Recently health related NGOs all over the world condemned the decision by the Global Fund to cancel Round 11 Funding and place restriction on Grant renewals.  The implications of this action are far reaching, with Jeffery Sachs, PhD – the director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and special advisor to Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, going so far as to say “it’s game over for the Millennium development Goals’.

Adding his voice to the condemnation of the decision was Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS Free World. His remarks at the 2011 International Conference on Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, December 6, 2011 did not pull any punches:

… if you sense a certain impatience in me, you’re right. We don’t have another day to lose. Peter Piot did the arithmetic yesterday 1,350,000 put on treatment in 2010; 2,700,000 new infections, exactly double the number in treatment in the same year. It works out to 7,397 new infections every day. And it’s 2011, for God’s sake.

But right at the moment when we know, irrefutably, that we can defeat this pandemic, we’re sucker-punched at the Global Fund.

What’s a sucker punch? It’s when a boxer in the ring gets a punch below the belt that he doesn’t see coming. No one expected a complete cancellation of Round Eleven, with new money unavailable for implementation until 2014.

It’s just the latest blow in a long list of betrayals on the part of the donor countries; in this instance the Europeans in particular. I’ve heard from several people that the politics of the Global Fund meeting in Accra two weeks ago, when the decision was made, were not just complicated, but amounted to miserable internecine warfare. Certain governments on the Board of the Global Fund simply discredited themselves. They give a soiled name to the principle of international solidarity [].

The decision on the part of the donor countries is unforgiveable. In a speech a few days ago, I addressed the Global Fund predicament by talking of the moral implications of a decision that you know will result in death on the African continent.

I asked: “Do they regard Africa as a territorial piece of geographic obsolescence? Do they regard Africans themselves as casually expendable? Is it because the women and children of Africa are not comparable in the eyes of western governments to the women and children of Europe and North America? Is it because Africans are black and unacknowledged racism is at play? Is it because a fighter jet is worth so much more than human lives? Is it because defense budgets are more worthy of protection in an economic downturn than millions of human beings?”

Read the full statement here

In April of this year, the Mass Public Opinion Institute conducted 20 Focus Group Discussions in 10 of Zimbabwe’s administrative provinces. The aim of the discussions was to assess public opinion about Zimbabwe’s future. The qualitative data from these discussions was compiled into a report titled ‘Phobia of Elections: Deep fear and Anxiety about Zimbabwe’s future’. Among the key findings of the report were that election induced fear was deep and pervasive in the country and nearly all focus group participants felt that the country was not yet ready for elections in 2011 and felt that Zimbabwe should either wait another two years or wait until a new Constitution was adopted.

In general the study found that the public mood was positive about the social and economic conditions at the time and people were generally optimistic about the future. Most participants in the study felt that life in Zimbabwe had improved because of the increased availability of goods, better employment opportunities and the relative peace as compared to the situation prevailing in 2008.  One man from Midlands province is quoted in the report as saying:

“I think our lives have changed politically speaking though not economically in Zimbabwe at least we are living in peace.”

However, the majority of focus group participants relayed their misgivings with regard to elections. Many were reported to believe that elections would bring a resurgence of politically motivated violence. A woman from Mashonaland West said:

“I am shaken at the mentioning of any election. I think of the brutality against humanity that some experienced during the election campaign…”

Another man from Manicaland Central said: “We know every time we approach elections, some people will move around threatening war if they lose elections.”

Participants who said elections made them fearful were asked to describe how big the problem of fear was in their communities. Some intimated that the problem of fear was so pervasive that they would consider supporting a ban. Others felt that they had to resort such drastic measures as confining  themselves to their homes and stop supporting the political party of their choice to protect themselves.

“You don’t even trust the person that you will be walking with. You don’t have that freedom to discuss certain things that you want to talk about and most of the times you have to be cautious and remain quiet.”

Asked how this situation could be improved in the event of another election, many participants felt that international observers could help to ameliorate the situation. Further, many felt that a new constitution and assurances regarding the security of the general populace would help to restore public confidence.

The New York Times Lede blog reports:

During a protest in Bahrain on Saturday, an American journalist named Matthew Cassel reported on Twitter that he had just witnessed something remarkable:

A short time later, after a photograph and brief video clip of the woman standing her ground in front of a line of police vehicles was uploaded to Twitter, readers of Mr. Cassel’s feed identified her as Zainab Alkhawaja, an activist whose own Angry Arabiya Twitter feed is devoted to documenting the protest movement in Bahrain.

Read the full story here

After a questionable traditional ceremony, a ridiculously high amount paid to Ms Karimatsenga’s family and two weeks (or to use the Herald’s more accurate 12 days) filled with media and public speculation about his marital status, the Prime Minister finally has something to say about it.

