There hasn’t been any water at our office block since Wednesday last week, and the toilets are beyond disgusting.

On Friday, the building manager organised for a bowser of water to come, and everyone filled up as many tanks, drums, bins and buckets as we could find.

For a few days, things were clean and hygienic again, but now that water has run out and the situation is worse than before.

Now, we’re being asked to bring in water from home – not just for office use, but to donate for the toilets which are shared across all tenants. This is because the bowser contacts the building manager has been phoning are too busy to come and deliver.

In other words, all over Harare, water is so scarce that so many companies are placing so many orders for water deliveries that the water companies can’t keep up. This is without even getting into the bigger question of where these water companies get their water from (sometimes residential boreholes and by pumping directly out of city rivers and streams). In the rural areas, the problem is even worse.

September has only just begun, and it’s another two months until the rains start to recharge the city boreholes and water table.

If water is already scarce, how will offices and high density areas in particular weather the water crisis that will only worsen?

Women are considered to win every argument especially in relationships because they raise their voice the loudest. Personally, at the back of mind right now I can hear the echoes of my voice of my last argument. This is one characteristic that I associate WOZA with. To me they strike me as women who will surely raise their voice. The kind of Zimbabwe that we now live in leaves no room for smooth talk, one has got to be aggressive and speak loud to be heard. I remember last year when WOZA took to the streets in a demonstration against ZESA. The women were chanting “Tinoda magetsi” (We need electricity). Everyone was so fed up with ZESA and we still are but it took the guts and bravery of WOZA to march outside ZESA’s office along Samora Machel Avenue in Harare. There has been a lot of other strikes and demonstrations by WOZA but yesterday’s demonstration is among one of the major highlights in the constitution making process in Zimbabwe.

As we are aware, COPAC produced a second draft constitution, which had been approved by all parties. Soon after its release Zanu PF’s politburo made a u-turn and made amendments to the draft constitution. The MDC stood by the second draft constitution and the party launched a ‘Yes’ campaign for the draft constitution. But back to WOZA, the brave women demonstrated yesterday outside the Parliament of Zimbabwe, to remind Zanu PF and MDC that they have gone several steps ahead of the COPAC constitution making process itself. This is so in the sense that Zanu PF has made amendments to the second draft released by COPAC and MDC is close to launching a Yes Campaign. Initially, COPAC had planned that when a second draft constitution was released, an All Stakeholders Conference was to be held to discuss the draft constitution and the way forward would be mapped from the outcome of the conference. Meaning if Zanu PF had amendments to make they had to table them during the conference and the MDC voting for or against the constitution should be made after the conference.

During this demonstration WOZA reminded the political parties that neither of them owns the constitution. The constitution is made by the people and it’s for the people. It should not in any way favour a political party but should always be found abiding by the interests of the citizens.

Last week I attended yet another ‘constitution meeting’ – this time organized by the Women in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU) to discuss the place and voice of women in the ongoing constitutional debate. I say yet another because this is easily the fifth or sixth I have attended of such nature in the past month. The meetings always fascinate me one way or the other, but the WIPSU one took the cup for two reasons.

First, a large group of women suddenly and disrespectfully stood up and marched out of the venue right smack in the middle of one of the esteemed panelists’ opening remarks. Their marching out process was so fluid, so mechanical and in your face that there was a hush momentarily as people tried and failed to comprehend what was going on. We were soon to find out that the people who had marched out had done so in protest of failure – apparently – on the part of the organizers to officially acknowledge Beitbridge Senator, Tambudzani Mohadi. Aptly dubbed by some in the meeting as ‘Mohadi’s people’, the Zanu PF supporters made it clear that they had been extremely slighted by the botched protocol to the point of actually ditching a meeting that was critical for them to participate in not as party minions, but as women in solidarity with others.

But if you really think about it, how many ordinary people in Zimbabwe actually know the names and faces of ten public officials? Not necessarily suggesting that the WIPSU representatives probably just did not recognize Senator Mohadi, but it is a possibility. However for her to actually storm out even after the usual ‘all protocol observed’ announcement was a tad childish and an unwarranted display of self-importance. I remember back in 2005 when I was as a cub reporter attending an event where security detail at the then Sheraton Hotel failed to recognize Minister Sekai Holland and demanded that she register her name like all other mortals. Of course, Holland was offended but simply informed them that her minions would do that for her, and the message was received loud and clear. I recall that even I didn’t know what she looked like till that day.

Secondly, I found it very interesting that one of the panelists, Hon. Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga chose to deliberately mislead all the women in the room into believing that the current squabbles and draft disagreements between political parties were “at least not touching or affecting women’s issues”. Really? It really got me thinking of the one previous meeting I also attended where the Copac comedians clashed in a heated discussion to a point where Hon. Paul Mangwana lied through his many teeth to an audience of over 300 people, that he did not in actual fact sign the Copac draft, but only appended his initials. Signing and initialing: big difference. Fortunately, I had had the privilege of seeing the Copac draft and could not believe that the man could lie about something so easily verifiable. But then again, I know someone who believes and maintains that Zimbabwe is a nation of super-literate people who just don’t read stuff. Perhaps that’s the thinking Mangwana tried to harp on.

