Kubatana.net ~ an online community of Zimbabwean activists

Archive for the 'Governance' Category

A death blow for the youth vote in Zimbabwe?

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Tuesday, July 31st, 2012 by Marko Phiri

A young man pissed off with his joblessness packed his bags over the weekend to join the rest of his family in the now clichéd but still very painfully true great trek to Jo’burg. Another young graduate of the School of Mines found himself jobless after having tasted the sweet mining dollars for a few months somewhere in Gwanda. He is presently holed up with his old parents somewhere in rural Masvingo contemplating his next move. This young man already has a brother working in Mozambique, I suspect that’s where he is also headed. These two young men whose demographic is considered by some pundits as the largest voting bloc in the country is expected to vote in droves in the coming polls. As some parties cry out for the Diaspora vote, it is a rather harsh reality that these parties either choose to ignore or simply have no clue how to address the issue that some potential voters are actually leaving the country. Talk about life’s painful choices: stick around and fix this joblessness through the ballot and still have to contend with the present hunger pangs. Tough choices, hey, and the usual suspects will add, a tough call for patriotism.

Fixing Zimbabwe

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Friday, July 27th, 2012 by Bev Clark

Members of the Kubatana community continue to put up fix this.please stickers All Over The Place.

Wedza South District, Mashonaland East
Mhare Brdige: Was swept almost two years ago and is now a death trap to both motorists and school children.
Mt St Mary’s Hospital Mortuary: Not functioning for a long time due to erratic power supply.
Dendenyore-Matsvai Road: DDF and Wedza RDC have neglected this road for a long time to the extent that villagers are making frantic efforts with little resources to maintain it.

No! To a curfew on women in Zimbabwe

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Friday, July 27th, 2012 by Zanele Manhenga

I think we are really regressing as a nation sometimes, what’s with men lobbying for women to be indoors by six o’clock? We cannot go back to the medieval era when women like children were meant to be seen only and not heard. Giving women a curfew is meant to alleviate prostitution they say. Bakers Inn will cease to bake bread the day the bread does not have consumers. The same way prostitution will end when men stop consuming the female product. If this is passed as a law it is going to be disastrous for women like me whose industry strives at night. I am a musician and performer who will be jobless. What other option of work will I have for a job? If the majority of women whom I know work long hours in offices have to be home by six and have no husbands or any other help to make ends meet, how will they survive? Can you imagine the bulk of women jobless wanting to put food on the table for their children and other persons under their care? Women often have more people to take care of than men do, imagine the pressure that this woman will have? If she is not going to be a commercial sex worker she is going to prostitute to her husband, boyfriend, lover or any other man in her life in the comfort of her house and not on the street corner. Prostitution by my definition is having sex in exchange for money or up keep. Putting a curfew on women will not stop prostitution. Instead it will make it rise. Prostitution is not going to be alleviated by this but is going to come to our homes as our mothers, sisters and all the female relations will sleep with men in their lives just to make him happy in hope he will leave a dollar for bread. Need I remind men out there that prostitution knows no time of the day? There are other ways prostitution can be alleviated. I don’t see how imposing a curfew on women will help.

The death penalty is revenge and not justice

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Friday, July 27th, 2012 by Elizabeth Nyamuda

Whose right is it to kill?

Many countries in the world have abolished the death penalty but in Zimbabwe it is still in existence. Zimbabwe is crafting a new constitution and COPAC has submitted a Second Draft Constitution and if it passes will undergo a referendum. In this draft the death penalty is abolished – but only for women. This has led to many human rights organisation calling for an absolute abolition of the death penalty. The Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO) an organisation committed to advocating for justice in prisons of Zimbabwe is amongst these organisations.

In Zimbabwe there are 71 people on the death row and three of them are women with the last execution being carried out in 2005. Elisha Chidombwe of ZACRO indicated that on each of their visits to Harare Central Prison they visit a guy who has served 15 years waiting for a resolution. Sadly he mentioned that many people facing the death penalty die before their penalty day because of isolation and the fear of death itself.

ZACRA believes that the death penalty is revenge and not justice. The organisation opts for the provision of correctional activities in prisons for those who would have committed offenses that carry the death penalty. The organisation is currently circulating a petition to present to Parliament to abolish the death penalty. They are hoping to get 2 million signatures.

If you want to put an end to the death penalty in Zimbabwe, contact ZACRO and make your signature count as your voice!

Anti-political violence rhetoric

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Friday, July 27th, 2012 by Marko Phiri

So much about what appears to be glib public statements on zero tolerance to political violence: “An election is coming. Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a since interest in prolonging lives of poultry.” George Eliot, 1866

Zimbabwe’s draft constitution

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Wednesday, July 25th, 2012 by Bev Clark

Read Takura Zhangazha’s view on the constitution making process here