MISA-Zimbabwe launches Walking the Talk report

MISA-Zimbabwe on 17 October 2008 commissioned its findings on the levels and extent of gender balance and sensitivity in the media’s coverage of the March 2008 elections through the launch of its Walking the Talk publication which emanates from extensive media monitoring of the country’s weeklies and the state-controlled Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC).

The gender report is a multi-media product comprising the report, a photo-journal on the media’s portrayal of women during the period under review and an audio CD of interviews with female politicians that contested the elections.

Speaking at the launch ceremony in Harare, Media Alliance of Zimbabwe (MAZ) Co-ordinator Abigail Gamanya, urged MISA-Zimbabwe to remain undeterred in its lobby and advocacy activities for the emergence of an environment that fosters freedom of expression, media freedom, independence, diversity, pluralism and self-sufficiency as envisioned under the 1991 Windhoek Declaration. MAZ comprises MISA-Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe Union of Journalists, Media Monitoring Project Zimbabwe (MMPZ) and Zimbabwe National Editors Forum (Zinef).

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of cognitive prizes to outstanding journalists and organisations by MISA-Zimbabwe Chairperson Loughty Dube under the organisation’s inaugural Gender and Media Awards as part of MISA-Zimbabwe’s efforts to inculcate and foster gender balance and sensitivity in the media’s coverage of the country’s socio-economic and political issues.

Of the 11 journalists whose coverage of the elections was considered in the competition, Kholwani Nyathi of the privately owned The Standard newspaper, scooped the prize for being outstanding in striking gender balance and awareness in his coverage of the elections.

The Financial Gazette won in the newspaper category for its high percentage of analytical and feature articles that featured women’s voices.

Similarly recognised was The Women’s Trust for being the most visible women’s organisation through its campaigns encouraging women to participate in the presidential, parliamentary, senatorial and local government elections held on 29 March 2008.

New forex rules worse for women

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.

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."

Women bear the brunt of violence

Ephraim Nsingo

HARARE, Jun 28 (IPS) - "We are too familiar with the violence that was meted upon numerous of us from 1890 when the colonialists came into our country right up to the most recent elections. Chief among these forms of violence is sexual violence, and it concomitant implication, HIV infection. Zimbabwean women now have the lowest life expectancy world wide because of HIV & AIDS -- 34 years."

This from a statement issued by the Feminist Political Education Project (FePEP) on Apr. 10, when the country was still waiting for inexplicably-delayed results of the Mar. 29 presidential poll. FePEP expressed the view that regardless of who won, neither Tsvangirai nor Mugabe could bring all sides together and move forward in the interests of the whole country.

Priscilla Misihairabwi-Mushonga, a former MDC parliamentarian and one of FePEP's coordinators, told IPS that Tsvangirai’s Jun. 22 withdrawal from the presidential run-off "was the right thing for him to do, albeit too late".

"Our position has been consistent; the current problems in Zimbabwe cannot be resolved through an election," said Misihairabwi-Mushonga. "Our society is divided right through the middle and any government would by nature have to be inclusive if we are to seriously work towards resolving the current impasse. The problems in this country will not go away. We should continue to press for dialogue."

While ZANU-PF hastily prepares to swear 84-year-old Robert Mugabe in as president, Zimbabweans continue to count the cost of the party's brutal fight to remain in power.

"Women have suffered most in this violence," said Netsai Mushonga, the Coordinator of the Women's Coalition of Zimbabwe, an umbrella body of Zimbabwean women's organisations. From what we have gathered so far, we expect the number of rape cases to treble. We are yet to sit down as an organisation to do a detailed analysis of the situation."

According to Alouis Chaumba, the chairperson of the Zimbabwe Peace Project -- an NGO that documents incidents of political violence -- most male opposition supporters have fled rural areas; leaving women more vulnerable.

"To force the men to return, ZANU PF militia have a tendency of abducting women and children. There are numerous cases of women and children being taken as ransom and forcibly detained in bases until their fathers or husbands return to their villages. Women are being assaulted, tortured, and sexually harassed," said Chaumba.

