Linda Masarira responds to President Mnangagwa SONA

8 October 2021

Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD) appreciates the State of the Nation  Address (SONA) by President ED Mnangagwa yesterday. We feel that some issues expressed were over exaggerated and thus we respond on the contentious issues raised by the SONA. 

We applaud the efforts of road rehabilitation by the government and expect the project to be completed by mid 2022 all over Zimbabwe. Considering that Zimbabwe is a landlocked country, we expect commitment by government to prioritize 

Rail rehabilitation and restore NRZ to it's former glory of a fast, efficient and affordable bulk transporter of goods in Zimbabwe. Rail transport  has the capacity to lure the much needed forex if the rail regulations are followed according to the book as was before. Government must desist from appointing political or military people into the rail sector who have no understanding whatsoever about the operations of the once economic giant organization in Zimbabwe.

Expansion of Robert Mugabe International airport and Joshua Nkomo airport is not a priority at the moment. Funds should be injected into the health sector to ensure quality healthcare for all Zimbabweans as enshrined in section 77 of the constitution of Zimbabwe. For a country with nearly a quarter of the population suffering from chronic diseases priority should be allocation of funds to acquire state of the art machinery for public hospitals like CT scans, radiotherapy machines for cancer patients, dialysis machines, etc for all the referral public hospitals in Zimbabwe. Commitment by Government of Zimbawe should be on ensuring affordable quality healthcare in all public health facilities and sufficient stock of drugs and essential medical supplies.

Government has collected AIDS levy for decades yet it has failed to ensure total implementation of the new curriculum of education since inception by introducing an education levy. Instead of expanding airports funds should be used to upgrade schools and investing in quality education of all students regardless of background or class in society. 

Students in rural and Peri urban areas have been disenfranchised of quality education and prejudiced from knowledge of the new world fundamentals nowadays like ICT. The new curriculum of education made ICT a compulsory subject in primary and high school education yet no investment whatsoever has been made by government to ensure that every government school has a well equipped computer laboratory, qualified ICT teachers and Wifi. Teachers have complained time and again about shortage and non availability of the new curriculum text books which is making their work a mammoth task. These are the issues we expected the Honorable President Mr. Mnangagwa to address yesterday as they are issues affecting real people and the future of Zimbabwe. 

Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is good for the country. We reiterate that government should create an enabling environment for Local Direct Investment (LDI). The Ease of doing business should be afforded to local people instead of giving tax exemptions to foreigners who are already milking our country dry. Opportunities for wealth creation should be afforded to native grassroots Zimbabweans first. 

President Mnangagwa stated that FOREX rates are stable and we must equivocally respond that, it was a slap in the face for the majority of Zimbabweans who have to endure exorbitant pricing of basic commodities which are pegged on the black market rate by both retailers and wholesalers in Zimbabwe. The multi currency system has brought immense suffering to the ordinary Zimbabwean who can nolonger transact in local currency because government prefers USD to our local currency, fuel companies prefer to sell fuel in USD other than ZWL, property owners don't want to be paid in local currency, healthcare providers use black market rate for local currency payments, in short every sector is pegging goods and services using the black market rate which means there is no FOREX stability at all. The is the real state of the nation Mr President and we should desist from putting lipstick on a frog.

Early this year we suggested that USD should be not be used for local transactions and as usual our suggestions fell on deaf ears because the government of the day is out of touch with the lived realities of ordinary Zimbabweans. To LEAD Mr President is to care for the livelihoods of the people you are in charge of as the President of this country. 

It has been 8 years since the new constitution was enacted and new, not so new, rather old constitution is not being observed as the supreme law of this land. We honestly can't speak of government being committed to aligning laws with the constitution of Zimbabwe 8 years later. The cabinet, Parliament and Ministry of Justice, Legal and Parliamentary affairs are sleeping on laurels. We demand the issue of alignment of laws to take precedence as a lot of people are being prejudiced by the inconsistent laws in this country. 

Indeed GMB must pay farmers on time. We condemn the paltry rates being paid by GMB to farmers and implore the relevant authorities to revise the rates of grains and stop shortchanging farmers. 

