Gender equality in Zimbabwe needs to be regarded as a national struggle, not simply a woman issue, to be addressed parallel to that of achieving democracy, economic development and social justice in the country.  Too often women in Zimbabwe experience discrimination and gender-based violence.   According to the Human Development Report (2007/2008), Zimbabwe is among the countries with the lowest global gender related development index, ranking 130 of 170.  This reflects the low status of women with respect to access, control and ownership of economic resources and positions in the decision-making process.  The fight for gender equality and empowerment remains difficult for Zimbabwean women as they are constricted by implementation of laws, confront abuse of customary law and a largely patriarchal nation, where women remain stereotyped as housewives and caregivers. There is a real need to craft an engendered constitution, harness political will to implement rights and educate women in communities, to ensure for protection and respect of women.  

In light of the constitutional reform process in Zimbabwe and the nation’s transition to democracy, leading officials have an opportunity to secure safeguards for women in the new constitution.  These include a proportional representation electoral system and women’s quotas in party nominations, which will provide an opportunity for women to play a role in politics, as well as provisions to close the gap of women’s access to social and economic rights.  The provision of rights in the constitution fosters a sense of entitlement of rights to women, which will be instrumental in empowering women in communities.  Zimbabwe has made commitments to protect the rights of women and address gender inequalities, including being signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), Beijing Platform of Action, the African Union Protocol on Women’s Rights, and the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development.  These commitments must be fully implemented and embraced as part of the constitutional review process.  

One of the most powerful instruments in pressuring Zimbabwe’s government officials for safeguards of women’s rights in the new constitution is a united women’s voice, one which echoes the demands of women nationwide. The Women’s National Congress in South Africa sets an example of the power which a united women’s voice can have to ensure that women are represented and kept part of the constitutional negotiations.  This Coalition covered “most political parties, rural women’s organizations, and religious and professional organizations.”  Today, women of Zimbabwe have a similar task in front of them, to craft a national platform of action, to be a part of the constitutional negotiations and enable their influence over the electoral system, to keep the Global Political Agreement inclusive.  Women need to intervene on the status of customary law and access to socio-economic rights in the constitution and voice any concerns now by participating in the process and following up by voting in the referendum in February 2011.  

Zimbabwean women are doing just that, mobilizing to confront the government in achieving justice for women in economic, social and political rights.  They have been demanding respect for and protection of human rights and the rights of members of their communities.  Since the country gained independence in 1980, women in Zimbabwe have been active in lobbying the government to adopt laws and policies that promote and protect their rights. Of particular significance has been the women's movement's success.  Women's organizations such as the Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA), the Women's Coalition, Women Action Group (WAG), Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Development Trust (WLSA), among others, have lobbied for the enactment of laws against domestic violence. In November 2006 the lower house of parliament passed the Domestic Violence Act. Since its enactment, there has been an increase in the number of domestic violence cases brought by women seeking justice.  Women have also lobbied against discriminatory inheritance laws, for reform of marriage laws and on other issues affecting women.  

Today, women’s rights groups find that even with the support of high-level politicians, it is extremely difficult to get commitment to become a reality.  They are also finding that the discourse on women’s rights risks being swallowed by party politics, where women’s representation remains low at 25%.  For this reason there is even more need for women to unite and participate in the transition.  Presently, women’s groups have played a pivotal role in ensuring that women are participating and represented in the constitutional process.  They have united under an umbrella organization called, the Women’s Coalition, which has brought together 54 organizations and has 9 chapters across the country.  This body has played a pivotal role in strategizing on how women can interface with the constitutional reform and participate in the process.  For instance, the Women’s Coalition presented names to the committee responsible for the constitutional outreach process, COPAC, increasing the participation of women in the outreach teams to 25%.  They have also been monitoring the process and ensuring that outreach teams create space for women to speak.  Other groups such as WLSA have been using media to raise awareness and joined with the Women’s Coalition to reach out to women in rural communities, reaching over 2000 women.  

Today’s discourse on women’s rights in Zimbabwe must set gender equality in parity with economic, political and social justice being sought through the democratic transition.  Through empowering women and supporting civil society groups actively working to ensure women’s rights is part of the national agenda, there is real hope that this transition can bring justice to women of Zimbabwe. 

Marieka Walsh
37 Comments
 
 
While revenues from diamond mining have the potential to benefit the people of Zimbabwe, the industry has been and continues to be tainted by corruption and violence.  The industry threatens to undermine movement towards a transparent and accountable police force and unity government.

