Ever wondered what an embassy does?

British Embassy Harare Deputy Head of Mission Chris Brown will be hosting a Twitter Question and Answer session on Thursday 21 November at 3pm Zimbabwe time. Follow him on @DHMChrisBrown and ask those burning questions.

For British Embassy Harare information updates including events, scholarships, and UK policy updates follow Ambassador Deborah Bronnert on Twitter @DeborahBronnert.

Recent talk of demolitions of “illegal structures” being planned by government prompted a subscriber in Hatfield to send us these thoughts:

Greetings. I’m am a very bitter resident of Hatfield and I stay in Harare Drive. From the onset of farm invasions there was a group of people that came and began to settle in a bush that existed surrounding Dunstan transport company. This bush is right next to the international airport. Don’t get me wrong I do think every citizen deserves a piece of land to build a house and live but it’s the location and state of these houses and how it has affected the proper houses along Harare Drive.

In 2005 if I’m not mistaken during the Operation Murambatsvina phase the houses that were destroyed then were far better than the ones they have now. I don’t know when these settlements became legal because during election campaign phase, makeshift roads were opened up and by end of polls there was no sign of even a grading machine. The roads were left unfinished till today I will send pictures later.

These are the bad effects of these settlements: property along Harare Drive has devalued. Our roads are even neglected by council, even service delivery like refuse collection and water have ceased to exist from the onset of these events. Their settlement meant cutting down of trees and because of this our area now receives little or no rain at all. Be that as it may, it just brings out a really bad picture of what Zimbabwe is really on arrival of all visitors.

I have failed to really understand the whole situation. My suggestion is if parties want their supporters to have such benefits they must also assist them in building descent houses and at least service the stands in advance because they have no power, no sanitation and no water and it’s been a decade since they settled there. Before we also heard rumors of that land being developed with a shopping mall and new runways and a new airport hotel and a school also I guess that will never happen. Someone must do something.

- Disgruntled Youth

Yesterday, demonstrators gathered outside the US Embassy to protest sanctions. They got a bit of attention on Twitter, and an article in The Herald, but it doesn’t sound like anyone was arrested. Never mind that actually, according to the US Embassy in Harare, the US “does not maintain sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe or the country of Zimbabwe.”

Meanwhile, last weekend students at Eveline Girls High School in Bulawayo held a peaceful demonstration to protest the lack of electricity at their boarding hostels.  Eight students were taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station and detained for around four hours.

Moral of the story? Demonstrate against non-existent sanctions and you won’t get arrested. But demonstrate against all-too-real failures at the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) and you will.

It happens with democracy – we think we have it but we don’t. Elections – we think we have them but we don’t – proper ones at least. An opposition political party  – we thought that they had ‘it’ but they don’t.

Now we have bus stops (lots of them). And when was the last time you saw a bus?

Right.

Recent statements by the government that they will build new houses for victims of the recently announced government clampdown on illegal structures brings back memories of the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina.

I remember in 2005 when the government of Zimbabwe pulled down “illegal structures” many people were promised decent accommodation under Garikai/Hlalani Khule but were later dumped at Caledonia Farm near Tafara on the outskirts of Harare. Only a handful benefited from Operation Garikai/Hlalani Khule as the allocation process was done on party lines.

From one “Operation” to another seven years on government of Zimbabwe issues another warning to get rid of all illegal structures in urban settlements. After Operation Murambatsvina it was promised that service delivery would improve and sanity would prevail in urban areas but most urban areas still face water shortages, the roads are a disgrace and sewage outbursts are perennial rivers in most high-density areas.

Terms of Reference for Consultancy Service: Impact Assessment of Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA)
Deadline: 22 November 2013 (17:00 UK time)

Womankind Worldwide is an international women’s rights charity working to help women transform their lives in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We partner with women’s rights organisations who are challenging discrimination and violence.

We are tendering for proposals to undertake an Impact Assessment to examine the impact achieved for women and girls by our local partner the Zimbabwe Women Lawyer’s Association (ZWLA) over a period of 10 years.

The Impact Assessment will examine and provide strong evidence on the impact achieved, i.e. positive, negative, intended and unintended, on direct and indirect beneficiaries, analyse ZWLA’s contributions and identify specific factors that have enabled or disabled positive impact to occur. The Assessment will also review the relevance of our work, assess effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability of ZWLA’s programmatic interventions and organisational development processes and document lessons learnt and best practice.

Please use this link to see the Terms of Reference, which include the application process.

Please send your electronic applications to Mariela Magnelli at: Mariela [at] womankind [dot] org [dot] uk