Martha Marime*, a 29-year-old woman from Chaona Village in Mashonaland Central Province, Chiweshe narrated how she was abducted at the end of May and repeatedly raped by ZANU PF militia for hours.

"I don't think I will ever recover from the pain and embarrassment I went through. I was forced to do things I have never done in my life and it really pains me to think to think of it. They took turns to rape me, and after that they beat me up saying I was a prostitute. I was two months pregnant when they beat me up, and the very day they released me, I had a miscarriage," said Marime.

The leader of a prominent women's organisation, who declined to be named, said most women were being harassed because their husbands, sons or male relatives were suspected to be supporters of the opposition.

"We are still compiling the details, but we have got one recent example where Abigail Chiroto was abducted and gruesomely murdered because her husband is an MDC activist. To make it worse, it looks like they did all this while her four-year-old son was watching. Things are really bad for women, but most of them are not brave enough to come out in the open for fear of retribution," said the official.

Abigail Chiroto, the wife of the newly elected mayor of Harare, Emmanuel Chiroto, was abducted from her home in Hatcliffe, Harare, and later found dead at a farm on the outskirts of the capital. Her son was unharmed.

Female candidates have also been victims of the violence. The losing candidate for Mt Pleasant House of Assembly Constituency, Trudy Stevenson -- of the MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara -- has for the past few weeks been living in hiding following repeated attempts by suspected ZANU PF supporters to attack her home.

Said Stevenson: "I am in a safe place, but obviously I am very worried that the place will be attacked any time, in view of this pattern repeated several times with people being abducted, tortured and murdered and the houses petrol-bombed. Most of my colleagues are not safe either."

Theresa Makone, the newly-elected legislator for Harare North and chairperson of the MDC Women's League has been living in hiding for over a month now. Her driver, Beta Chokururama, was murdered by suspected ZANU PF militias on Jun. 13.

Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa denied that his party is responsible for the reign of terror since the Mar. 29 elections.

"The opposition has been making all of sorts of allegations to draw unnecessary attention, for reasons which we do not know. From information we got from the police, MDC supporters have been perpetrating violence against our people, then steal our campaign material and disguise themselves as members of our party," said Chinamasa, who also chairs ZANU PF's media sub-committee for the elections.

Asked about incidents of rape at ZANU PF bases, Chinamasa said only that his party "does not have any such bases".

Robert Mugabe is expected to join other African heads of state at the African Union Summit now taking place in Egypt, where despite recent criticism from African leaders includng Zambian president Levy Mwanawasa -- who as chair of the Southern Africa Development Community stated that the elections in Zimbabwe fell far short of regional standards for fairness -- the early signs are that the A.U. will propose a power-sharing agreement for Zimbabwe similar to what was agreed in Kenya.

But how will such an agreement address the grievous injury and injustice that has fallen so heavily on the backs of Zimbabweans, particularly women?

*Not her real name.

STOP THE VIOLENCE AND PROTECT WOMEN AND GIRLS NOW

Presented to:

Human Rights Council, June 2008 Session
Geneva, Switzerland

30 May 2008

We, the Zimbabwean women and women worldwide, urgently call for stopping of violence in Zimbabwe and protection of women and girls, in this post election catastrophe. This is an emergency as the country gears up for a presidential run-off on the 27th of June 2008.The violence persists and is real. No election observers are yet in the country, despite our calls, appeals, cries to Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), African Union (AU) and the United Nations.

