The Root Of It All Lies Deep

You might have already heard or read about Timothy Mubhawu's suspension from all party structures within MDC for his sexist comments he made in parliament on the reading of a bill to protect women from man like him. They were remarks too far and in this day in age such views have no place in a society, too be honest they demean women they are not just women but our own mothers, sisters and daughters. While the suspension of Timothy will send a message that MDC is committed in creating a non-sexist society where every individual is equal irregardless of the colour of their skin or their gender most importantly.

Its the attitude of Zimbabwean men which has its roots deep in tradition and folklore that has led to the spread of AIDS, its a common secret that Zimbabwean men promiscuous. Take Gonzo, he is married his lawful wedded wife stays at home (like
she is supposed to they he argues to look after the kids he adds convincingly. Gonzo starts an extra-marital affair and openly boasts about it, he wines and dines his mistress while proclaiming to have no money to buy his own kids decent clothing. His kids do not even know him he comes ritually atmidnight and leaves early while they are sleeping. His after work sojourn takes him from work to the pub for one or two with his co-workers and then after that he makes a booty call at his mistress's. Gonzo does not hide his dislike for condoms saying he wants to feel the real thing, so when he arrives home and demands sex as he always does, his wife refuses until he puts on a condom. Gonzo is livid that he wife whom he paidlobola with 12 living cattle can suggest that in his own house that he works hard for put on a condom. He beats his wife blue-black and calls her a whore while asking, where the hell did she learn about condoms and who gave them to her. Her answers muffled by crying sounds are lost as she explains she got them from the outreach Community workers that advise women about family, sex and protection against HIVvirus. Gonzo's wife had reluctantly told the Community worker that her husband kept a "small house" as extra-marital affairs have come to be known as in Zimbabwe, and that she feared the risk of contracting HIV. The community worker then suggested condoms,Gonzo's wife took them despite knowing that her husband will never put them on. Gonzo might be fictitious character but he is a perfect caricature of a Zimbabwean man just as Mubhawu is and that illustrates how Zimbabwean men treat and feel about women. Mubhawu might have been suspended again a bold statement but that goes a long way to address and change the mindset of Zimbabwean men which isaccepted by many as the norm.

A lot has been written about the rate of marriage breakups of Zimbabwean couples in the diaspora but it needs no analyst to see where the bone of contention is. In
Zimbabwe things like domestic violence are not openly spoken about most cases are mostly ignored as Police and charity organisation workers call them Friday to Monday syndrome. According toMsasa Project a Zimbabwean charity organisation that deals with problems in marriage and offers shelter to women fleeing domestic violence, a Zimbabwean woman gets beaten by her husband on Friday when he is drunk and has been paid, the wife calls the police and thehusband is duly arrested, he spends the weekend behind bars. He uses one of his privileged calls to his in-laws threatening to divorce his wife if she does not withdraw her case against him. Again the Zimbabwean mindset comes into play and the mother-in law calls her daughter pleading with her to drop the charges as shedoesn't want a grown woman back at her house with
people calling her a whore. So the wife reluctantly travels to the police station were she states that she wants to drop the charges against her hubby who returns home on a Monday hence the Friday to Monday syndrome. Now take that mindset and bring it to the diaspora, the same Zimbabwean husband beats his wife and here the charges cannot be dropped the police will pursue the issue until they are satisfied that you have mend your ways i.e will no longer beat your wife. Not only that, the more the years pass that Mugabe continues to oppress people, she starts to take notice of the different mindset like how women are treated in the diaspora both at work and within their homes. She sees the contrasting difference to the cycle of violence she is used
to and who could blame her if she decides to leave him.

I have argued that if we are to built a new Zimbabwe we will need more than just eliminating Robert Mugabe. We will need to change our parochial views of the world. The way we treat our women, our attitudes towards corruption, what Zimbabwe owes us or rather what we owe Zimbabwe.

Dead By 34



The sad story of women in Zimbabwe whose life expectancy has been cut short not by natural causes but by the brutal government of Robert Mugabe. Read it for yourself

Video Of Tourture

Zimbabwe's Partisan Police

Zimbabwe is a predominatly patriachy the practise or should I say way of life is imbedded in our society by tradition and folklore, it partly explains Timothy Mubhawu's sexist comments he made speaking on The Domestic Violence Bill. The comments he made obvously were his personal views as MDC is a non sexist party committed to the rights of women, nonetheless the comments should be condemned in strongest of terms as they have no place in the Zimbabwe we are struggling to build. The brouhaha caused by the comments led to a demonstration by the women's coalition, its been reported that at least 50 women took part in the demonstrations.