Condemnation of drug abuse is not enough Mr President. The way forward to help and save our youth is to establish public and affordable drug rehabilitation centres in all the ten provinces to save our youth. Chrystal methamphetamine (Mutoriro) should be criminalized and made illegal as soon as yesterday. Mutoriro is now a deadly pandemic in our country which has also increase crime rate as young people addicted to this deadly drug end up involved in crime to get funds to sustain this vice. 

Lastly, there is little effort  to ensure gender balance . Saying that government is committed to ensure gender equality is an understatement as it is not visible practically in all organs of the state, public sector, boards and parastatals. We demand gender equality to be a reality as it is a constitutional provision which should be adhered to.

Mr President, your predecessor the late former President Robert Gabriel Mugabe left a legacy of educating Zimbabweans and taking back land. What will be your legacy? What are you going to be remembered for? Make Zimbabwe comfortable for all Zimbabweans. Restore the dignity of all workers and be sincere in curbing corruption which is an evil that has destroyed the economy and potential of our great nation.

Ashamed to be a women's rights activist whilst girls are being sexually abused to death

6 August 2021

I have been hurting the past fortnight about the Memory Machaya experience and subsequent death. As a mother and a woman, when I read about how she died I got shivers down my spine and could feel the pain of what she went through. I have a 12 year old daughter and I would try to picture her being married and pregnant and my conscience screamed NO and pushed me to do something. 

After doing research about the livelihoods of women and the girl child in the Marange Sect, I had three consecutive sleepless nights self introspecting on whether or not I have done enough as a women's rights defender and girl child rights advocate. This morning, I realized that I haven't done enough as long as 12-17 year olds are still being married off before the legal age of consent to get married in Zimbabwe which is 18. I am ashamed that girls are subjected to sexual abuse and sexploitation in the name of religion and child marriage. I am disgusted that I am one of those women who tireslessly claim to be fighting for the girl child whilst they are being denied access to education and subjected to servitude and living conditions which are as good as servitude.

This morning I made a bold decision to fight for the girl child in Bocha Marange and every other girl child who is being sexploited, abused and manipulated. This is fight I am going to fight and win. Earlier today I was talking to one survivor who was nearly married off at 13 and below is what she said about how girls are chosen as brides in the Marange sect.

"1. So during the Pasika, the Priest chooses a wife or wives. Young girls will go to the priest's house, help with the cleaning and washing. He will choose a wife. Ages 11 to 15 years old most times(Once went there with my cousin, we were around that age)

2. Dhepa / Virginity testing

We would go for virginity testing during Pasika with the old women. Somewhere near the river. Escorted by the prophet. We would lie down and they check our private parts. All girls from 9 years old.

Virgins will be given a full leaf

Non virgins a broken leaf. 

We would go back to the church grounds, sit , crowd gathered where people would be celebrating the virgins and mock the non virgins. The former would mostly get a man as 2nd or 3rd or 8th wife. Not 1st because she is nolonger a virgin

Virgins too would be chosen by anyone who wants.

It would be the joy of the parents kuti mwana akatiziswa kupasika

There is no lobola, madhara vanongomwa tea vese vowirirana zvavharana

In some cases parents wont even be aware mwana anongotiziswa vasingazivi, tricked like in my case dhara rakanyepera baba wangu, got address and wanted to just take me , make me a wife and my parents would know ndatova nenhumbu. 

So there are cases like that. Problem kuti because its church and its allowed, parents will just accept and move on. 

Because of this setup, many Mapositori are poor. There wld be 5 wives, 20 kids they cant afford, so they marry off the girls."

Imagine this is happening under our watch yet we purport to be advocates of women's rights. There is no religion that is above the law. It is time tht every other woman who purports to be a woman's rights defender starts to show her real teeth and start biting. The girl child has been abused enough and enough is enough.

• We will not be silent whilst a girl child's self determination is denied by a religious system which is oppressive and manipulative. 

