by Sibongile Mpofu
The Standard, 27 September 2008
ALTHOUGH intended to help alleviate the financial crisis and ease shortages in the economy, the new Foreign Exchange Warehouse and Retail Shops programme in Zimbabwe will likely worsen the plight of already over-burdened Zimbabwean women, especially the large numbers who rely on cross-border trade for a living.
Monetary authorities announced the new programme, which would see 1 000 retailers and 200 wholesalers across the country licensed to sell goods in foreign currency, on September 10. Since then, some traders and analysts have expressed concern about what this means for the most vulnerable in society.
"In a way, we are seeing this programme as only meant for the elite with the spending power. It will widen the gap between the have and the have-nots. We are failing to buy products because they are very expensive here and that is why we are resorting to neighbouring countries,’’ said Thembelihle Moyo.
Moyo, who travels to Botswana every month to buy commodities and clothing for resale, said cross-border trading has been a lifeline for her and her family and she fears that the new programme will negatively affect her business, on which she and her whole family relies.
According to Reserve Bank governor, Gideon Gono, the move aims to ease commodity shortages on the market. "Under this framework, authorised dealers will match sellers and buyers of foreign exchange guided by a pre-determined priority list as set from time to time by the Reserve Bank," said Gono in a monetary policy speech. Food and agriculture inputs are highest priority.
To get a licence, applicants must outline their foreign exchange needs, the goods they sell, capacity to handle foreign exchange, estimated weekly or monthly sale volumes and ownership structure.
At face value, the strategy suggests a positive move. Increasing the availability of foreign exchange and with it the buying power of retailers and wholesalers seeks to help alleviate the plight of local people who face extreme shortages, runaway inflation, and a lack of basic goods and services. However, the potential negative impact requires scrutiny.
After analysing the concept and the context under which the programme would be implemented, it is debatable whether this policy will not in fact bring more woes to the ailing economy — particularly more so to Zimbabwean women, the majority of whom rely on cross-border trade to feed their families and send their children to school.
With a membership of more than 15 000 across the Southern African Development Community (Sadc), cross-border traders, the majority of who are women buy goods in neighbouring countries for resale in Zimbabwe. They then buy foreign currency for the next lot of goods. With the unavailability of foreign currency in the formal banking system, most of the traders, rely on the parallel market to run their businesses.
Dollarising the economy would increase the demand for the hard currency and rates would go up, reducing the spending power of most informal traders. Already, Zimbabweans are faced with the current pricing system, which puts the prices of basic commodities beyond the reach of many and analysts predict that foreign-currency priced goods are likely to be more expensive compared to what people are buying them for currently.
According to Innocent Ncube, National Youth Development Trust Chairperson, this partial dollarisation of the economy would hurt vulnerable groups more and lead to profiteering by unscrupulous businesses.
"This policy also raises questions of whether people will be paid in foreign currency. If not, where are people expected to get the foreign currency from?" he asked. This will worsen the plight of every Zimbabwean and indeed our mothers and wives who face the day–to-day burden to see to it that their families are well taken care of."
Women like Constancia Sibanda, from Rural Nkayi in Matabeleland North province, who have never seen the United States dollar or the South African Rand, are unlikely to benefit much from such a policy development. Sibanda, who survives on subsistence farming, said during good harvests, she sells excess produce and has no prospects of ever getting any foreign currency. In a way, this policy completely excludes her.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Women Demand More
by Vusumuzi Sifile
The Standard, Saturday 27 September 2008
WOMEN’S rights activists want to add another sticking point to the contentious issue of cabinet appointments: they are demanding that key ministries should be headed by women.
They also want women to head at least 30% of the 31 ministries created under the power-sharing deal between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.
This however could be a shot in the dark as all the parties are said to have completed their most likely line-ups for different portfolios. Most of the posts are held by men. Fewer women that are being proposed were elected into the two houses of Parliament.
Among the organisations pushing for the deal is the Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) and the Feminists Political Education Project (FePEP). They say this is "not too far fetched" as it is in line with a protocol adopted by Sadc heads of state in South Africa last month.
Officials from the two organisations confirmed they were pushing for more women to be appointed to Cabinet and for the appointment of women to key ministries. They however could not be drawn into divulging the names in their proposals.
WiPSU director, Cleopatra Ndlovu said: "Right from the talks, the representation of women left a lot to be desired. Everything was telling a male story, even the picture. And now we are talking about cabinet, this is where issues of power between men and women are going to be demonstrated."
She said the agreement makes a commitment to involve women, but there is no suggestion how this would be carried out.
"Having read the agreement, it talks about women in a way that the principals acknowledge women have to be put in strategic positions. But we don’t see the actual action plan to involve women. It appears they just talk about women, just to appease us."
Theresa Mugadza, a co-ordinator of FePEP, said they had "engaged with the negotiators at various times about the inclusion of women".
"We have written to them, but there’s not been any formal response," Mugadza said.
Asked about their proposals, Mugadza said: "I cannot start giving you names now."