We are watching a silent genocide of the poor and powerless, due to political induced murders, criminal actions, and collapse of basic services resulting in deaths due to lack of health care, food, shelter for the displaced, especially after the March 29th, 2008 elections. Most of the affected are women and children.
• The post election murders, burnings, lootings and intimidation have most affected women and girls since its rural targeted and 80% of women live in rural areas.
• Over 800 homes have been burnt down, making it traumatic for mothers who have to feed the children and care for the sick
• Over 10 000 people have fled their homes, are displaced and squatters with relatives and with fear of going back home. Children displaced are not in schools
• Over 50 people have been murdered in cold blood, and mostly from the opposition.
• An estimated 7000 teachers have fled their schools as a number have been beaten in the eyes of parents and pupils.
• Doctors for human Rights report that over 2000 serious cases of physical torture and beatings have passed through their hands and a lot of those they treated have suffered serious fractures to an extent that most are permanently handicapped.
• The oldest victim of the post election violence is an old woman with 12 grandchildren all of them orphaned and whose son is alleged to have campaigned for the opposition.
• The youngest female victim is a 15-year-old girl who was stripped naked together with her pregnant mother forced to lie down and beaten on the breasts and buttocks, just many women have been so battered.
• Several girls and women are feared raped. The youngest child seriously assaulted is only 3 years.
• More than 3,000 Zimbabweans die every weak due to AIDS, and their life expectancy is 34 years for women.
• Unemployment is 80% and inflation is 165 000 % and the highest in the world.
• 95% of women of the 200 000 women made homeless and jobless by the government 2005 Operation Murambatsviina. Women’s church gatherings disrupted, women beaten up and abused while at prayer.
• Over 3 million Zimbabweans are in South Africa where they are facing xenophobic attacks
This situation is an extra-ordinary emergency for women and girls. Every person and institution must do everything in their power to stop the violence, restore rule of law, and allow Zimbabweans to exercise their right to vote and live in peace.
We, as Zimbabwean women and women worldwide:

Re-iterate the long-standing position of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) that the failure by government and law enforcement, such as police and army to respect the rights of all citizens is the greatest threat to peace, democracy and development in Zimbabwe.

Really concerned by a real danger of civil strife catalyzed by the growing humanitarian crisis. We are witnessing increasing levels of tension and political polarization among the population, which turned out to vote on March 29. The media reports on the party political position adopted by the law enforcement, which should ordinarily maintain neutrality. The recent purchase of military weapons adds to this fear.

Demand cessation of organized and targeted intimidation against the citizens, particularly the use of women and girls as weapons of ‘war’, evidenced by the brutal battering of women’s buttocks, rape and sexual abuse.

Demand the immediate disbanding of the militias, comprised of youths, security agents and one terror group code named Chipangano, which have caused terror and havoc in the rural and urban areas exacerbating the humanitarian situation by creating internal refugees. We demand the disbanding of torture bases where gross abuses of women are taking place including forced labor (cooking and cleaning) and sexual abuse.

Request the Leadership of SADC, the African Union and the United Nations to demand ZANU PF government to stop using violence against its people and TAKE TANGIBLE actions if the violence continues.

Request especially the Human Rights Council to:
I. Establish programme of engagement with Zimbabwe for protection of human rights especially for women, girls and children. The UN must deploy human rights monitors during the run-up to the Presidential Elections.

II. Mandate and support UN Special Rapportuer on Violence Against Women must do a fact-finding mission to Zimbabwe and support the efforts of community, grassroots and other organisations living in a culture of fear, survivors of violence and abuse.

III. Mandate and support UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders must put in place ways of ensuring safety and protection for women human rights advocates and activists, who find themselves in fear of life and who ability to engage publicly is compromised.

IV. Engage with Zimbabwe government and authorities and stop the violence, and demand the state to protect ordinary people’s lives.

V. Encourage and support for humanitarian assistance to Zimbabwe, especially in support of food, health and education for rural communities and mostly the displaced.

Organizations and Individuals are encouraged to sign on this statement, and submit to coalition@zol.co.zw (Zimbabwe Women’s Coalition) or worldoffice@worldywca.org; or athenainitiative@gmail.com or dakotareed07@gmail.com

Women lose out as percentage of women in Parliament decreases

By Miriam Madziwa, courtesy of Genderlinks Opinion and Commentary service(Africa)

While Zimbabwe continues to wait anxiously for the official announcement of the Presidential polls, it is no secret that in the Parliamentary polls, women emerged the biggest losers. Just twenty-eight women, representing 13 % of the contested legislative seats were elected to the House of Assembly on March 29.
Numerically, there are now more women in Parliament simply because of the increase in the number of Parliamentary seats from 120 to 210. However, percentage wise, women's presence in the August House is down by almost 3 %. This is a small, but worrying, decline.

