Zimbabwe is in a process of formulating a new constitution. The process is already reportedly marred by disgruntlements emanating from different lines of divisions ranging from political to gender. It is sad and highly unexpected of an educated populace as Zimbabwe’s. The tensions reflect massive misconceptions not only of the process leading to the constitution but also of what the constitution is and its short term and long term objectives.

If people really knew what they were doing, we would not be having outcries over political rallies and the consequent political violence, which we hear of, or over who constitutes the select committee to spearhead the constitution making process. It is not the role of any political party to inform its people of the constitution but of an independent neutral body, or of other informed citizens.

The constitution is a document much more important than any political party, it should live beyond ZANU PF, beyond MDC and beyond Ndonga or any political party yet to be formed. It is the national bible to determine the conduct of the government and other stakeholders including people. What it implies is that it is the key to control the birth, survival and death of political parties. It should therefore come from the people in general, irrespective of their political party allegiances. Everyone should wear the coat of a citizen and take off any identification with a party in the process.

The select committee to spear heard the constitution making process is not there to influence the outcomes of the process. What we want collected are the views of the people as raw as they are and not views doctored along short term political interests. The same can be said of gender issues. We want people’s views and not those of whoever is part of the committee. People should be educated and to take heed of such elements that are bent on influencing the process to make the constitution their pocket parcel or baby.

People should stop viewing the constitution through political party lenses and rather jointly come up with a constitution that benefits everyone. What is important here is political and social neutrality.

The International Women’s Day commemorations at the National Gallery in Harare on March 6 featured a panel discussion: Moral and/or pleasure? Women, media and the creation of discourse on sexuality. One of the discussants on the panel was Catherine Makoni. Last year, her article Women as vectors of disease: The problem with ill-thought campaigns generated a lot of controversy on the Kubatana blog. One comment challenged her criticism of the PSI “small house” campaign on HIV and AIDS, accusing her of responding based on her feelings, not her analysis. This person claimed her position was based on assumption, not research. But Catherine firmly believes that this campaign violates the principle of “do no harm,” and she used her presentation to explain why she believes this so firmly.

For example:

I go to University, and I do Law. By the third year of University (Law is four years) there is enormous pressure on me to have a boyfriend. Sure, I’m doing Law, but there is immense pressure on me to get married. In third and fourth year you get a lot of girls falling pregnant, in the hopes of securing someone to marry them. So third year, fourth year you have a lot of pregnancies. Why? Because you need to be sure that before you leave university you have someone to marry you, otherwise you’ll be a failure, never mind that you have honours and a first class degree. I’m talking about stereotypes, and gender roles, and expectations, and how these are drummed into us from birth.

Fast forward a few years and I start dealing with gender based violence. My friend, who is a lawyer, has not been able to leave her abusive marriage. It’s like the prophecy is coming true. We were told not to study law, because you’re giving yourself all these airs and what man is going to tolerate you? So she’s done everything. She’s cut her hair, she’s worn long clothes, she’s worn oversized dresses, so that she doesn’t look too attractive, and make her husband insecure. So 14 years later she’s in an abusive relationship, and her husband says “You think you are a lawyer. I’m going to beat you, and I want to see what you do with your law degree.” Her mother says “Why don’t you give him his proper place. He wants to be head of the family. Give him his proper place. You should know you are a woman. Don’t talk about work at home.”

I remember about 11 years ago, I’d just come out of the salon. It was around 6pm. Some man approaches me and tries to chat me up. I ignored him, and he lays into me. He starts beating me up, opposite the UN building on Union Avenue. I got attacked, and people stood by. There were people looking out of their windows in the UN building while I was being attacked. Eventually this guy got tired and walked off, and someone said to me “What did you do to him?” I said I didn’t do anything. The guy was shouting uri hure, and I suppose pretending that I was his girlfriend. The people who heard what he was saying thought, well, she’s his girlfriend. She’s done something, so this is okay. I asked them why didn’t you come to my aid. And they said, well, we thought you were his girlfriend. We have a culture which says it’s okay to beat up a woman. If she’s your girlfriend, then it’s alright to do it – especially if you think ihure, or she’s done something.