Millions of dollars have been siphoned off through illegal diamond mining in the Marange diamond fields, located in eastern Zimbabwe. The Marange diamond fields, discovered in 2006, are the source of much controversy over illegal diamond mining including smuggling of diamonds, forced labor and other accounts of corruption.  Following the GPA in 2008, the military took control of the mines on grounds of eliminating illegal mining and trade, however, they have exacerbated the lack of order in the fields.  The unity government should focus on restoring security responsibilities to the police.  According to Human Rights Watch, if the diamond industry was legally regulated and diamond-mining centers were managed in a responsible manner, estimates could amount to $200million a month for the country.  This revenue could fund a significant portion of the unity government’s economic and social reform programs.

Monitoring the diamond industry is important in fostering transparency and accountability.  The most recent unjustified actions taken by authorities to arrest a leading diamond rights researcher raise serious concerns.  Farai Maguwu, director of the Center for Research and Development in Mutare, a civic group investigating human rights abuses in the Marange diamond fields, was arrested on Thursday, June 3 after he handed himself over to the police in Mutare.  The arrest came about following a meeting between Maguwu and Abbey Chikane, the Kimberly Process monitor appointed to monitor Zimbabwe to see if it had ended rights abuses in Chiadzwa, before it can be certified to sell diamonds.  Prior to Maguwu’s arrest, authorities raided his offices, his house and arrested and assaulted some of his relatives the previous week. He was charged with providing false information to Abbey Chikane, information which indicated that human rights abuses were continuing in Chaidzwa.  Police have withheld Maguwu illegally, denied him bail and have kept him in custody beyond the limit of 48 hours.  On Wednesday, July 7, the High Court again denied him bail. These events bring back bad memories of a culture of impunity of Zimbabwe security forces and works against the democratic transition where citizen’s rights are protected.

Controversies over the trade of Zimbabwe’s diamonds remain contested. Kimberly Process reports on the alleged human rights abuses in the region date back to early 2009, yet the Kimberly Process has not come to a consensus on whether to certify Zimbabwe’s diamonds for export and sale on the international markets.  This could potentially undermine the Kimberly Process Certification Scheme, calling into question their ability to set standards in the trade of conflict diamonds.  The decision over whether to certify Zimbabwe’s diamonds was deferred from a meeting among Kimberly members last month and will be discussed at the World Diamond Council in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 14-15.

Diamonds should benefit the people of Zimbabwe.  If exploited responsibly, diamonds can be paramount to the economic transition of the country.  There is an urgent need to ensure accountability and transparency in Zimbabwe’s diamond industry and to ensure that those in power will not abuse control of diamonds. Africa Action’s Director of Campaigns, Briggs Bomba remarked, “A failure to marshal all available resources and speedily improve people’s livelihoods will be a great betrayal to the aspirations of the long suffering people of Zimbabwe.”

Marieka Walsh
 
30 Comments
 
 
This past week Africa Action participated in the United States Social Forum (USSF) in Detroit.  It was an exciting opportunity for Africa Action to come together in solidarity, sharing experiences and struggles across social justice movements.

One of Africa Action’s key events at the USSF was the Detroit to Dakar (D2D) People’s Movement Assembly.  This Assembly represented an opportunity to bring together activists both within the U.S. and African countries to connect their struggles, build solidarity and come up with recommendation to the continent’s development and fight for human rights.  Briggs Bomba, Africa Action’s Director of Campaigns, along with Emira Woods, Africa Action’s Board Chair, led a vibrant discussion, strategizing action plans.  Participants recommended certain themes to be included in the action plan including; neocolonialism, AFRICOM, internal displacement and the political economy of relationships with Africa countries.  The Assembly resulted in a resolution with recommendations that was presented to the USSF and built momentum for the World Social Forum to be hosted in Dakar, Senegal, February 7-11, 2011. (see D2D USSF Thematic Papers for more information).

Meryl Zendarski, Africa Action’s expert consultant on the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), held a workshop titled “International Financial Institutions and Climate Change: The Inga Dam and Community Impacts in Congo.”  The Grand Inga Dam is a World Bank project along the Congo River (Nzadi River) that could produce upwards of 44,000 MW of electricity. This workshop highlighted possible social impacts and environmental concerns surrounding the Grand Inga Dam, as well as the complex implications that the Grand Inga Dam could have for both the local communities in Congo and our global ecosystem. 

We learned that there is no plan to provide Congolese household with electricity and many people will lose their farmland and their livelihoods in order to build this dam.  There is not much confidence that Congolese people will be compensated for their displacement since people were never paid for Inga I and Inga II, and over 9,000 people still live at “Camp Kinshasa” without electricity and running water near these project sites.  Additionally, the Grand Ingo Dam will flood the Bundi Valley.