The 13 % representation is below half the Southern African Development Community (SADC) target of at least 30 %. It is disheartening that three years since the target was set and despite the efforts of gender activists, Zimbabwe has failed to make the grade.

The temptation is great to assuage the pain of defeat by making excuses. Yes, the stakes were against the 99 women who contested. The women candidates had to overcome the age-old gender based challenges of balancing politics with family obligations.

Additionally, while male contenders concentrated on selling their manifestoes, women candidates had first to convince the electorate that they were serious politicians who deserved their votes. Some candidates had the added challenge of dispelling whisperings that they were contesting to fulfill the political plots of powerful male politicians.

Still many questions remain. Why did the women candidates perform so dismally given the pro-women initiative various political parties put in place during party primary elections to select candidates?

For instance, the two main political parties ZANU PF and the MDC, led by Morgan Tsvangirai, reported they had set aside constituencies for female candidates in attempts to meet the 30 % quota. The rationale was that women candidates would have easy passage to the nomination courts without facing competition from male colleagues in party primaries.

The criteria used to select constituencies for affirmative action was not publicised. The pattern that seemed to emerge during nomination was that parties allocated constituencies to women where tough competition was expected from rival political parties. Essentially, women became cannon fodder expended to save the political reputations of men.

That women candidates sheepishly agreed to the contest in the allocated constituencies without question brings me to the next issue: Just how politically suave are these sisters? From my interactions with some of the candidates, especially those in Bulawayo, it became apparent that the majority were politically naive. They assumed that since their parties had reserved constituencies for them, their success at the polls was automatic.

Some of the female candidates did not fully comprehend that campaigning was mostly personal effort and that they had to take the bull by the horns as it were, and reach out to voters without waiting for the party to take the lead. A few were quite content to put off their campaigns and go to help male colleagues canvass. In such scenarios, the irony was that women competed against each other to ensure a man a seat in Parliament.

Campaign resources were scarce for all candidates. Admittedly, the economic meltdown took its toll and the traditional rally-cum-feasts were less, campaign literature was limited and T-shirts were even fewer. Most candidates resorted to door-to-door campaigns to overcome skyrocketing fuel prices. Most male candidates managed to get by and put up visible campaigns drawing on donations from businesspeople.

However, for women, the scenario was very different. Most did not own cars of their own, forcing them to rely on well-wishers for vehicles. A candidate aptly summed up the situation when she said, "While the men I am running against are busy looking for fuel, I have to start by thinking where to get a vehicle to pour the fuel into. So I have decided to just buy my campaign teams matommy (cheap canvass shoes) and get on with the campaign."

Another candidate failed to do much because of fear to approach potential donors. "How do I ask for help from men? I am used to staying at home. I'm nervous to ask for help from businessmen," she confessed. She justified her fears by saying she had had little interaction with businesspeople in the past which was limited to worker/employer exchanges.

One plus factor on the side of the women was the genuine desire to lead and represent their constituencies. Sadly, however most of the candidates had not quite grasped expectations of them.

You heard candidates making all sorts of promises of how they would uplift the welfare of voters. It just was never clear why they needed to go to Parliament to help the poor find food and receive medical care. Many of the candidates men included relied heavily on their political parties to piggyback them to Parliament.

Some of the candidates were women of substance, but they still failed to win. Women like Priscilla Misihayirambwi-Mushonga and Trudy Stevenson immediately come to mind. In their case, I guess they were caught on the wrong side of the political whirlwind. Zimbabweans mired in destitution, hunger, and disease wanted wholesale change and as a result, most voters were looking at what political parties offered rather than individual capabilities.

This is not to take anything away from the winning women. They have what it takes to be politicians. Their winning the polls is proof enough, but it will definitely be a while before most of them learn the ropes and gather sufficient confidence to articulate issues to advance the cause of Zimbabwean women.