Anyway, back to the constitution draft squabbles not ‘touching’ women’s issues; I think this was the biggest understatement of the day. The most fundamental issues that Zanu PF wants amended are the very ones that to a significant extent affect mainly women. Issues to do with citizenship, devolution and electoral systems among others, are ones close to women’s hearts and lives. It also does not help any to make vague references to ‘women’s issues’ without assessing how the larger context affects the realization of those same issues.

What are women’s issues anyway? Because as a woman, I believe that if Zanu PF is trying to scuttle progress by removing clauses on devolution; removing the clause on the establishment of a peace and reconciliation commission; removing provisions of an independent constitutional court; restoring a wide range of unlimited executive presidential powers including appointments of the judiciary; reintroducing a compulsory national youth service – those are the very issues that affect me and my kin directly. So, which issues was Misihairambwi referring to? I certainly do not take any comfort in being informed that at least 70 percent of ‘our issues’ as women are covered and remain untouched if they do not include positive clauses on the above. I am particularly concerned that we are being encouraged to celebrate the 70% percent victory partially with the reasoning that after all, women can always challenge or advocate the other 30% through the proposed constitutional court. Somehow, people seem to conveniently forget that the subject of an independent constitutional court is one of the issues Zanu PF wants scrapped too from the draft. Nonnegotiable.

Nonetheless with all its shortcomings, the COPAC draft is still worth voting for because it reads like a much better devil and is a significant step towards the democratization agenda. It is just unfortunate though that because of the latest ‘deadlock’, the majority of women have actually not seen or read the draft constitution. They will vote whichever way without having clarity of what the actual content of the document entails for their future.

In the Zimbabwe women’s movement I have observed three kinds of people; there are those who know what’s really going down but choose to misinform people on technical issues while trying to push own political agendas by playing on the ignorance of the populace. There are those who know squat and sit there clueless like puppets just waiting to be instructed to make either a yes or no vote just because they foolishly answer to being referred to as somebody’s people. Then there are those who genuinely know stuff, want to impart knowledge as best as they can but whose efforts are undermined and frustrated by extenuating political circumstances. I look forward to a day the women’s movement actually operates as such and not as fragmented sections caught up in politicking at the expense of people’s welfare. This is the movement’s Achilles heel.

For the second time today – and easily the sixth time in two weeks – I saw my new pet peeve: A “Police ATM” (Read road block where police hussle combi drivers and other motorists out of money for “spot fines”) within about 100 metres of a set of non-working traffic lights.

Now, neither of these things, the police road blocks or the out of order robots, are new or unusual occurrences in Harare. But what irks me is the proximity of the police to an obvious, present problem needing their intervention, which they are not acting on. Anyone who’s driven in Harare knows how frequently accidents happen at intersections where the robots are out of order. Particularly during the morning and afternoon commute, motorists back up, get frustrated and then try and barge their way through oncoming traffic – and regularly end up in accidents. Pedestrians trying to work their way across these intersections, including school children, face even more problems.

The helpful presence of a police officer or two directing traffic, signaling to motorists when to stop and when to turn, effectively acting as a human traffic light in the absence of a working automated one, could do a lot to ease tensions, prevent accidents, and make our roads safer. But instead of policing these intersections to help traffic flow smoothly and safely, the police literally turn their back on these accident traps, preferring to persist in the task which can get them more money in fines and bribes.

This year numerous government officials have spoken out against corruption, promising that graft is being fought at every level in the police force. If this is the case, the police should prioritise the public safety elements of their work – particularly in cases where there is such a glaring, obvious need for their helpful involvement – instead of blatantly looking for bribes.

As an aging Mandela lies recovering from hernia surgery back in Zimbabwe the fight for who is like Mandela is on between President Mugabe and Prime Minister Tsvangirai. Just when the political parties they lead are scuffling over who is popular now they have to scuffle over who is more like Mandela. When Tsvangirai visited Australia the PM likened him to Mandela. And when Lesotho’s PM visited Zimbabwe, he likened Mugabe to Mandela. Instead of focusing on whom among them is like Mandela they should acknowledge that Mandela is too great to match. He had his own share of struggles and victories. Of course Mugabe and Tsvangiari are also great men in their own right and if they concentrate more on doing what is right for the people then one day future leaders of the world will be likened to them.

Many households in Zimbabwe have made an outcry over never being counted during the 2012 census. From an SMS survey conducted by Kubatana on the 2012 census people did mention they were not counted during this exercise. According to a report on New Zimbabwe this has led to Zimstat calling for a ‘mop-up count’ for all those who were left out.  Zimstat’s population census director, Washington Mapeta is quoted as saying, “We are checking all those reports and for the purposes of making the whole process credible, enumerators will visit areas where people are said to have been left out.” This is in the face of remarks made by the Finance Minister Tendai Biti who declared that the 2012 census was a success. It is important to point out also that the armed forces hijacked the census programme demanding to be included as enumerators.