Zimbabwe Women’s Voices

Moreblessing Mbire

Rural women in Zimbabwe contribute immensely to the economic development of the country through agrarian development both at subsistence and commercial levels. Women make up the largest proportion of farm laborers and their role in utilizing land through crop production, livestock care for the sustenance of families can not be undervalued.

Last week’s National Constitutional Conference on Women’s Access and Control of Land and other Natural resources was a crucial event as the majority of rural women in Zimbabwe (86%) depend on land for their livelihoods. Women from different parts of the country converged in Harare to review the current status and challenges faced by women in land ownership, access and control in Zimbabwe. The Conference agreed that Section 23 of the current Constitution needs to be repealed as it permits discriminatory customary laws that limit women’s ownership, access to and control of land. It was also agreed that The Rural Land Act and the Agricultural Land Settlement Act must be amended to provide clear, non-discriminatory criteria for the allocation of resettlement land.

It is disappointing to note that women continue to have limited access to and control over land, a key productive resource for women’s empowerment. Despite their contribution to food security for the nation, women own fewer productive assets than their male counterparts. As noted by the Ministry of Lands and Rural Resettlement during the conference, the majority of women with access to land do so through marriage. In communal areas, women do not own land in their own right but through their husbands. As a result of this limited ownership of land, women derive fewer benefits from proceeds of their labor and have no decision-making power in the household. In most instances, cheques for farm produce sales that are in the name of male landholders have been spent without the spouse’s involvement.

Patriarchy plays a huge role in undermining women’s rights to land and other natural resources. Men dominate land redistribution structures like land commission and committees and tend to allocate land to fellow men during land distribution exercises. There is need to revisit the key procedures in land allocation to ensure non discrimination of women.

Our stance as ZWRCN is that, if Zimbabwe is to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), in particular, Goal 1, to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, women’s rights to land should be prioritized. As an agro based economy, there is need to ensure equity between women and men in the allocation of productive resources. Government’s commitment should go beyond simply putting policies but monitoring how women’s ownership and control of land and other natural resources is taking place on the ground.

Women’s organizations are doing their best in as far as involvement in the Constitution Making Process is concerned. On Tuesday 4 August 2009, the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) organized a Breakfast Meeting for women’s organisations and Parliamentary Select Committee (a body responsible for spearheading the Constitutional Making Process). The purpose of this meeting was to get an update on processes that have taken place to date.

Highlights:

•The co - chairperson Honourable D. Mwonzora informed the meeting that the Select Committee could not set up thematic committees by initial deadline of 31/07/09 due to challenges beyond the committee`s control. The committees will now be announced by Friday 07/08/09.

•A total of 17 committees with a membership of 25 will be set up. Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) will be represented in all the thematic areas

•Appointment to the thematic areas is not just by numbers but on merit.

•860 people will carry out the outreach, and of these 70% (602) will be from CSOs

Women’s Coalition made a presentation on issues that women need included in the new constitution:

• access and ownership to communal land
• guardianship of children
• legalizing abortion
• removal of customary barriers eg Section 23 of the current constitution
• right to health, education, housing

In addition to these issues WCoZ demanded for:
• the protection of women in a country that is polarized - party politics
• recognition of groups with special interests particularly the disabled
• concessionary fees for radio and TV productions during this period
The select committee appealed to Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe and other women’s organisations to scale up awareness activities in rural communities.

Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe
July, 2009

The lack of adequate information, non-timely registration of delegates, lack of clear programme right up to mid-morning on the 13th and the chaos ensuing during the proceedings are pointing to a compromised consultative process.

WCoZ believes that actions leading to the final draft constitution, where every voice should count, are as fundamentally important as the final product; if this is compromised then the final product shall not have captured the views and concerns of the people. Women constitute more than half of Zimbabwe’s population, and if measures are taken to proscribe our voices, and the issues at the centre of women’s concerns are not captured, then the final constitution is not representative.

To us ‘consulting stakeholders’ implies a number of things. Chief amongst them is access to information that allows for a lively and engaging participation by all. Secondly, a conducive and respectful environment where all ideas are valued and equal space is given for every voice in the country is essential. Thirdly, an open and transparent agenda which all stakeholders are aware of and can engage with is also critical. We believe the current National Stakeholders Conference falls far short of these basic tenets of effective participation by the people, and is increasingly being mired in confusion.

