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.

Linda Masarira Statement on 16 Days of Activism on Gender Based Violence

26 November 2020

Today is the second day of the 16 days of activism against gender based violence. The whole world goes into activism mode against gender based violence which commences on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day every year. It was started by activists at the inaugural Women’s Global Leadership Institute in 1991 and continues to be coordinated each year by the Center for Women’s Global Leadership. Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD) calls for the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls.

I am disturbed by the sexual harrasmment openly done in parliament against women Member of Parliament since time immemorial by male MPs. Yesterday 25 November 2020 Hon. Joana Mamombe  referred to the Deputy Speaker of Parliament some cases that undermine and violate the rights of female MPs in the House and prayed that sexual harassment against female Hon. Members must stop. 

LEAD is political organization that strongly believes in equality and elimination of any form of violence against women, we stand in solidarity with Hon. Mamombe in demanding 

a privileges committee to be set up for matters of sexual harassment happening in Parliament.

It should be noted that legislators must be promoting laws and making sure that stiffer penalties on GBV are in place despite of class society or political affiliation. It is mockery to the electorate in Zimbabwe to have some so called Hon. Members being perpetrators 

of GBV instead of being advocates against GBV.

I am calling to order Hon. Chinotimba and all other male MPs who thrive on sexual harassment and offensive statements to reform and lead by example. Their conduct is abuse to women and we demand an apology to all women in Zimbabwe from all the MPs in the 9th Parliament who have verbally assaulted any female MP in the August House.  

Parliament must protect women and ensure that the August House is a safe space for women. Women must feel secure in the August House, so as to inspire younger women to aspire to be legislators. With the continued attacks on women, body shaming and name calling, women will just shy away from active politics which is a tragedy to women participation in governance issues.

Violence against women represents one of the most critical security challenges and is a major factor contributing to poverty. Reducing violence against women is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in particular goals number 1, 3, 5, 10 and 16.

Zimbabwe is signatory to the international human rights frameworks for women’s rights. Zimbabwe ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1991 which is considered as the women’s bill of rights. Under this Convention states have the obligation to review their legal systems in order to end discrimination and to establish institutions that protect women. As part of the obligations, CEDAW allows for the monitoring of compliance and receives complaints from the signatory states.

Today, I demand that Parliament of Zimbabwe should make sure that Parliament is a safe space for women and that any form.of discrimination against women MPs is eliminated.

This year I will be doing advocacy on GBV on a daily basis on real time issues of GBV happening in Zimbabwe. Wathinta umfazi wathinta imboko. Let us unite against Gender Based Violence and encourage all victims of GBV to speakout and seek justice.

#TogetherWeCan eliminate violence in our communities,  workplace and in our homes.

Linda Tsungirirai Masarira 

LEAD President

Impact of sanctions on the Mining sector : Mambokadzi wekwaMasarira

1. The mining sector was negatively affected by the sanctions resulting in:

• Limited funding to recapitalize as most financiers stopped providing lines of credit to the industry;

• Failure to receive proceeds from minerals sales especially those associated with the Minerals Marketing Corporation of Zimbabwe (MMCZ); and

• Reduced ability to access new markets.

2. Of particular concern are the negative effects on the minerals marketing and the diamond companies.

3. Two minerals marketing companies were designated by the US and the EU as some entities against which sanctions were imposed in 2008 and 2012 respectively, with the American and EU citizens and entities, and other entities outside these two jurisdictions prohibited from doing business with or providing financial and technical assistance to these organisations. Assets belonging to these marketing companies within the USA and the EU were immediately frozen and could not be withdrawn or liquidated. In essence, the marketing companies could not deal with US and EU persons and entities because anyone who violated these measures was liable for prosecution. Potential buyers of Zimbabwean minerals risked losing the minerals or proceeds thereof.

4. After selling the minerals on behalf of producers, marketing companies are supposed to receive all monies for sales outside the country. However due to sanctions, the two companies were incapacitated to carry out this mandate and this affected the Corporation’s receipts of funds.

5. On its part, one of the marketing companies has failed to implement its turnaround strategy due to the failure to attract investors, high cost of capital and/or inability to recapitalize, inaccessible lines of credit, and inability to trade in any USD denominated currency.

