So, in order to make sure the teachers don’t strike and stop coming to work- parents of pupils at a primary school in Marlborough have been literally gypped into agreeing to fork out $100 million per child every Monday to cater for the teachers’ transport, and $400 million every Thursday for stationery.

I can understand the $100 million per child contribution towards the teachers’ transport but $400 million every week for stationery? Maybe its just me but, in class typical class of say, 35 children, multiply that by 400, just for the teacher’s stationery every week? For me, a teacher’s stationery constitutes chalk, markers, pens and probably a few notebooks, and those cost 14 billion every week? Man.

As we head towards the run- off, I sincerely hope the ‘government’ will once more consider teachers among the list of potential recipients of the huge payouts that they traditionally dole out towards elections. Most parents just cannot bear the costs and really, most parents who have no choice don’t know where to lodge their complaints in this regard. Already they are forking out so much as school fees. This is daylight robbery and the NIPC or the Ministry ought to do something about this. What is most nauseating about the whole thing is the business of holding the children’s education to ransom in order to cow the parents into submitting to impossible, unnecessary and egoistic demands.

Speaking of pupils, a colleague in our office was just pointing out how it must be for the maths pupils whose textbooks still carry stories and mathematical problems in cents. Picture them trying to solve a problem where James and John have twenty cents between them and how much each one gets in a country where coins no longer exist and cent has been replaced by billion. One can just imagine a young pupil asking, “What’s a cent?”

Going over my son’s homework with him on the weekend, I realised that this Zimbabwean economy is affecting and confusing these children in primary schools.

Their mathematics textbooks rely on $ and c – that is dollars and cents. For an example 7c was shared amongst 7 pupils and each got one cent. Correct! Now, the reality is the teacher has to start explaining to the class what a cent is, before he/she is being asked that question. A 45 minute lesson will last an hour, trying to make some sense of cents in the face of these millions and billions.

The Ministry of Education should do something about this subject which is now proving to be difficult to teach, otherwise teachers will have to ignore cents and say million or billion or (mita and bidza) as is common with even pre-school kids these days. Whatever we are doing in this present Zimbabwe, let’s remember our children in primary school, because this is the foundation of the education system.

The Musasa Project as a follow up to a previous discussion on why educated and economically empowered women stay in abusive marriages last week hosted a discussion on how men manipulate women into blaming themselves for their failed marriages. The dominant themes revolved around issues of lobola (bride-price), socialisation and the question of patriarchy.

Lobola that in principle is supposed to be a token that’s paid to the woman’s parents is now practically viewed as a return on investment. Bride-price is now so exorbitant it often feels like the woman is being sold to the highest bidder. The discussion raised the point that this creates resentment in the marrying husband that may manifest later on in the marriage. For instance the husband may use that against the wife with the excuse that since he paid for her, she has no right to refuse him anything, especially conjugal rights.

Women also largely blamed the way they were and continue to be socialised by society and especially, other womenfolk in the form of aunts and mothers. They are told from early childhood the male is the head, is always rights and that everything they do should be to please the husband. It emerges that women are the primary socialisers as well the gatekeepers of patriarchy. In essence this means women are the main oppressors of other women.

The former is a dimension that goes largely goes unexplored because in a way it is deemed inconceivable, that women themselves are the major culprits. For starters, the word manipulate itself is quite vague and rather broad. I mean, it is hard to imagine how men sit down to plan and strategise how to subordinate their women to such an extent that they end up blaming themselves and not finding any fault with their husbands.

I believe that no one can do to you what you haven’t already done to yourself. It becomes a question of the concept of self, self- esteem and choice. Most women do not want to realise the fact that they have a choice. Most are addicted to approval and will not fulminate against societal expectations that oppress them. Some feel they just have to be married in order to have a sense of self and social standing.