WCoZ therefore calls on the relevant authorities, in particular the Parliamentary Select Committee which has the mandate to drive this process, to effectively manage the consultative process towards the making of a new constitution in a mature, open, transparent and accountable manner. In particular, the rights of women must not be marginalised and this includes the right to equally participate in a meaningful way. It is the right of every woman in Zimbabwe to demand that the constitution reflect her needs, and equally it is her right to reject it if it does not. After all, the Global Political Agreement provides for a people driven constitutional process, and women being the majority of the people, are demanding their right to participate meaningfully.

We also urge the Parliamentary Select Committee to engage in conflict resolution and conflict management strategies during the consultation process. There is still political polarisation and unresolved issues of political violence that require a comprehensive national healing process. These tensions and conflicts will oftentimes bubble over during the constitutional consultations and there is need for the Parliamentary Select Committee and its organs to have proper conflict resolution and conflict skills. At the same time the Organ on National Healing should also be working earnestly to bring about truth, justice, restitution and reconciliation in Zimbabwe.

Posted by: Godfrey Macheso

“Determination is stopping at nothing and doing what in your heart you know is right”- Unknown

Zimbabweans are getting prepared for an opportunity of a lifetime, coming rarely in decades, the crafting of a new Constitution. There are issues surrounding the whole issue that I have decided to pencil on. This is the best time for Zimbabweans to turn on the heat and force the Government to deliver their needs in as much as the law is concerned.

The Select Committee has been holding consultative meetings with stakeholders in various provinces of the country for the past few days. The outcome has been publicized in both the electronic and print media which is still under the reins of Zanu Pf hardliners. It may be worth saying something about how biased the media has been over the past few months with regard to the Government of National Unity (GNU), MDC-T and the Constitution reform process. Sensitivity to the GNU seems to be lacking in both media powerhouses, the Herald and ZTV as they are at all costs going back to their trend of being campaign mechanisms for Zanu Pf. Last Thursday saw the clip for the President taking half the hour mark of the 8 o’clock news bulletin. It is also in one of the clips that the Kariba Draft was imposed as the “base” for the Constitutional reform process that propelled me to have a say on the ongoing process.

As he claims and says in referring the matter to Article IV of the GPA, there is no phrase indicating that the Kariba Draft should be the base of the whole process. It only acknowledges its presence and that is not as the final document that can be used for the Reform process. Further to that, it states that “it is the fundamental right and duty of the Zimbabwean people to make a Constitution by themselves and for themselves.” What it implies here is that the people being referred to are the citizens of Zimbabwe, and citizens of Zimbabwe include those inside and outside Government. The Zanu Pf party must not take the process as a party issue and impose it on the people of whom some feel the constitution is a chance for them to air their views on what they want the Constitution to be.

Article IV further on goes to say “…the process of making this constitution must be owned and driven by the people…”, meaning they are the people of Zimbabwe that have the greatest stake in the process and the Government should ONLY be facilitating the process in consolidating the views of the people. In his statement, he said there was nowhere in the world where the Constitution is crafted by the people, rather it was the government which did so and passed the draft to a referendum. Their continued rhetoric on the use of the Kariba draft to me is baseless and does not bear sense when it comes to considering what has been provided for in the GPA.

At a Consultative meeting that was held in Bulawayo recently, one of the chairs for the Select Committee clearly pointed out that there was no one who was going to impose any draft on anybody and this was going to be a people driven process. He mentioned the fact that any draft was going to come from the people and not from any political party and posing a contradiction to his boss. One thing I have been thinking on for so long a time is that the Kariba Draft was done by the three political parties and not the people at large. What they were trying to create was an environment for the smooth running of the elections in 2008 which the MDC won on the first round but below the mark for total majority votes.

In the event that the Kariba Draft is imposed, then it also means the women of the land do not air their views in the whole process. Just recently, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development held a meeting in which they were trying to table the needs of women in the new constitution. The proceedings went well with Hon. D. Mwonzora clearly explaining the constitutional reform process. It however, came as a shock that as planned, the women failed to march and present their position paper to Parliament on the following day. The major reason forwarded for that was there was no police clearance for the procession.

The people should be determined and never be stopped by anything save for knowing what is their fundamental right and duty. The people must refuse to have a draft imposed on them. The people must write their own constitution since it is for the people therefore it must be by the people. The people must make use of this opportunity for it comes once in a lifetime and is of paramount importance as it determines their own future. This is what the law really states and nothing should stop the people from doing so. 