The building of the Grand Inga Dam will have both local and global environmental implications, including:
  • Clear cutting swaths of rainforest will be necessary to create paths for transmission lines.  This rainforest is the second largest rainforest in the world, and is crucial for balancing our world’s ecosystem-
  • Loss of fish populations and destruction of river ecosystems are common outcomes of river damming and turbines.  Currently the Congo River has the second richest diversity of fish on earth-
  • The Congo River serves as a vital conduit of terrestrial minerals and carbon to the ocean floor in the Atlantic Ocean-
  • Finally, if there was local access to electricity from the dam this could decrease deforestation in DRC, because people would be less likely to cut wood for fuel and building-
Briggs Bomba, Director of Campaigns, was part of the panel, “Power-sharing Deals in Africa: Implications for Democracy – The Case of Zimbabwe & Kenya.”  The panel consisted of Briggs Bomba (Zimbabwe), Esther Mwarua (Kenya), Hopewell Gumbo with the Debt Cancellation Coalition of Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), and Dr. Stanford Mukasa, Assistant Professor at the University of Indiana in Pennsylvania (Zimbabwe).  All four speakers agreed that power-sharing deals in Kenya and Zimbabwe are a positive step in the short-term, since they appear to decrease violence and helped put economies back on their feet.  Nevertheless, the group disagreed on other factors.  This workshop was a vibrant exchange of ideas and opinions, and was moderated by Emira Woods.  Below are some comments made by the panelists in the discussion;
  • Hopewell Gumbo remarked that the power-sharing agreement in Zimbabwe meant two things, “1)violence was going to stop and 2) economic relief.”  
  • Esther Mwarua also agreed on these points but questioned whether in the long-term sharing power can be sustained. 
  • Dr. Stanford Mukasa believes that power-sharing in Zimbabwe is a mixed blessing, as in his opinion the latest developments in the country reveals not only struggles between the parties but also a class struggle, in which there is less rhetoric on human rights and more about bringing in more resource to the country.
  •  Briggs Bomba introduced the international dimension of power-sharing, remarking that the U.S. and British governments helped broker the power-sharing deal in Kenya.
You can find more information regarding power-sharing agreements in Zimbabwe and Kenya in an article written by Briggs Bomba titled, Ballots versus Bullets in Kenya and Zimbabwe, http://www.fpif.org/articles/ballots_vs_bullets_in_kenya_and_zimbabwe

Written by Meg Armstrong and Marieka Walsh
73 Comments
 
 
Last week’s luncheon on the current state of Zimbabwe, sponsored by Freedom House, featured Jestina Mukoko, a 2010 International Woman of Courage recipient, and Rindai Chipfunde, founding director of Zimbabwe Election Support Network. The event’s objective was to present perspectives from civil society in the country, and both speakers spoke of the fragile peace, the current state of human rights on the ground, and their opinions as to what further actions are necessary to realize a true democratized Zimbabwe. 

In her speech, Mrs. Mukoko pinpointed areas in Zimbabwean society where considerable gains have been made within a short period of time. In 2010, inflation declined from a dizzying 79600000000% per month to 5.1%, inducing a period of relative calm in the national economy, allowing for basic commercial transactions. This monetary stability helped usher in a sight long forgotten by Zimbabweans: foodon shelves at the market. No longer do people have to travel to South Africa to buy food. But new concerns loom as to whether Zimbabweans are financially capable of purchasing these materials and commodities within their communities. 

The Education and Health department have both received a boost from the economic upswing in the country. Teachers were given vouchers the equivalent of $100 per month, a stark contrast to previously unlivable or nonexistent payments. This amount has now been increased to $150 per month. In addition, more Zimbabweans have access to proper health facilities and care since the Global Peace Accord (GPA) has been in effect. 

However, These marginal gains in varying parts of Zimbabwean life have been offset by continual human rights abuses by the government. Mrs. Mukoko, soon after the GPA was signed, along with other members of the MDC, was kidnapped and held without charge. Still, her organization, the Zimbabwean Peace Project (ZPP), noticed a dramatic decline in human rights abuses in their records over the same period of time.

There are many reasons to be alarmed. For one, the constitutional agreement is seven months late, and some groups have declined to participate because it is not as people-driven as promised by the MDC. The Kariba draft constitution being floated by Zanu PF is currently the most widely known and contended; while its drafters are all men, threats are being issued to garner support for it from women in rural areas.

In order for national healing to occur, human rights abuses must cease.  The continuation of human rights violations prevents Zimbabweans from participating in the healing process. While the GPA has sustained many gains, this remains a challenge, especially considering that one of the tenets of the agreement was for political parties to renounce violence. 

For Zimbabweans to participate in the upcoming elections, a multi-pronged approach is required.  According to Mrs. Chipfunde, these approaches must cover three areas: capacity-building, transparency, and changing the human rights environment. The upcoming elections will happen, mostly due to pressure from the international community, however, efforts should be taken to ensure they take place in the most fair and transparent manner possible, guaranteeing the full participation of Zimbabweans.

By Adienamikiphe Igoni
74 Comments