More worrying about the results though is the fact that women failed to vote themselves into power. Women at 52 % of the population constitute the majority of voters. Yet we failed to translate this majority into tangible representation among lawmakers.

With the losses still fresh on our minds, now is the time for Zimbabwean women to go back to the drawing board and start strategising for 2013. Otherwise, our voices will get weaker and weaker in Parliament despite singing ourselves hoarse at political rallies.

The thing about women and politics

By Koliwe Nyoni

For me the most provocative aspect of Robert Mugabe’s presidential run-off campaign this time around is the abuse of word empowerment and its simultaneousy use of women -- particularly in adverts that are inserted in mainly the State media.

I am particularly revolted by an advert in support of Robert Mugabe’s ‘empowerment’ policy or stance (whatever you may call it) inserted by a group who I am hearing of for the first time, called the Young Women Movement (YWM). The advert is set on a very femininely pink background, has an image of a fairly middle aged woman (who to me represents the minority class of Zimbabwean women who have managed to maintain such a fair facial skin, albeit sunken eyes) and has a headline that screams, "Enough is enough! Zvakwana! Sokwanele!"

On first sight of the advert, I thought to myself, ‘At last someone has finally found the right words to summarise the pain that we Zimbabwean women have had to go through and maybe sought to encourage us to stand up for something worthwhile'; but alas the advert proceeds to read:

“Women of Zimbabwe, enough is enough, there have been too many lies and demonisation of our country. Zimbabwe has done a lot for us (that is when I began to blink!!!) Age of Majority Act, Equal pay for equal work, Maintenance Act, Domestic Violence Act. Women can and now own land, businesses…" (There I thought, well, Okay!) Then the advert goes on to say…"On 27th June, vote for the consolidation of women’s empowerment.”

I cannot believe that a sincere women’s movement would utter such nonsense! To a Zimbabwean woman, empowerment is not defined by a couple of Acts that are not supported to ensure that the woman is able to benefit from them.

To us empowerment means being able to walk into a supermarket, or stand at the counter of the kiosk at the corner in the township I live in, and being able to buy pads or the basic cotton wool -- and not to be told the price has gone up or that they have run out. Or being able to walk into a pharmacy or local clinic and get contraception of my choice! Empowerment means being able to take good care of my bedridden HIV positive relation at home because I have running water at the house; and not that water becomes so scarce I cringe every time my two year old son requests to use the loo. Empowerment means being able to get equal pay to my male counterpart if I even make it through college. And not this thing of fees being topped up every semester such that I have to ‘fundraise’, because it is obvious that my parents salaries are way below the monthly expenses of my siblings -- and grandparents who by the way are still in the same reserves they were in during the days of Ian Smith (so much for land empowerment). I do not know of a single ‘ordinary’ woman who worked on the Baas Jones farm, who during the land resettlement programme got a portion of the land that she had toiled on for so long. But I do know of a few prominent female ‘liberators’ who went on to take over that land.

Empowerment to us means being able to stand up and speak on issues that affect us and being heard. And not to be shut up in prison when we do -- like Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, the Women of Zimbabwe Arise activists arrested while participating in a demonstration on May 28, 2008. Or being slain in front of our children like Abigail Chiroto, Wife of Harare’s newly elected Mayor, who was abducted and found dead on June 17 for being married to the wrong man. Empowerment means having a roof above my head and not being classified ‘dirt’ (Operation Murambatsvina) in a clean-up campaign that seems more important than that I have a home.

My take on the adverts being placed by YWM is, "Enough is Enough!" We are tired of being used by politicians when they realise they have run short of a political gimmick. And woe to the woman who thinks that she can speak for the women of Zimbabwe, without even consulting them.

The average woman in Zimbabwe stresses throughout the day about how the hell to run a household, raise children and care for the ill in this crazy economy -- not to mention worrying about her family’s safety because of her own or husband’s affiliation. No one has a right to speak on behalf of the Zimbabwean women unless they can stand up and wholly identify themselves with the majority of us angry, stressed, hungry mothers and wives itching for change and true, not theoretical empowerment!