• We will not be silent when law enforcers are turning a blind eye to the thousands of cases of child abuse in Marange. 

• We will not be silent when women are subjected to unbearable pain during labour on the name of religion. 

• We will not be silent when government pretends not to know the realities on the ground in Marange.

• We will not be silent until the girl child is respected, given equal opportunity to education and lives as an equal person to the boys of this land.

I demand justice for Memory Machaya's death and every other girl in Marange who is underage, married and pregnant. 

I call upon all the mother's in Zimbabwe to stand with this worthy cause in our quest to protect the girl child. Tomorrow I will highlight my recommendations to all various stakeholders. 

Lastly we need an honest dialogue as women with the President of this country pertaining to the issue of protection of the girl child.

United we stand Divided we fall.

Linda Tsungirirai Masarira

LEAD President

The Concept of the sperm in the women's struggle : Linda Masarira

When it comes to women issues I don't compromise because women have been systematically marginalized in different facets of the society. I am encouraging all women to step up and be counted. I reiterate to the concept of the sperm. We all struggled against millions of other sperms to make it to our mother's ova, we struggled to fertilize her egg, we struggled to come out through the birth canal and even struggled to have our first breath and adapt to the new environment.

I am appalled by the way that women in Zimbabwe shy away from politics and governance issues. They feel like the struggle for self determination is a struggle for men because of various gender stereotypes in our communities. Women do not want to join the struggle yet they struggle everyday. 

Life is a constant struggle. To be human and to be alive is a struggle. As a sperm you fought millions of sperms to get to your mothers womb. Don't be shocked its true and you also struggled to come out of your mothers womb through the vagina, that was a struggle. As a new born baby you struggled to adapt to a new environment and to suckle your mothers nipple.

You struggled to sit falling every time, you struggled to stand, you struggled to walk, you struggled to talk and struggled to learn... Today my fellow woman, why are you saying you are not in the struggle? Why are you afraid when you managed to swim through and fight millions of sperms for survival. Is this the struggle that you endured when you wriggled through the birth canal?

Yes there are historical issues of marginalization of women in governance processes, structural deformities in political party rank and file, cultural barriers, a strong existing patriarchal system, misogyny, etc. The women's struggle has been alive since 1918 and we now need to implement some of the achievements of the women's struggle in Zimbabwe. Our constitution speaks to 50/50 gender representation in section 56 and all state organs and functions should ensure that gender equality is promoted yet women still feel comfortable accepting quota systems of less than 50% as if we are children of a lesser God.

We can't continue being discriminated against gender and its high time we stop whining and start acting. Women need to unite for the sake of our girl children and future generations to come. We need to ensure that we leave a legacy of equal opportunities for every Zimbabwean. We have the power to transform this nation, to unite it and rebuild it only if we start focusing on the real issues affecting this land.

Zimbabwe is blessed with very intelligent, enterprising and hardworking women. Unfortunately most of them are not politically conscious and prefer to stand and watch from the periphery which has been very detrimental to the quality of our livelihoods. If we struggled from the sperm to the ova, what is limiting us to struggle for economic freedoms, gender and labour justice, academic freedoms, constitutionalism, etc? 

All the problems we are facing as a nation have a heavier burden on the woman and are crosscutting whether you are LEAD, ZanuPF, MDCT, ZAPU, NPP, the other MDC member or not.

Dear Woman, Dear Sister 2021 is the year for us to converge and commit to rebuild Zimbabwe for our posterity and self determination as women in Zimbabwe. To carry on and push forward the agenda of women which was started years back by some powerful women, some who are late and some who are still alive. We salute you! All the problems we are facing in Zimbabwe are political and we can't afford to divorce ourselves from that brutal fact. We constitute about 54% of the population of Zimbabwe and we are the key economic drivers with the capacity to influence the change that we want in this country. We can't all be politicians, let us support women who are running for public office morally and join their campaign teams. Let's support women in business by advertising and buying their products and lastly let us support women in sport and ensure that they get decent allowances not the paltry allowances that ZIFA offers the MIGHTY WARRIORS.