The irony however lies in the fact that the partisan police have allowed the demo to go on. This is in the wake of torture of ZCTU leaders including a women such as Lucia Matibenga who also wanted to lead a demo by workers against spiralling living costs and the ever eroding purchasing power of whatever currency the tyrannical government ever introduces. The details of torture are available for anyone to see the wounds are visible beside the victims speak of the torture at the hands of police. If you havent watched the video you can watch it here. Yet Chihuri the Chief of police said they were trying to escape, how feeble.

The Zimbabwean government has ruined the economy- Zanu PF Government has failed to provide freedom dividends.

BY RODWELL MUPUNGU

The current economic situation in Zimbabwe is very grave and impacts on a very large part of the population. Hyper inflation has reduced purchasing power. Real Gross Domestic Product has declined by 30% in the last 5 years. Annual inflation reached 1200% in 2006 – the formal threshold of hyperinflation. Continued high inflation hampers development hitting the poor hardest. This is caused by bad economic policies being persuaded by the Zimbabwe Government. Corruption is rampant; there is no rule of law, the absence of good Governance. The decline in inward investment and development assistance is further compromising the prospects for economic recovery.

Most of Zimbabwe’s (MDG’S) Millennium Development Goal’s are unlikely to be achieved by 2015 unless the political and social situation improves dramatically. Child and maternal mortality indicators show a steadily worsening situation, exacerbated by HIV and AIDS.

The succession battle has almost divided the ZANU-PF party with two factions imaging, battling to find a suitable candidate to replace the aging President Robert Mugabe. However the solution for our country is not to remove MUGABE and replace him with another dictator. The country needs a new constitution, bring President Mugabe to the negotiating table, agree on a transitional government which will then pave way for free and fair elections observed by the International observers. We will only achieve this if we work together ZCTU, Churches, ZINASU and the Civic society.

The MDC led by President Tsvangirai has stated that they will lead from the front and we in the Diaspora can also play our part by bringing the Zimbabwean Issue on the Agenda for the International Community namely UNITED NATIONS and the COMMONWEALTH. We also need to put pressure on the SADC countries to condemn the Harare government’s recent actions on peaceful demonstrations by the ZCTU. MDC-UK Leadership led by Ephraim Tapa is determined to take the fight back to the enemy, join us and be part of the struggle.

Time has come to rise to the occasion, the onus is on us fellow Zimbabweans, it is only Zimbabweans who can liberate themselves.

By Rodwell Munyaradzi Mupungu
Vice Chairman
MDC UK & Ireland
(He writes in his personal capacity)

A New Paragim Shift Needed In Confronting The Enemy

As Mugabe continues to use force and the unlawful application of the draconian Public Order & Security Act to suppress an uprising in Zimbabwe, a new paragim shift is needed on the part of Zimbabweans at home and abroad to unseat Mugabe. The demonstrations called by the labour body and supported by MDC were ineffective mainly because of heavy police presence who also brutally assaulted demonstrators as captured by Kubatana.net video. You can also read first Vice-President of ZCTU Lucia Matibenga's account of events and the beatings and torture they suffered at the hands of brutal and partisan police given to The Institute Of War & Peace Reporting. I have mentioned it countless number of times on this blog that we know we are dealing with a brutal and callous regime, who will stop at nothing to preserve their status while the masses fight for survival. Mugabe has even defended the beatings and the torture and he is a man scared and will not hesitate to use force to quell an uprising.

The use of force spreads fear and is a major deterrent in mobilising people in rising against Mugabe. Even the public utterances by Mugabe and his goons such as Didymus Mutasa that the armed machinery of their illegal regime will not hesitate to pull the trigger if anyone tries to demonstrate against the government only adds to compound on the fear that the people already have. Eldred Masunungure in his spot on his article where he argues that Zimbabweans are risk averse being led by the risk takers and have become so conditioned to their abnormality that they do not see the benefits of an uprising. While that is true again its another contributing factor that makes difficult to stage a demonstration. There is also the fact that the Zimbabwean society has been infiltrated by the CIO agents such that its impractical to stage a stealth demonstration without the state agents knowing about it.