6. From a marketing perspective the sanctions have led to:

• Reduced ability to access new markets and market share as it eliminated the US and the EU as its markets;

• Reduced negotiation clout, competitiveness and choice as it could not access essential services like banking, logistics, and marketing journals  from the USA and the EU;

• Loss of customers/clients as major corporations were unwilling to deal with the minerals marketing companies;

• Compromised monitoring role as the corporation is no longer involved in logistics and movement of products to the market; and

• Forced to sell on an ex-works basis instead of free-on-board or delivered basis, thus significantly reducing potential revenue to the government.

7. From a financial perspective, the sanctions have affected all the foreign currency transactions with the companies unable to directly transact in foreign currency. To date, a total of USD1.2 million in producer funds and government royalties have been blocked by the US government. Producers are now receiving their funds directly from customers outside Zimbabwe creating a problem for the government as some producers tend to evade paying taxes and royalties. It is never guaranteed that Zimbabwe will recover its blocked funds. 

8. Concerning the diamond companies, the sanctions made it difficult for them to effectively market and trade their diamonds at competitive prices, forcing them to sell the precious mineral at discounted prices of more than 25 percent below the normal prices.  The companies traded their diamonds through unconventional means because major international banks, insurance companies and couriers did not want to be associated with diamonds from Chiadzwa. Furthermore, some global diamond players could not trade and deal directly with Chidzwa diamond companies under their normal banners/names for fear of retribution. They had to find other entities to trade with, a process that had serious business and cost implications.

International Day of Rural Women: Building rural women’s resilience in the wake of COVID-19 : Mambokadzi wekwaMasarira

Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats joins the rest of the world to commemorate the International Day of Rural Women. The Day recognizes “the critical role and contribution of rural women, including indigenous women, in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty.”  It is purposely held the day before World Food Day, in order to highlight the role played by rural women in food production and food security.

Women play a vital role in the rural economy, the #Covid19 pandemic has greatly affected them socially, economically and emotionally. The pandemic has also heightened the vulnerability of rural women’s rights to land and resources. 

Women living in rural areas in Zimbabwe have been subjected to second class treatment since time immemorial. The Zimbabwean government has done so little to help alleviate rural based women's socio-economic status quo. The Pfumvudza concept is good for subsistence farming and food security of families and not income generation.

The current wave of job losses induced by the Corona virus pandemic have a serious adverse effect on elderly women who relied on their working children to provide them with seed and fertilizer. Vendors were restricted from selling their wares, which was their only source of livelihood in this harsh economic climate which the majority of Zimbabweans have been subjected to. These vendors were also breadwinners to elderly women in rural areas. 

Rural women in Zimbabwe suffer from poor government policies which do not consider their plight as most of them failed to get basic education. Gender discrimination is the order of the day in rural Zimbabwe. Rural women in Zimbabwe deserve a comfortable life and it is imperative for the Ministry of Women affairs to ensure that laws are in place to eliminate stereotypes based on patriarchy and the subordination of women. Women living in rural areas have been promised for years that they would benefit from the rural electrification programme, which was only limited to growth points. They face a lot of challenges  like lack of energy, long distance walks to fetch firewood, poverty, isolation, as well as misinformation, and a lack of access to critical technologies that can improve their work and personal life. The constant cutting down of trees is detrimental to the ecosystem and environment  as it causes deforestation which increases the rate of global warming. Global warming has adverse effects on the rainfall patterns, which contributes to drought and directly affects the rural woman. The current government in Zimbabwe has failed to correct and find solutions to the problems facing the average rural woman.

The ruling party has failed to address water and sanitation issues in rural areas which has adversely affected the health of women living in rural areas. 

Nearly 90% of women living in rural areas still fetch water from unprotected sources. They have no access to protected water and travel long distances to get water. It is critical to engage development partners to drill boreholes and assist in building dams in our quest to ensure that people living in rural areas have safe water sources.