On the issue of lobola, admittedly it has really gone out of hand. These days, anyone who plans to marry starts saving up for the occasion, in US dollars so that by the time they have enough, it will not have been eroded by inflation. If at some point in history a goat or one cow was sufficient to take in a wife, surely parents of today are distorting culture for personal financial gain. This is only counterproductive in the sense that it is their daughter who ends up taking the heat. In this one instance, I think the NIPC becomes a valid entity. If lobola issues are what cause disharmony later on in some marriages, then I think price regulations in this regard are well worth exploring, maybe under the domestic violence act.

At the end of it all, if we really cared about our women, it becomes important to desocialise ourselves of a whole lot of norms and societal expectations that play a subtle yet crucial role in later oppressing them in their married lives. There is need to instil new family values among which boy and girl children are seen and treated as equals, even if it starts with having boys also scrubbing floors and dishes. I believe this goes a long way in inculcating a sense of appreciation and respect of what women stand for on the part of men. I believe that a young man who grows up seeing his sister being the cook and the cleaner while he sits will at a later stage view his wife in the same way. He will not be moved to help or at least appreciate the tiring work she does simply because he was socialised to believe that’s the way its supposed to be, and this is one of the major problems faced in marriage.

I believe it is crucial to desocialise the husband-wife relationship from being a master- servant one to that one of friendship. Friends respect and treat each other as equals.

It is also crucial for society to recognise and respect women who have left failed marriages to stand on their own, not to treat them as outcasts while pinning various derogatory epithets on them for making such bold moves. They have already paid the price to be different.

Above all, it is important for women themselves to learn to feel for each other, instead of encouraging each other to hold on where things are obviously not working. They need to realise that their happiness is important too and that they have a right, as well as a choice to enjoy bodily integrity. Instead of blaming the men for manipulating them, it may do some good to do a little self-criticism because it is they that allow them to get away with it. If at all it is the case that men do somehow manipulate women, the fact that the women themselves realise this should spur them into action that will stop any further manipulation.

I’ll admit I went to see Sandra Ndebele’s show at HIFA because the description included: This show contains some nudity. My interest was not nudity (tho I don’t mind seeing naked male or female bodies, particularly if artful and/or exuding pride). More I was thinking my interest was the crowd – who was there, as well as how they reacted. There were lots of men. Lots of cell phones taking pictures. Heads shaking. Laughing. Sure, the show spurred controversy, as I understand is often the case with Sandra Ndebele. Some feel she uses nudity and sexual appeal as a marketing gimmick. That she’s using shock value to seek attention which may result in further objectifying women. She disputes this, saying quite the opposite. As the program indicates, her intent is to “revitalise and preserve cultural traditions and empower young African women through culture.”

In this case, controversy seems a good thing, gives pause for thought. Early on in the show, my interests shifted from the crowd to the importance of understanding the details of women’s lives in the past. Not women’s lives only as mothers or wives, but the ways women shared and passed down knowledge within their communities. Women’s lives in and of themselves were dynamic, full of emotion and intelligence as well as love and support for each other. Thinking along these lines made me more fully realise that the show may have contained nudity, but the content of the show was not nudity. Rather, the content – a nice blend of seriousness and humour – is a story with multiple messages.

I see no reason to provide a summary of the story. Instead, I’d say the story conveys and advocates in ways beyond restating the plot. The story is about recapturing history; rather I should say herstory. To look back in time and see as well as celebrate that the herstory of women is not one of oppression only. This is not to say oppression didn’t exist in the past. But, women of yesteryear were vibrant. And brave. Sandra Ndebele seems particularly interested in capturing the vibrancy of the clothes women wore; that these clothes had meanings and were symbols of prestige, even power. Herein lies the present day controversy: The clothes. Sexy gimmick? Or something far more insightful? I say more power to Sandra Ndebele and the 20 women in the show. What they did is proudly present both a call and an avenue to better understand not only histories, but also herstories.

I’ve had the lyrics of a typically heavy and raucous Rage Against the Machine song in my head – Take the Power Back.

The rage is relentless
We need a movement with a quickness
You are the witness of change
And to counteract
We gotta take the power back
Yeah, we gotta take the power back

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has extended until 31 July the date by when the Presidential run off must be held. However, given the timings of other outstanding by-elections, it is anticipated that they could be announcing the date of the runoff soon – and that it might well be in late June.