We should ask if he was ever married to begin with. The only piece of information that hasn’t been contested is that on ‘Friday 18 November a delegation from the Tsvangirai family went to the Karimatsenga family homestead to perform traditional and cultural rites’. The figures of the damages or roora are disputed. With the Tembo family being quoted as telling the media it was $36 000 and unnamed MDC-T officials lowering it to less than $10 000. Everything following the ceremony is arguable.

From the beginning the Prime Minister and his spokespeople have refused to disclose details of what happened on that fateful day in Christon Bank. The Tembo’s reportedly described Tsvangirai arriving at his in-laws’ home in a convoy with enough ‘groceries to fill a house’. Ms Karimatsenga’s aunt is quoted by New Zimbabwe describing Tsvangirai as a ‘cultured son-in-law’ who ‘removed his shoes as per custom’. She goes on to say:

“Imagine if you were in my position. How would you feel? Who would not want to have a Prime Minister as a son-in-law? There are many Senators and MPs, but there is only one Prime Minister. We consider ourselves very lucky and we are happy for the two.”

In contrast, those in the PMs camp have stridently refused to confirm anything other than a meeting took place between the two families.

In the two weeks that followed, the Tembo’s through the Herald went to town with the story. Various members of Ms Karimatsenga’s family are quoted describing their joy in great detail. The Herald’s uncharacteristic interest in the union is also telling. It is difficult to rationalise that a paper whose hostile editorial stance towards the Prime Minister would take a sudden interest in his marital affairs unless a scandal was involved. And of course a scandal did surface. During the PMs silence, which that paper attributed to his need to end his other affairs with four other aspirant Second First Ladies, the Herald published an article about Ms. Karimatsenga’s main rival in romance, Elizabeth Guma. It appeared that the PM had also promised her he would marry her, with one source even saying:

“When you wrote the first story that Mr Tsvangirai had married, I thought it was all about Elizabeth. She has been in love with him and many people close to her are aware of the relationship.”

Coupled with rumours printed as facts about the state of Ms Karimatsenga’s pregnancy, this story implied that the PM was marrying because she was pregnant.

However, the fact of the pregnancy itself was also cause for media gossip. Some sources state that Ms. Karimatsenga is seven months pregnant with twins, and others refute this, quoting mysterious unnamed senior MDC-T sources who allege that she and her family were using a false pregnancy to trap Zimbabwe’s most eligible widower into marriage.

In the face of such extensive media speculation, the Prime Minister remained strikingly silent on the matter. His official spokesman, Luke Tamborinyika, did not help matters by issuing strange and ambiguous statements. He is variously quoted speaking in riddles, where a simple yes or no would have sufficed. It seems the only people who were trying to avoid this embarrassing incident by being clear in their responses were mysterious ‘unnamed senior MDC-T officials’ whose very existence is questionable.

When finally the PM did decide to make his official position public, his statement is also full of ambiguities. In a statement tellingly titled: “Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai’s position on his reported marriage” Mr. Tsvangirai denies that he was present at the ceremony, yet it is customary for the groom to meet his in-laws after the bride price has been negotiated. His absence seems to indicate that it was not roora that was being paid. Further, the statement makes no reference to an actual marriage taking place, just that there is a ‘relationship’. It is possible that the ceremony was to pay ‘damages’ which also formalises his relationship with the Karimatsenga family as the father to one of their daughter’s children.

In all fairness to the PM, I quite doubt that the affairs of state, such as they are, couldn’t wait for at least a day should he have been married. It is improbable that the Mr. Tsvangirai, a role model to millions of Zimbabwean men, would find the time in his busy schedule to make Ms. Karimatsenga pregnant (with twins!) out of wedlock, but not have time to meet his supposed in-laws. But it is a shame that the PM when faced with the same situation as many young men, has handled it with a lot less grace. Munya Chidzonga faced with the same sort of circumstances left no room for speculation at any point in his relationship with the mother of his son.

So what really happened? Truthfully, it’s none of our business and in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter. But the office of Prime Minister is a public one, and public attention to his private life is something the Prime Minister should be, if not comfortable with, then at least aware of. Despite what he and several media allege are the machinations of ZANU PF in tarnishing his image, the Prime Minister has successfully accomplished this himself. Ours is a society that expects powerful men to have at least a wife, a girlfriend and a little something on the side. Therefore, he could not have been publicly humiliated for sowing his wild, if aged, oats about the savannah.  But love in the time of HIV/AIDS, especially as a public official, is a difficult thing. Who will take him seriously when he endorses the ABCs of safer sex when it is clear he does not practice it?  And what kind of man leaves the future mother of his child and possible bride to defend herself against the wolves when he has full knowledge of what they are capable of?  That he did not clarify his position with regard to the traditional ceremony or his relationship with Ms. Karimatsenga a lot sooner is very telling of his character as a man.

GALZ and Katswe Sisterhood will be hosting a photo exhibition at the Alliance Francaise on the 1st to the 2nd of December. Tinzwei is a photo voice initiative carried out by a diverse group of Harare women aged 19 to 43 sharing the experiences of their struggles and successes.