Rural Zimbabwean women are still being treated as second class citizens 40 years after lndependence and that has to change. LEAD is committed to transforming the livelihoods of the average rural woman by empowering, educating and training them to become financially independent. The  colonial setting made men wage workers in industry and farms but did not pay them well to enable them to survive.  Women and children left in rural areas ended up working to complement their husbands working in town. Today, due to de-industrialization, women are suffering even more as they have to feed the whole family without any help from men as they are unemployed. With water and electricity not being adequately provided by government, and poverty levels remaining as high as 90% in rural areas, women bear the largest burden of poverty in Zimbabwe.

LEAD is the solution to rid Zimbabwe of the corruption and poor governance. Rural women suffer the most from the activities of corrupt, uncouth and  unethical leaders who are holding public offices. 

As Labour, Economists and Afrikan Democrats (LEAD) we have SEED as our Manifesto which is Sustainable Empowerment and Economic Development (SEED). Our focus is mainly on development, devolution, depolarizing the political economy, decolonizing the mindset and economic growth. Rural development is at the core of our mandate. Agriculture contributes to development as ana economic activity and livelihood. In recognition of the great work that women in rural areas continue to do, to sustain livelihoods, it is imperative to unlock opportunities for them to move from subsistence farming to commercial farming. Agriculture is an instrument for achieving propoor and inclusive development which will uplift the quality of lifestyle for women living in rural areas. 

LEAD is an alternative peoples party which is concerned about the plight of all Zimbabweans taking into cognisance the plight of the rural woman. We intend to bring about free and fair democratic elections thereby bringing good governance and relief to the suffering rural women in Zimbabwe.

Mambokadzi Linda wekwaMasarira 

LEAD President

Voices of the Land: Protecting our heritage

02 September 2020

For Urgent Release

Response on Land Reform Reversal

The land Question is the most important issue that caused our ancestors to engage in the first chimurenga, the second chimurenga was fought on the same issue of the land Question. The government is trying to gain favor from the western world by reversing the land reform, they are betraying and spitting on those who sacrificed their lives to regain our land back. Our leadership failed to play their part in educating the new farmers that farming is a business, they failed to have a close monitoring and evaluation system to motivate new farmers to produce and feed the nation. GMB at some point failed to pay farmers for the grains they had delivered, that created some negative minds in the new farmers. 

Our government failed to have proper follow up mechanisms of all inputs that they distributed to new farmers neither did they audit the inputs. There were no proper frameworks to monitor if inputs being distributed were being put to correct use, farming fuel was sold on black market, and fertilizer was being sold and taken to Zambia and Malawi. All that happened under the same leadership that wants to do a land reform reversal today.

The proposed land form reversal by government is a reversal of the gains of the independence struggle. We believe that government is being unfair to native Zimbabweans who were displaced to region 5 areas by the same people who are being compensated today. Our grandmothers and grandfathers were removed from arable to hot, unproductive land yet our own government has never even discussed on how they were going to be compensated. 

I beg you all to revisit the main objectives of the 2nd Chimurenga and the main sticking points agreed upon at the Lancaster House Conference. "Our Land, our heritage" is not a joke, even if we are under-utilizing it. Issues of this nature take time, which when done right will allow for true commercial farmers to arise from the current stock of resettled farmers or the next generation. Those who say this isn't a reversal please give us the appropriate wording which corresponds to a reversal and differentiate from the ones we have. This is pure reversal. If the land reform was done properly from the start we wouldn't be witnessing all these problems. Land should have been given to those who have the capacity and knowledge to utilize it. This didn't happen, land was given on basis of political affiliation and what we got as a result is chaos cronyism, resettled farmers were set up to fail without access to finance. Populist strategies are rarely well thought out but this is probably the only country where if you go into business you pretty much pay everything out of pocket another way of seeing it is, where are the financial institutions? 

Even though the distribution of land was of poor methodology, we must remember that land as an economic tool is different from land as a tool for empowerment. ARDA could have been utilized properly (not for useless Ethanol production) then the remainder given to people for heritage. The same people who are being accused of under utilizing it will one day give rise to true commercial farmers, if they are supported by government. These people also faced the challenge of non-existent support for their farming activities especially considering market for their produce especially maize and distribution channels. Had these things been tin place: financing, distribution, pricing, marketing; and then the farming business would be thriving by now, sadly bad politics was and has always been in the way. Command agriculture would delay releasing outputs then many farmers would drop out from the farming season but you'd still find US$3Bil being claimed to have been availed towards the project.