Regardless of the date of the runoff, it will be just one more stolen election unless we figure out how to stop election fraud and thieving. While the MDC is planning its runoff campaign, it should also be planning its take power campaign – how does it not just declare victory, but convert that election victory into taking power.

As Zimbabweans, we also have to start taking our power – from the politicians and unelected ministers and military authorities who are running the country instead of the democratically elected parliament.

A subscriber recently sent us this suggestion for a symbolic action people could do to stand up for ourselves and reclaim our power – and our country.

I suggest that people start being proud of the Zimbabwean flag, I bought five small flags in the form of a brooch for myself and my friends. I am wearing it everyday. The ZANU PF politicians monopolise the flag and other national symbols. Lets have the flags on our desks and be proud of OUR COUNTRY Zimbabwe.

A Stand Up (for) Zimbabwe Campaign has been formed, and is calling for an International Day of Action on 25 May. They are encouraging people to hold local actions to show solidarity for those affected by post-election violence.

It is envisaged that on this day there would, for example, be protests and assemblies outside offices of the Zimbabwean government, like embassies; outside offices of SADC, the AU and the UN calling for stronger action; outside offices of those individual governments which have roles to play in resolving the crisis (specifically southern African governments). All such protests and assemblies might be marked, for example, by a few minutes silence in which all those assembled stand in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe. But the campaign can also be carried out through other activities: through asking congregations assembled at places of worship to rise and stand in solidarity with those beaten, tortured and killed in the post-election violence in Zimbabwe; by asking those gathered to watch sporting events to do the same.

Find out more about how to make sure your local action is part of this campaign here

Email us your ideas taking our power back to info [at] kubatana [dot] org [dot] zw or SMS +263 912 452 201

Tapiwa, Tairos, Gomwe and Bright. Moses and Tatenda. Shamva, Chiweshe, Chipinge, Uzumba, Dzivarasekwa, Warren Park, Mudzi, Masvingo.

The names, places, pictures and stories of post-election murder and violence have been swirling in my head.

A few weeks ago, the domestic worker at the house where I rent told me his 15 year old nephew had been among those assaulted in Rusape. The perpetrators broke both his arms and gouged out his eye.

And then there’s Tondi. CHRA and MDC activist Tonderai Ndira, who has been arrested 35 times – and tortured in custody on many of those occasions – was abducted from his home in the middle of the night and has not been located for days.

Then yesterday, I learnt about Better Chokururama, whom I’ve known since 2002. In February and March, he could often be spotted in an MDC campaign vehicle plastered with posters, Chinja jingles blaring loud, confident, exuberant, and full of promise.

Three weeks ago, he was beaten so badly he was on crutches. Earlier this week, he was abducted, shot, stabbed, and left for dead on the side of the road.

Lately I find I’m spending a lot of time with my heart in my mouth and my head in my hands. Trying to hold my brain in. Trying to make sense of the brutality.

But, of course, it is completely and utterly senseless.

I’m reminded of the words of a woman who has spent much of the past weeks working directly with victims of this violence:

Yesterday I was physically ill having presented a briefing on the post election political violence. Over the past ten years I have seen the results of, and personally witnessed, a lot of brutality. However, the events of the past five weeks have left me shell-shocked. The calculated, evil state sponsored and perpetrated violence against, and beating to death, anyone construed to be opposition, as well as MDC office bearers is to say the least barbaric. A doctor friend who is involved in human rights abuses almost 24/7, told me yesterday that she was felt the same. We are living in a dark tunnel that is close to overwhelming those closely involved with the tragedy unfolding in our beloved Zimbabwe.

I hear people asking how someone could so lose touch with their humanity they could beat another person to death. But I look around Zimbabwe – and I think about our contemporary and historic parallels of violence and brutality – and I’m questioning instead how any of us manages to hold on to our humanity in the face of atrocity, and wondering how to stop this violence peacefully and put some sense of sanity back into things.