But sources in the women’s movement said Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga — who ironically is one of the FePEP co-ordinators and took part in the negotiations that led to the power sharing deal — tops the list of the feminists’ suggestions. Her name has also appeared in a number of possible cabinet line-ups currently being circulated.
According to our sources, some feminists want Misihairabwi-Mushonga to head either the Ministry of Industry and Commerce or Regional Integration and International Trade, which are understood to have been given to her formation. The proposal is based on Misihairabwi-Mushonga’s background as a former chairperson of the Parliamentary public accounts committee and MDC’s shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs.
"We look forward to the appointment of women to strategic ministries such as foreign affairs, home affairs, defence, local government, finance, trade, health and education just to name a few — something like what they have in South Africa," added Mugadza.
Section 20 of the agreement signed on September 15 acknowledges "the need for gender parity, particularly the need to appoint women in strategic Cabinet posts".
The FePEP, through Mugadza, even suggested how the ministries would be distributed.
"For avoidance of doubt, out of the 31 ministerial positions, 15 should be women and of the 15 deputy ministers, 8 should be women. Of the 15 cabinet posts Zanu PF has, at least seven ought to be women; of the 13 cabinet posts that MDC-T has, at least seven ought to be women and of the three seats MDC has, at least one has to be a woman. Of the eight deputies Zanu PF appoints, four have to be women, the six MDC led by Tsvangirai appoints, three ought to be women and the one deputy of the MDC led by Prof. Mutambara must be a woman."
But Luta Shaba, the director of Women’s Trust —a Harare based organisation said: "For us, what is more critical however is to have an institutional mechanism to oversee the commitment to issues of gender representation. It does not matter what percentage we have, if there is nobody to oversee the implementation it won’t work. It is not about numbers, it is about walking our talk."
The Standard, Saturday 27 September 2008
WOMEN’S rights activists want to add another sticking point to the contentious issue of cabinet appointments: they are demanding that key ministries should be headed by women.
They also want women to head at least 30% of the 31 ministries created under the power-sharing deal between Zanu PF and the two MDC formations.
This however could be a shot in the dark as all the parties are said to have completed their most likely line-ups for different portfolios. Most of the posts are held by men. Fewer women that are being proposed were elected into the two houses of Parliament.
Among the organisations pushing for the deal is the Women in Politics Support Unit (WiPSU) and the Feminists Political Education Project (FePEP). They say this is "not too far fetched" as it is in line with a protocol adopted by Sadc heads of state in South Africa last month.
Officials from the two organisations confirmed they were pushing for more women to be appointed to Cabinet and for the appointment of women to key ministries. They however could not be drawn into divulging the names in their proposals.
WiPSU director, Cleopatra Ndlovu said: "Right from the talks, the representation of women left a lot to be desired. Everything was telling a male story, even the picture. And now we are talking about cabinet, this is where issues of power between men and women are going to be demonstrated."
She said the agreement makes a commitment to involve women, but there is no suggestion how this would be carried out.
"Having read the agreement, it talks about women in a way that the principals acknowledge women have to be put in strategic positions. But we don’t see the actual action plan to involve women. It appears they just talk about women, just to appease us."
Theresa Mugadza, a co-ordinator of FePEP, said they had "engaged with the negotiators at various times about the inclusion of women".
"We have written to them, but there’s not been any formal response," Mugadza said.
Asked about their proposals, Mugadza said: "I cannot start giving you names now."
But sources in the women’s movement said Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga — who ironically is one of the FePEP co-ordinators and took part in the negotiations that led to the power sharing deal — tops the list of the feminists’ suggestions. Her name has also appeared in a number of possible cabinet line-ups currently being circulated.
According to our sources, some feminists want Misihairabwi-Mushonga to head either the Ministry of Industry and Commerce or Regional Integration and International Trade, which are understood to have been given to her formation. The proposal is based on Misihairabwi-Mushonga’s background as a former chairperson of the Parliamentary public accounts committee and MDC’s shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs.
"We look forward to the appointment of women to strategic ministries such as foreign affairs, home affairs, defence, local government, finance, trade, health and education just to name a few — something like what they have in South Africa," added Mugadza.
Section 20 of the agreement signed on September 15 acknowledges "the need for gender parity, particularly the need to appoint women in strategic Cabinet posts".
The FePEP, through Mugadza, even suggested how the ministries would be distributed.
"For avoidance of doubt, out of the 31 ministerial positions, 15 should be women and of the 15 deputy ministers, 8 should be women. Of the 15 cabinet posts Zanu PF has, at least seven ought to be women; of the 13 cabinet posts that MDC-T has, at least seven ought to be women and of the three seats MDC has, at least one has to be a woman. Of the eight deputies Zanu PF appoints, four have to be women, the six MDC led by Tsvangirai appoints, three ought to be women and the one deputy of the MDC led by Prof. Mutambara must be a woman."
But Luta Shaba, the director of Women’s Trust —a Harare based organisation said: "For us, what is more critical however is to have an institutional mechanism to oversee the commitment to issues of gender representation. It does not matter what percentage we have, if there is nobody to oversee the implementation it won’t work. It is not about numbers, it is about walking our talk."
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