International Zimbabwe, researcher Simeon Mwanza said that Operation Garikai had been retrogressive to the right to Education. He added that the biggest issue faced by communities at Hatcliffe Extension and Hopely was that government had not made any deliberate investments into restoring livelihoods. The resultant food and financial insecurity made accessing education less of a priority. The long-term impact of this was that a significant proportion of Zimbabwean children, in particular those at Hopely and Hatcliffe, were condemned to a makeshift education. Mwanza stated that the people living in Operation Garikai settlements were excluded from government programmes and services, and Non-governmental organisations were struggling to provide for them. Communities in both settlements had made attempts to meet the need to educate their children by building makeshift schools. However, these had gone unregistered and were thus excluded from government support schemes such as the education transition fund and the per capita tuition grant. In instances where communities had attempted to register schools, they were met with resistance from government officials.

The report concludes:

Violations of economic, social and cultural rights for people living in Operation Garikai settlements, including violation so the right to education, have gone largely unnoticed mainly due to lack of a government mechanism to monitor the situation in these settlements and devise strategies to address human rights violations resulting from Operation Murambatsvina. The government has done little to genuinely consult with the affected communities in order to formulate interventions that address problems experienced by the victims. There is a huge gap between the reality as lived by the affected communities and the stated government policies to address the situation.