We are the change we have been waiting for. Its time women become the kingmakers and stop being used to chant slogans, ululate and gyrate at political. We are greater than that. We are limitless and we can do it.

Survival of the fittest is the order of the day. Life is meant to be enjoyed not to be endured. Why are you silent? Why are you living a pathetic and miserable life? Are you doing justice to your children and future generations? Life is a constant struggle. Rise up and fight for your rights. Zimbabwe belongs to every 

Zimbabwean. Nguva yemadzimai yakwana. Taneta nekutambudzwa nekushoropodzwa tiri vanhuwo.

We will not be silenced, hatinyaradzwe and hatityiswe zvekumhanya.

Linda Masarira analysis of the chaos in South Africa

By Linda Tsungirirai Masarira

13 July 2021

It's not just the Zulus, it's the generality of the South African masses that are living pathetic lives in desperation, poverty, hunger, joblessness and in a continuous state of debt with no hope for relief at all. 

The so called Rainbow Nation was a mirage. Until they address the inequalities, fundamental questions and issues that led to their struggle for independence, South Africa will be in cyclical problems. It is unfortunate that South Africans were sold a dummy at the CODESA talks leading to independence in 1994.

Native South Africans are still living in oppression and have realized that it is not yet uhuru as black people are not empowered to run the South Africa economy. The economic crisis is South Africa was already tinder dry and needed a spark to ignite and let the pent out force out... the fundamental question of the revolution is still unanswered and now is the time to correct the wrongs and to give black people in South Africa economic power.

The deep state or the vested South African media controlled by Settler Colonial Capital and vested interests wants to create this crisis as an illusion of the current government versus the Zulus in a bid to perpetuate the apartheid divide and rule mindset. Unfortunately the native South African isijikile and need core issues that affect their livelihoods addressed.

The judiciary inflamed their innate pent up frustrations and anger and this out of context judicial dictatorship and judicial activist judgement was the spark they needed to release their pent up feelings. The law has to be applied in a proper context and foresee the likely ramifications of their judgements. If learned judges behave like they are applying a text book or theoretical judgement then they are simply perpetuating a settler colonial legal jurisprudence. The law or judgements are not an illusion but should also forsee and be implemented within historical and legal parameters anchored on and in the historical context of each environment. 

The South African judiciary needs a total overhaul to reflect and be embedded in the post 1994 dispensation. The deep state and old money are playing havoc in RSA and trying to subvert the people's will, hence the current morass and general mayhem prevailing. 

My simple analysis being that we can not simply frame this as a Zulu nations versus other ethnic formations in the current scheme of things lest we fall into the colonial trap of analysing the nature of the post colonial state. It is in my view, broader than that. We can hypotheticate and interrogate this question further at a later stage. 

If they're not careful the construct of the RSA state as we currently know it may disintegrate Soviet style. South Africa is a country waiting to disintegrate Soviet style or Yugoslavia style, with an underhand of Western and Settler Colonial manipulation. Cyril Ramaphosa is their creation and his factional acolytes captured the state and it's arms, now look where they've taken the so called " rainbow nation". We need to analyse and frame what is happening in RSA with a deep forensic eye and mind. Inequalities and discrimination abounds in RSA, the promised land has not been reached yet and the people are now seeing beyond the facade.

In essence I think that RSA needs a total judicial and system overhaul and transformation. Codesa was an epitome of a revolution deferred, now the internal dynamics are playing out with ghastly and terrible consequences. If it was Zimbabwe, they would have been all over all news sites singing human rights abuses, rule of law or whatever theoretical hegemonic textbook lectures. How many civilian protestors have been shot dead in South Africa so far? SA media is reporting about 26 and we all know they are more than that and today my question is where are the so called Human Rights defenders or Western Press now in RSA when people are being hunted down and gunned by Settler Colonial vigilantes? Where are the statements from embassies? These gun totting vigilantes are wrecking havoc writ large and the Western world, so called world policemen are not commenting or condemning these outright human rights violations.