There are infinitely harmful ways in which these things play out. The imagery of this PSI campaign sticks in our heads. It sticks in the heads of the police, the magistrate, the teachers who teach our daughters, that man who’s walking out there, the editors, everyone. What it’s saying is yes, you are right to hold these beliefs. You are right to think that women who do not conform to societal expectations of what is right are a problem.

Read more of Catherine’s presentation, and listen to excerpts of her talk, here

The Southern and Eastern African Political and Economic Series Trust (SAPES) is hosing a weekly seminar series, alternating between policy dialogue, and discussions on the Constitution. To kick off their series, the first discussion was on the Land Question in Zimbabwe.

Renowned land policy analyst Mandivamba Rukuni lead the discussion, sharing his thoughts on the challenges facing Zimbabwe, and what role land policy played in that. He warned the audience that he would be controversial, and indeed he was. Some of his more controversial points included:

• The four causal reasons for Africa’s problems are organised politics, organised religion, formal education and economic policies based on greed, individualism and selfishness
• Government needs to strengthen the traditional tenure system, not weaken it
• Most African governments don’t believe that rural traditional people know anything about anything. We are just as bad as the colonial masters

Read more of Rukuni’s thoughts, and listen to excerpts of his talk here.

Join the SAPES discussion series every Thursday from 5pm-7pm at 4 Deary Avenue, Belgravia, Harare. This week, Lovemeore Madhuku will lead the discussion, on the topic Constitution-Making in Zimbabwe: Re-inventing the Wheel or Learning from Precedents? Admission is $10 (free for SAPES members). For more information, email admin@sapes.org.zw

I went to the International Women’s day events hosted by the National Gallery of Zimbabwe last Saturday.

The pond in front of the gallery has got a pathetic bit of water in it, but enough to float the debris from Zimbabweans who sit on the edge of it and chuck their litter overboard.

It isn’t only the National Gallery of Zimbabwe that needs to keep the litter in check, its also the folk who clearly couldn’t care less about treating one of our national institutions with respect.

C’mon Zimbabweans, clean up your act.

Zimbabwe Democracy Now releases weekly news updates which summarise key news developments in Zimbabwe.

Highlights from their latest issue include:

• State-owned Air Zimbabwe is to retrench a further 468 workers this year after it laid off 700 workers last year. The airline has also had to ground two of its three Chinese aircraft due to a serious shortage of spare parts and debt to the plane’s suppliers.
• Mugabe and Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor Gideon Gono have reportedly differed on the indigenisation law, with Gono arguing that the act discourages investors. He has also said the law is being created by greedy Zanu-PF officials who want to grab companies for free, in the same way that they appropriated white-owned farms.
• Zimbabwe’s largest auto assembler, Willowvale Motor Industries, is on the verge of collapse due to a US$3.4 million debt to its principal supplier in Japan.
• The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe said prices of basic commodities rose 20.5 percent from January to February, placing pressure on low-income families.
• Zimbabwe’s government is earning only US$100 million per month, 65 percent of which goes to wages, Finance Minister Tendai Biti told said on Thursday. He also said Western donors are ready to cancel Zimbabwe’s US$6 billion foreign debt if the country declares itself a heavily indebted country, but Zanu-PF is firmly opposed to the idea.
• Mines minister Obert Mpofu said Zimbabwe would pull out of the Kimberley Process (KP) if the diamond regulatory body finds the country has failed to comply with its regulations. Mpofu said Zimbabwe would continue to sell its gems to diamond trade markets.
• Zanu-PF has proposed in its nationality programme that only children born in the Diaspora be allowed dual citizenship. If this regulation is adopted, it could affect Zimbabweans living abroad who have taken up foreign citizenship. This has been interpreted as a method of stripping diasporeans of their nationality and thereby reducing voter numbers.

Read these valuable bulletins each week.

Music by Prudence, the film about Prudence Mabhena (21), and the KG Band has just won the Oscar for Best Short Subject Documentary. With determination and their love of music, the band has overcome the stigma and prejudice that many experience associated with disability. Amhlope, Makorokoto, Congratulations!