Today being 24 June is the day for the Harare Provincial Consultative meeting for the Constitutional Reform process. The question is have we taken time to make our voices heard as the women of Zimbabwe? This new dispensation is indeed an opportunity for women to work towards ensuring our political and socio-economic rights are guaranteed in the constitution. As Honourable D. Mwonzora (Co-Chair of Parliamentary Select Committee) said at the recently held Women’s  Consultative Conference on 19 June convened by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, Gender and Community Development , rights are not asked for but are demanded, neither can they be given but are taken. It is time for women to work together and ensure that our issues are not left out.

Given the gender imbalances in the Zimbabwean society, the majority of female citizens are housewives, market traders, rural peasant farmers, rural farm/ house workers who are in no position to access the internet. All these voices need to be involved as well. It is critical to ask ourselves what we as women in our personal capacities, are doing to empower other women? Are we making that extra effort to share information with other people who do not have access to information communication technologies? Surely, realization of women’s rights takes greater involvement and commitment on us the women.

Posted By: Catherine Makoni

At its most basic, the term Constitution refers to a system of government. It sets out rules and procedures for governing as well as the powers and duties of government. The Constitution determines the relationship between the State and its people and confers rights on the people of a particular political territory. So why should women in Zimbabwe be concerned with what’s going on with the Constitutional Reform process currently under way?

It’s simple. The Constitution “is the supreme law of Zimbabwe and if any other law is inconsistent with this Constitution that other law shall be void.”  It is that big a deal. The Constitution therefore has the potential to govern every aspect of women’s lives whether we like it or not. From whether we have a right to be citizens of Zimbabwe, to whether the children that we give birth to have the right to be citizens of Zimbabwe among a host of other things.

I have a problem with the way we as women and women’s NGOs in Zimbabwe have looked at Constitutional issues. There has been a tendency to confine our analysis of the Constitution to section 23 of the Bill of Rights. We have argued (with some reason), that it is in matters of personal law that women are most impacted. That may have been true of the past but l doubt it remains entirely true of the present. I am quite positive that that will not be true of the future. A constitution is supposed to be a living document. One that encapsulates a people’s hopes, aspirations and ideals. If that is true, then our obsession with section 23 has to stop. It is self limiting, myopic and self defeating.

Self limiting because our obsession with section 23 reflects our limited experiences and capacities (working with women who are abused, women who are getting divorced and women and girls whose husbands and father have died and now have to contend with inheritance disputes.) But that is just a fraction of the lived realities of women. We have professional women. We have powerful career women in industry and commerce. Powerful women in business. Skilled and competent farmers. Dedicated and exceptional home makers and home executives. Eloquent and fearless women in politics. Does the section which deals with women’s rights in matters of personal law speak to the aspirations of all these women? I do not think so.

I have often listened with disbelief as some women in the movement have blithely dismissed civil and political rights, stating that the constitution disregards women’s concerns because it only deals with civil and political rights and yet a lot of women are located in the personal arena. Really? Are women not political animals? Isn’t there a slogan that says somewhere “the personal is political”? Isn’t the political also personal? If you get raped because your husband is the local organiser of political party X, isn’t that personal AND political? If you get abducted in the middle of the night leaving your children without a mother isn’t that personal and political? I have been left dumbfounded by some organisations which in the past sad year have claimed that they will only assist women who are victims of gender based violence and not women who are victims of political violence! That is how self defeating we have become! We should be wary of propagating false dichotomies. What happened to the notion that human rights are indivisible?

This is not meant to be a diatribe against the women’s movement to which l belong. It is meant to be a wake up call to women and their organisations. We have to deepen our understanding of issues. We have to strengthen our capacities and broaden our knowledge. Let us go beyond the usual suspects who regularly populate our workshops.

Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) is pleased to announce the launch of its blog platform, Zimbabwe Women’s Voices.

This is aimed at providing Zimbabwean women, local and abroad, a ‘space’ to voice their perspectives on the constitutional reform process between now and November 2009 when the public consultations are scheduled to be completed.

ZWRCN invites all its network partners to this forum and welcomes any comments.

We look forward your active contributions to the Zimbabwe Women’s Voices Blog.