Lately the debate about women’s rights has been taken to greater heights than ever before. It is historically evident that women have been oppressed mainly on the basis of their physical weakness, which was mistakenly assumed to overlap also to mental capacity. As a result they have been treated as mere observers in a male dominated world. Or as mere commodities; for example, a young girl could be exchanged for food or cattle. People with wealth ended up having many wives, some as young as their grand daughters.

Giving birth to a boy child has been regarded as enlarging the family, whereas giving birth to a girl child is seen as enriching the family through cattle, food or any form of wealth that would come out of lobola. Even the terminology speaks for itself, “Mukomana anoroora, musikana” meaning that the act is not reciprocal. Rather the boy child is the object whereas the girl is the subject. Just like the relationship between a boy and the ball in the sentence, “The boy kicks the ball.”

Today’s world drives us to a new dispensation – that of equality. A free world for all. How can this be valid where marriage demands payment from one side of the pair? In my view payment of lobola removes that balance which we strive to achieve in a relationship.  Despite the amount of noise made about human rights, women are literally reduced to mere commodities and given a monetary value. One pays that much for an educated woman, the other pays that much more for a moneyed women and so on. Yes it is our culture, but is it not the same culture, that we should blame for its ills of disregarding women? If it is merely a cultural token, why does it differ depending on the social status of who is getting married? In as much as we are moving out of the era of unbalanced oppression towards women, our approach lacks practicality as we still hang on to cultural practices that can promulgate inequality right from the first day that people are married.

And from the women’s side, many are convinced that payment has to be made to their family before they are married. I once asked a lady if she would agree to exchange vows without any payment made. In response she asked me why I wanted to be ‘given” a wife for free. To me she reduced herself to a mere commodity rather than an equal partner.

My argument here is simple. Lobola payments minimise the gender equality we want to achieve when people enter their marriage without a balance. When the wife is ill treated, she is slow to take any action because someone paid for her. Even her parents will look at the matter considering that they received something from the Mukwasha. With lobola in place, and pressure to be equal, I foresee a time when men will not be committed to a relationship. Rather they go the “hit and run” way where they impregnate and go free again with no responsibility and no risk.

Citizen activist Michael Laban has done a great job of sharing some feedback with us on various local community meetings he’s attended lately.

Her are some interesting snippets:

Ward 7: we again had no word, no apology, no excuse, from our Councillor, Masiya Kapare. Just . . . blank. Strikes me he serves the MDC – his party, and not the residents – the people who elected him.

Ward 8: I attended a Ward 8 meeting at Highlands Church, and that was well attended (over 100 people). The Councilor was there and ran the meeting with some skill, and there were many Heads of Departments there, who answered questions! I was impressed.

Waste:  The city needs 45 vehicles to do the job, it only has 8. 20 new vehicles are ‘under negotiation’. However, has the City (and everyone around it) learnt the lessons? The vehicles need to be maintained, which cost money you cannot put into your pocket, and you have to hire and pay qualified people to maintain them, not your friends (all of whom need to be fired to pay those qualified).

Parliamentary Portfolio Meeting: The city is in chaos. Most significant fact – the budget/finances have not been audited in ten years! People have been billed for water for 3 years, but not received any water in that time. Then, the first thing the city does is buy nice, fancy cars. Is it a wonder people just don’t pay – if they do not know where the money is going, why should they? There are tolls on the roads, but the potholes are still there.

Corruption: Just too much. From the airport road to allocation of stands.

Students in tertiary institutions have faced a lot of challenges in their academic lives due to the governance crisis in Zimbabwe. Hence the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe has given them a platform to say out their anger and bitterness through the ‘I’ Stories Booklet, aimed at helping the students to heal, accept and forgive.

I spoke to the National Coordinator of the Student Christian Movement of Zimbabwe, Mr Innocent Kasiyano, and asked him why they put together the ‘I’ Stories Booklet. I also ask him what challenges were highlighted in the booklet that students are currently facing in tertiary institutions and what the vision of the Students Christian Movement of Zimbabwe is. Listen here

ZimRights recently engaged in various consultative meetings around Zimbabwe to get grassroot views on the constitution.

According to the feedback they received, Zimbabweans “have expressed concern over the president’s term of office” while registering other demands, such as:

- No one over the age of 60 should be President

- Each President should serve a maximum of two five year terms

- A President’s age should not be less than 40

- Every person who gets into office must first declare all their assets

Sounds reasonable except in Africa where scared old men cling to power.

The constitution making process is underway and it is up to you and me to make sure it addresses issues that are going to benefit generations to come. So when the COPAC people come your way be sure to express your views without fear and tell it like it is.

To all the women in this country I have a few tips I got from the Deputy Minister of Justice herself. And by the way men can also take part in asking for these things because all of us are part of the solution. She says if women asked for these 12 things to be included in the constitution then we are sure to make a difference in the Zimbabwe.

