Yesterday, demonstrators gathered outside the US Embassy to protest sanctions. They got a bit of attention on Twitter, and an article in The Herald, but it doesn’t sound like anyone was arrested. Never mind that actually, according to the US Embassy in Harare, the US “does not maintain sanctions against the people of Zimbabwe or the country of Zimbabwe.”

Meanwhile, last weekend students at Eveline Girls High School in Bulawayo held a peaceful demonstration to protest the lack of electricity at their boarding hostels.  Eight students were taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station and detained for around four hours.

Moral of the story? Demonstrate against non-existent sanctions and you won’t get arrested. But demonstrate against all-too-real failures at the Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) and you will.

WeWasteTime

It happens with democracy – we think we have it but we don’t. Elections – we think we have them but we don’t – proper ones at least. An opposition political party  – we thought that they had ‘it’ but they don’t.

Now we have bus stops (lots of them). And when was the last time you saw a bus?

Right.

Recent statements by the government that they will build new houses for victims of the recently announced government clampdown on illegal structures brings back memories of the 2005 Operation Murambatsvina.

I remember in 2005 when the government of Zimbabwe pulled down “illegal structures” many people were promised decent accommodation under Garikai/Hlalani Khule but were later dumped at Caledonia Farm near Tafara on the outskirts of Harare. Only a handful benefited from Operation Garikai/Hlalani Khule as the allocation process was done on party lines.

From one “Operation” to another seven years on government of Zimbabwe issues another warning to get rid of all illegal structures in urban settlements. After Operation Murambatsvina it was promised that service delivery would improve and sanity would prevail in urban areas but most urban areas still face water shortages, the roads are a disgrace and sewage outbursts are perennial rivers in most high-density areas.

I’m thinking of doing this to a copy of the the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper (and seeing what’s left).

An ad-free issue of Vogue’s US September issue is for sale on Craigslist. Price: USD $4,447,847.53. The magazine comes without any ads. The seller removed all pages with ads and left only articles. Ads on pages that couldn’t be removed are deleted with a black permanent marker.The price of the ad-free Vogue issue is based on the anticipated amount that advertisers paid for the ad space. More

Terms of Reference for Consultancy Service: Impact Assessment of Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA)
Deadline: 22 November 2013 (17:00 UK time)

Womankind Worldwide is an international women’s rights charity working to help women transform their lives in Africa, Asia and Latin America. We partner with women’s rights organisations who are challenging discrimination and violence.

We are tendering for proposals to undertake an Impact Assessment to examine the impact achieved for women and girls by our local partner the Zimbabwe Women Lawyer’s Association (ZWLA) over a period of 10 years.

The Impact Assessment will examine and provide strong evidence on the impact achieved, i.e. positive, negative, intended and unintended, on direct and indirect beneficiaries, analyse ZWLA’s contributions and identify specific factors that have enabled or disabled positive impact to occur. The Assessment will also review the relevance of our work, assess effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability of ZWLA’s programmatic interventions and organisational development processes and document lessons learnt and best practice.

Please use this link to see the Terms of Reference, which include the application process.

Please send your electronic applications to Mariela Magnelli at: Mariela [at] womankind [dot] org [dot] uk