Which makes us stop and take stock of the situation that demands new tactics that will force Mugabe to a negotiating table. As a member of MDC I advocate non-violent means of protest. The list of things that can be done other than strikes and mass demonstrations is endless. The most effective are economic means of protest, sanctions can bust an regime though in the case of Zimbabwe they will certainly hurt those they are meant to help. While mass demonstrations are still very effective if they are impromptu rather than planned as indicated when President Tsvangirai and his executive caught the regime unaware with their march from Harvest House to the parliament building.

There are numerous examples of countries that have achieved to rid themselves of despots in a non-violent manner. Philippines, Serbia... That we can draw strength on. What we need to understand is the control of power is pluralistic, it tends to deviate to monolithic as the regime sees fit. If we are dealing with a pluralistic political model its a people based model that distributes power throughout its six sources:

1) Authority - the position to give orders and expect them to be obeyed combined with the obligation of the people to obey the orders. Police and Army play a role here even though in the case of Zimbabwe they are partisan colluding in the violations of human rights.

2) Human resources - The people that cooperate with the dictatorship, the various people employed in various institutions that do the jobs that make the government functional. You can include people like Gono here, the civil servants in various government departments, customs, department of tax. Some cooperate with the dictator voluntarily or do so under pressure.

3) Skills and Knowledge - provided again voluntarily or under pressure, again like all the other above instances the power lies with these people like Jonathan Moyo, he is a brilliant PR person and used his skills and knowledge negatively to prop up a regime that he was once its worst critic.

4) Material Resources - control of or access to property, natural resources, financial resources, the economic system, and means of communication and transportation.The despot's power lies in the fact of how much of material resources are under his control.. For example, how many people who are disobedient and willing to act against the ruler are materially dependent, and controlled by regime. If unemployment is 80% in Zimbabwe then there are a few people who are materially dependent on the regime.

5) Intangible factor - psychological and ideological factors which may induce people to obey and assist the dictator; Those factors usually owe their existence to tradition and custom, such as the tradition of obeying people in uniforms, representatives of the church, gerontocratic (listening to the elders in the society) phenomena etc. In the case of Zimbabwe its the rural population that still see no evil that Mugabe has done after all he gave them seeds every other year.

6) Sanctions - punishments, threatened or applied, to ensure the submission and cooperation that are needed for the regime to carry out its policies and to exist.
Fear of sanctions is the model of applying this source of power in individual societies. Examples of this last source are even the possibility of being fired for disobedience, arrested, or physically abused, not the sanctions itself. The continued arbitrary arrest of MDC leaders and Union officials.

By acknowledging that the regime cannot collect taxes, enforce repressive laws and regulations, keep trains running on time, prepare national budgets, direct traffic, manage ports, print money, repair roads, keep food supplied to the markets, make steel, build rockets, train the police and army, issue postage stamps or even milk a cow. People provide these services to the ruler though a variety of organizations and institutions. If the people stop providing these skills, the ruler cannot rule."

We need to attack the machinery that oils Mugabe's government. The most effective will be economic non-cooperation and economic boycotts. Everyone in the economic chain can participate from:

1) Consumers - Rates and rent boycotts, non-consumption of boycotted goods, rent withholding and national or even international boycott. Harare would be a perfect city to engage in this activity its the administration capital of the government. For the city to function, provide electricity and water they need money obtained from rates and services and a boycott at consumer level will bring the regime to its knees

2) Workers, Producers and Middleman - Workers boycott, producers boycott and middleman boycott. There are many essential products that require workers, producer input as well as middleman. Imagine the scenario if workers started boycotting essential services such as air-traffic control, traffic light system it would paralyze the regime.

3) Owners, Management and Holders of Financial Institution - Traders boycott, refusal to sell or let property, withholding of company tax due to government, withholding of workers PAYE (pay as you earn) tax due to the government, workers lockout, refusal of industrial assistance, withdrawal of bank deposits, refusal to pay fees due to the reserve bank, refusal to pay debts, refusal to pay interests, refusal to cooperate with i.e the recent monetary policy, refusal of government money.

Civil disobedience and economic uncooperative will provide non-violent forms of protest in the face of genuine fear posed by Mugabe's security agents and repressive state machinery.

You can join the debate on these ideas to fight the enemy and many other issues affecting Zimbabwe and its people in the Discuss & Debate Zimbabwe forum dedicated to bring change in Zimbabwe.