So listen up and get ideas on how to change things around in this country.

1. We must ask for a constitution that has an equality clause
2. We want equal citizenship to men
3. The constitution should make sure that women have the right to the security of her person. That sexually based violence should not be tolerated. We must have zero tolerance for any type of violence
4. In the new constitution women must not be discriminated against because of their sexual orientation or the colour of their skin or anything else for that matter. No discrimination of any sort
5. We must have a constitution that subjugates customary law to human rights
6. Women should have economical, social, cultural and environmental rights
7. The constitution must have a clause that addresses a gender sensitive electoral judiciary system and a quarter of the decision-making bodies
8. Rights of children because children directly affect women and children are directly affected by women
9. There should be a gender and equal opportunities commission
10. Whatever treaties and human rights protocols that we have signed up to should be applied straight into law
11. Public finance provision must include gender budgeting

So there you have it. You know what the elders say “Okulumi ‘ndlebe ngowakho-akuruma nzeve ndewako” (forewarned is forearmed).

Have you ever heard the type of poetry that gives you goosebumps and sends you unexpectedly into a trance; the type where you just have to laugh in disbelief that anyone could come up with such lilting lyrics and resounding imagery?

I just had that experience at the ‘House of Hunger’ poetry slam – the competition where young poets and spoken word artists take to the microphone to show off their skills.

One participant, who calls himself Mugmumopus, stands before the crowd and recites a satirical poem about politicians and their many hypocrisies:

“I am a vegetarian, but meat is what I like eating in the dark,” he says, ploughing into the many double standards that political leaders offer.

Another poet tells so vividly about listening to some jazz on a kombi ride into town, how the bass beat elevates him into another world where he’s dreaming awake. As he recites the words, his eyes are shut and he wears a smile of ecstasy. You can’t help but get swept up in his dream.

Lazarus, the eventual winner, tells us in the opening line of his piece that he doesn’t write poetry but that rather, he recites notations of God’s thoughts. Everyone buzzes in anxious wait for the rest of his poem.

This is the South African edition of the ‘House of Hunger’ poetry slam, held every last Saturday of the month in Johannesburg. According to the slam coordinator, Linda Gabriel, the competition began in September, taking its name and philosophy from the ‘House of Hunger’ poetry slam that has been running at the Book Café in Harare, Zimbabwe for many years.

But looking at the astounding quality that the South African edition has to offer, it is almost too depressing to mention the deplorable state that the Zimbabwean version of the contest is now in.

I had the opportunity to be in Harare at the beginning of February to witness this sad state for myself.

Imagine a poet coming before an audience to recite a Valentine’s Day poem from his hardcover exercise book and stating the following:

“Valentine’s Day is a day commemorated on 14 February every year; It is a day when lovers exchange gifts of flowers and chocolates…”

That is NOT poetry, but rather a boring oration on the facts of things.

Another poet came to the microphone to deliver a nauseating piece in which every line had to end in ‘-tion’, so that we had ‘nations’ using Ambi ‘lotion’; we had ‘interpretations’ of ‘colonisation’ and ‘privatisation’, and every other such line that you can think of. The poem would have been clever if it had made more sense. But sadly, it was all a jumble of hopeless words.

Dambudzo Marechera, the poet and writer, after whose acclaimed novel the slam is named, must be turning in his grave.

I say this because I know what quality the Zimbabwe ‘House of Hunger’ slam has offered in the past.

At the height of the nation’s political turmoil, the ‘House of Hunger’ became literally that – a house where hungry souls converged to feed each other with words of anger and encouragement; a symbol of protest where performers such as Godobori, Comrade Fatso and Outspoken held the crowds in awe with their incisive thoughts and clever rhymes.

I will never forget one poem by the spoken word artist known as Upmost in which he described getting off the kombi from the city centre to Borrowdale because the conductor had decided to charge whatever fare he wanted.

A solitary figure, he chose to get off and walk the long journey home because he wasn’t prepared to feed into the system of greed that had heightened the anarchy and strife in Zimbabwe.

Today, none of those poets still perform at the slam.

And no one expects that they should have to. A new crop of poets and spoken word artists should have sprung up to carry on the mantle.

But sadly, it seems the new crop didn’t receive the all-important nutrients to ensure a useful harvest.

Instead, they are completely clueless about what makes good delivery of poetry. Elocution, emotion and entertainment are all seriously lacking.

For the sake of the future of poetry in Zimbabwe, I hope that those with the experience and expertise begin to sow back to the youth of our nation. It is only that way that we can sustain art initiatives and be sure that young people comprehend the great reverence with which the arts must be approached.

I am raising my hand up. I hope you’ll join me so that together, we can do something for the sake of the future.