The South African government must deal with the deep underlying structural defects in the architecture of the RSA economy and ensure that all black people have opportunities to wealth creation. The SA judiciary should not pander to the whims of settler colonialism. The fundamental national questions needs answers now. The South Africa constitution is too theoretical, CODESA was just a compromise. If South African leaders want to fix the crisis in South Africa they have to be sincere and deal with redistribution of wealth, address inequalities and be sincere in empowering all native South Africans.

Leadership in South Africa need wisdom to deal with the crisis bedeviling RSA right now.

Gender Perspective : Bemoaning the Systematic Attack on Women Leadership in Zimbabwe

By Mambokadzi Linda wekwaMasarira

It is a fact that attacks on leadership in any given scenario are not a rare occurrence. Be that as it may, I have noticed a systematic attack on women leadership and insincerity in dealing with issues of equal representation of women in governance and decision-making processes in our nation. Almost every political party in Zimbabwe parrots gender parity and inclusion of women yet they do they exact opposite. Before you dismiss this notion as unsubstantiated, I invite you dear reader, to read on for the next 2 minutes as I present solutions to an issue that some may deem as unimportant. 

Firstly, it is an unwritten in Zimbabwe's political landscape that women's assemblies are used as tools for patriarchal gatekeeping and puppets in the arena of politics, without actually possessing the power nor the authority to lead. Upon acknowledging this fact, Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD) made a resolution in September 2020 to abolish the women's council and ensure that every woman has an equal chance to represent and lead in the National Executive Council. The same was adopted to apply to YoungLEAD Council on a 50/50 gender balance as enshrined in section 17 of the constitution going down to our branch structures.

It is unfortunate that women in politics continue to be used as pawns in a game of political chess. The extension of the 60 Proportional representation seats to 4 parliaments also reflects on our government’s unwillingness to comply with the constitutional provision enshrined in section 17 of ensuring gender balance in all organs of the state and all government organs. 

Women are not children of a lesser God and should not be pretentiously handed power on a silver platter in the name of quotas or affirmative action. Whose quota to benefit who? Women who are forwarded on party lists by political parties for those proportional representation seats usually face a lot of abuse and are never chosen on merit but by being the best bootlickers of political leaders. These seats have been used to divide women and to give them unequal opportunities to contest in primaries as they are constantly reminded that they have their 60 bacossi seats.

To be sure, women constitute nearly 54% of the population of Zimbabwe yet we only have less than 33% women in council and less than 20% women in parliament who were directly elected. The women's leagues/assemblies of political parties seem to be blind to this issue and their silence on this matter is mind-boggling.

In November 2019, women from political parties, civic society and business converged at the Gender Indaba in Mutare at Golden Peacock hotel, which was hosted by the Gender Commission of Zimbabwe. All representatives of the political parties present that is LEAD, MDCA, MDCT and ZanuPF agreed and made a resolution that they did not want the extension of the 60 PR seats and gave recommendations to the Gender Commission on our expectations as women in politics. Some questions, however still linger…

• Does the extension of the 60 PR seats mean that the women's voice is useless in Zimbabwe? 

• At what point will women issues be taken seriously in this country?

• Is there a systematic attack on women leadership by political parties in Zimbabwe? 

• Whose interests does the extension of proportional representation serve?

• Why are women in Zimbabwe silent?

• What is the purpose of having a women affairs ministry when women continue to be systematically excluded from governance processes by useless quotas?

My suggestion is clear, let us do away with constituency MPs and introduce a proportional representation electoral system like the one used in South Africa or by the senate in Zimbabwe. The PR system of having a party zebra list of MPs submitted to ZEC will assist us to have a gender balanced parliament, diverse in terms of party representation as it will ensure that every party which contests elections will get Parliamentary seats which are proportionate to the number of votes that would have been casted and it will also help depolarize parliament by eliminating strong men in parliament.

What is needed is to amend the electoral act and ensure that we have a gender balanced parliament and local authorities.

We are left with no choice but to challenge this extension of PR seats in the courts of law. As a leader motivated by constructive criticism, I invite you to share your opinion on this matter on @lilomatic.