This is subterfuge to the 2nd Chimurenga; Josiah Magama Tongogara, Joshua Nkomo, Hebert Chitepo, and all fallen heroes. Land was supposed to be returned to land owners in 1980. People took it by force in 2000 even though they were not the rightful owners (as in originally displaced from there). It didn't really matter as it was a chance and we could have rectified it. This move now negates any attempt to redistribute the land equitably to the children of Zimbabwe. It creates a web of legalities that makes it difficult to reverse. These white farmers will own rights to that land while most of us are limited to salary jobs, which will never create wealth! They are Zimbabwean by virtue of a legal system they brought with them, within borders they created to confine us and govern us. What of our ancestors? What would their system of governance say is the lawful thing to do? Before colonization, we had our own legal system. What does it say with regards to land ownership and the white settlers?!

Hiding behind section 295 of the constitution of Zimbabwe is the biggest betrayal to Zimbabweans who were forced to vote YES for the new constitution by both MDC and Zanupf yet they had not even read the draft and its contents? 

Large pieces of underutilized land could have been identified and allocated to capable and willing indigenous citizens, without disturbing those who were already economic players.

As Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats we do hereby question the Minister of Agriculture what the justification of giving back land to white farmers yet in Zimbabwe when we have learned colleagues in the agricultural sector. Why not give our own black people with an agricultural background a chance to utilize those farms? Land belongs to the people so why should we sell it to them if they already own it? Make laws that push for productivity. Create an environment that encourages production. Not a system where people get paid for their maize a year later.

 The redistribution was not meant to destroy but our government destroyed through poor policy and a lack of support structures. Had there been proper support including extension workers who were well equipped then Zimbabwe’s agriculture would have suffered for only a few seasons. Talking of grid network of water supply to all farm land and improved dam networks for water management then we would have had more than 80% of arable land in Zimbabwe under irrigation by now and not discussing drought years and poor harvest. With financing, only serious farmers would have remained in the fields. To say whites should have retained land at the expense of a number of us is taking land for granted. If you own a property definitely someone else cannot be justified to take it from you because they can run it better than you. Land belonged to us the blacks (and still does), simple as that. We want better livelihoods, that's a fact and the two must not be confused! Wanting a better life should not strip me off my heritage and my land. As LEAD we’re very worried as to why the government is rushing to return land to the former white farmers before they publish the land auditor's report. Why are they running away from solving multiple farm ownership?

Zimbabwe is not the first country to embark on this land reform process; Brazil did it, Cuba did it and also Venezuela did it. Sanctions will never be removed because of reversing the land reform program! It's our duty as citizens to demand that accountability. Only a fool can condemn themselves to infinity and so we must acknowledge failure and thrive to improve.

Mambokadzi Linda Tsungirirai WekwaMasarira

LEAD President

LEAD on food production and self sufficiency

Labour Economists and Afrikan Democrats is of the view that citizens need to realize that they should take the initiative to produce for their basic needs by using the resources (land, seeds, fruits, plants, minerals, labor and water) that we have naturally as denizens of this beautiful country. In this regard we urge our government and private players in the agriculture sector to invest in: 

• organic seeds that can be reused and selectively bred without losing efficacy. 

• solar energy if possible 

• organic fertilizer and composts, 

• tools and machinery 

• water sources through investing in boreholes or water harvesting. 

• stones to build shelter 

• tree planning 

As social democrats believing in Pan Africanism we believe this will go a long way towards production food thereby ensuring food security and the reduction of the hunger. 

Our people have always been food self sufficient but urban migration, dependency on aid, the 

cost of seeds and inputs are affecting food production, which is why our drive is to make 

production, self sufficiency and farming sexy again. Many studies are saying that by 2030, Africa will have billionaires from the agriculture sector and our nation should prepare for this by, getting everyone to learn how to produce from the land. The food that people produce must be wholesome, nutritious, healthy and healing for the body. 

Food should become our doctor and pharmacy through it being organic and free from 

synthetics, to foster a healthy population and to reduce healthcare costs. 

 

It is one of our major aims as a political party to ensure that Zimbabwe reduces her reliance on importing food by substituting imported foods with healthier, fresh whole foods that our ancestors grew an empire on. We also believe that our traditional crops are less susceptible to hybridization, people still have the seeds, they are more suited to the soil and rain patterns of our region, to mitigate climate change and the cost of production. 

 

As a nation, we really have to break our dependency on western bio-tech companies and products 

(seeds, fertilizers and pesticides) through policy, change in farming practices, building our own 

organic agricultural companies and going back to traditional farming methods. We believe that biotechnology or industrial farming methods are a national security threat to 

the country and Africa. This is so because Americans have been using biotechnology as a market capture penetration strategy developed at Harvard in the 1950s, to drive their $127billion biotech revenue, through fostering dependency on American biotech companies and food. 

Biological Weapon 

More critically it was not just designed as a means of business but as a biological weapon that 

Americans are planning to use to colonize and dominate the world through food control, by 

making nations dependent on hybrids with genetic use restriction technology (GURT) that 

eliminate organic natural reproductive seeds. The other method is through genetically modified foods that can be genetically programmed with ethnic targeting RNA disrupting technology, to eliminate specific ethnic groups. Most of these GMOs also have Genetic Use Restriction Termination Technology (GURT) that makes their seeds unable to reproduce and this can be transmitted to organic seeds through drift and cross pollination. This is why Russia has banned American GMOs in their country. 

Mambokadzi Linda Tsungirirai Masarira

LEAD President

#ZimbabweAt40 reflections

I am inspired by knowing that if I sacrifice for a cause and focus on changing mindsets, Zimbabwe might be a better place for all Zimbabweans. The future of Zimbabwe is in our hands. 2016 saw the rise of social movements which shook the Zanu pf regime and led to the hijacking of the peoples movement. 

Eventually Zimbabwe managed to remove Mugabe from power. All activists, opposition parties, the ruling party and people all over Zimbabwe united to remove Mugabe from power and took to the streets wherever they were all over Zimbabwe. Yet it seems we fought against the individual Mugbe but not the system that can re-birth even worse.

Today, why are we failing to unite to fight against corruption, poverty and neocolonialism? We are failing because most people are greedy, selfish, egocentric and power hungry. We have more that unites us than to fight personality battles. If political leaders do not want to unite for a cause, I am urging Zimbabweans to find each other and stop being used by political leaders to fight their own egocentric power struggles.

It is time that we focus on rebuilding Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has failed to develop and transform in 40 years whilst China became an economic powerhouse in the past 40 years. We can make Zimbabwe a trillion dollar nation in a few decades, if we all focus on a Zimbabwe Development Agenda.

Bad politics has failed Zimbabweans. We need a paradigm shift of mindset to move from fixating ourselves with politics and propaganda to being more involved in growing Zimbabwe's economy, creating wealth and equitable distribution of resources. 

In the struggle that we have,  are we not the change that we are looking for? Are we not the change that we are looking for? No one is coming to save us. We only have ourselves to move Zimbabwe forward and save Zimbabwe.

Let us stop the antagonism and join #ZimbabweAt40 movement which will unite Zimbabweans in their diversity and push development first before politics. 

When we are united for development, we can surely make Zimbabwe great again. If we have unity of purpose, we can surely overcome corruption in our country.

Rome was not built in a day and neither will we get the results we desire overnight. The struggle is real and for us to achieve the results we desire, we have to persevere,  be tolerant with other,  patient, respect each other, have love for one another and stand up for each other.

We should simply sanitize our politics and work as a nation towards creating a conducive economic environment for growth and development. Our way out and forward is our natural resources and human capital

If our president calls for a national emergency that clamps down on wasteful expenditure, pointless imports of Bugattis and luxuries, punishing currency trading and corruption, if the national emergency forces people to use forex only for production, we can prosper our nation.

I sincerely hope that my fellow countrymen will use the time that we have during the lockdown to come up with development strategies to move Zimbabwe forward.

#TogetherWeCan make Zimbabwe great again!

Linda Tsungirirai Masarira 

LEAD President