Category Archive
The following is a list of all entries from the Uncategorized category.
ZIM 2008 ELECTIONS
chaos, chaos and more chaos. i hope this will not be the order of the day during this eletion period. Personally i pray for peace and tranquility but then again who knows what the day holds. After all these elections are taking place in Africa where violence during election period has become the norm.
What is however pleasing so far is that there have been no reports of violence but the party in fighting between the two main political parties leaves a lot to be desired.
i just hope that voters are are well informed and choose their candidates well. i am particularly concerned with certain people who lost in their constituencies and are now said to be contesting in another constituency. What really bothers me the most is that this individual is a woman challenging another woman. Where is the sisterhood here. Should we as women not support each other and urge each other on.
i am really upset about this decision made by the party to let thieves get priority over people who have been loyal and served their constituency well.
is this really fa
16 days of activism against gender based violence
This year i, together with the rest of the world commemorate the 16 days of activism against gender based violence with a clear picture of what gender based violence(gbv) is all about. I have never taken part in the commemorations because GBV is something that only happened to other people and not me.
This year however, today i am taken back to a time and a place where i was a victim of GBV. I hate to use the word victim because it makes me sound helpless because i am infact an empowered woman and so i will settle for the term survivor. Yes i have survived it all being the strong black woman that i am. I have survived a nasty beating by my superior in the Herald newsroom and this has just made me stronger.
What this man intended for bad has just turned out to be good because after this violation of my human rights and dignity i have vowed to fight against this form of abuse. There can never be any good memories on being violate in that manner in front of one’s colleagues but hey, i survived it all.
My abuse was not only physical but it was also emotional, not to even mention that it cost me my job. One can always argue that the job did not pay much then but then agin, it was mine and i loved what i did adn still do. The reason i became a journalist was to fight for human rights. This is much more than a career, it is a vocation you are either born one or not.
The issue of commemorating the 16 days of activism against gender based violence is one that all journalists and other human rights activists should take seriously. ÜN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon says that “Violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture. It takes a devastating toll on women’s lives, on their families, and on society as a whole. Most societies prohibit such violence — yet the reality is that too often, it is covered up or tacitly condoned.”
This years theme for the 16 days of Activism Against Genderbased violence is Demanding Implementation: Challenging Obstacles end violence against women. The question is what is the media doing to ensure that this happens?
The media plays a critical role in the sense that we are the custodians of imformation and what we write or broadcast is considered to be the gospel truth. We can really drive this battle for equality and a violence free nation if we can only get past the hurdles in our way.
The fiorst hurdle being that of News. In school we are taught that news is information that has not yet been made public and a closer look at the news will reveal that news is in itself a masculine narrative. We have been taught to look at news in a non gendered context mainly because we have been socialised that it is a man’s world and that news is a man communicating to another man. The million dollar question here is where are the women? Are they not part of the public too? The subjects of news are all a mans domain.
Journalists should move from evnt based journalism which has got no analysis attached to it but should concerntrate their efforts to theme based journalism which gives them room to question issues because at the end of the day, we are all fighting for equality.
Every self respecting journalist should make it ther quest to question some of these things like voter registration, does it cater for pregnant women? Journalism operates on isues of priority and i believe human rights is the number one priority. Women’s rights are human rrights too.
As journalists we are letting the people down by not giving them an indepth analysis of some of the stories we cover, for instance the issue of the land redistribution in Zimbabwe. This process was carried out inorder to foster equittable land ownership pattern but an insignificant number of women beneffitted from the process. Women only made up 15% of the receipents of land. Why was there no gender discourse on the land redistribution.
We are now moving towards elections and many pressure groups and womens organisations are calling for 50/50 participation while still others are saying Women Can Do it. What is our stake in all of this as the media. Should we sit back and let events unfold?
Is it not our responsibility to give objective coverage to aspiring women politicians ?
There is need for media coverage that is objective towards women who want to run for public office. The media has for a long time been insensitive to female politicians and therefore been unfair to them as they often choose to report on what they look like, what they are wearing or what they have done in their private lives instead of focussing on the campaign message and other pertinent issues.
The media has the tendency of turning a deaf ear, and a blind eye of the productive activities of women who eventually get elected for public office. Often female politicians are featured in the media when something in the negative has occurred. For instance, MDCs Trudy Stevenson received a lot of media attention when she was assaulted but very little has been said in the media about her success.
As the media, we should make every effort to bring governemt to accountability because Zimbabwe is a signatory to CEDAW and the SADC gender protocol
Poverty is Africa’s greatest Challenge
30 000 children die everyday, one in three seconds because of extreme poverty. More than I billion people around the world live on less than $1 per day and have no access to clean water. This situation can be reversed by a 1%increase in developing countries share of the world’s export.
GCAP is an International NON Governmental Organisation whose main mandate is to fight poverty also say that such an increase could lift 128 nations out of poverty.
Poverty has remained one of Africa’s major challenges and has played a critical role in the continent’s poor health delivery systems. Poverty also has a had in the development of disease in Africa and has delayed efforts to deal with HIVand Aids which affects 25 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa.
South African president Thabo Mbeki once described HIVand Aids as nothing more than a disease of poverty. Mbeki’s observations may be inaccurate but the facts on the ground all point to poverty having a hand in the spread of the pandemic t
Mitigation measures need to be put in place to eradicate extreme poverty. The seriousness of this problem has given rise to a number of human rights abuses for instance if a person is too poor to access health services, their right to health has been infringed.
When a child cannot go to school, their right to education has been taken and when there is no access to food and shelter their rights are also infringed upon.
Own initiative needed
Another NGO, Actionaid say the fight against poverty can only be won if local communities are empowered to gain access to resources and opportunities necessary to overcome barriers to prosperity.
This can be done only when national governments provide basic essential services to citizens. African nations must also play their part in creating an economic environment that provides decent jobs for their citizens.
Governments must protect their citizens especially women and children from violence
However rich countries must provide the resources that spur development and push for fair international rules with developing countries to make it pro-poor and sustainable.
G8 Intervention necessary
During the recently ended G8 Summit, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to increase aid to Africa. If the leaders of the eight most economically successful countries make good on their word, it could be a starting point for the eradication of poverty.
Their gesture of goodwill will be strengthen further when they ensure that the money arrives on time and also that they deliver on the 8billion which is owed since 2006.
Regional Director of Oxfam Charles Abani says that the gesture of goodwill would be meaningless if the Aid comes with conditions.
“The G8 must move away from the tendency of attaching economic conditions to aid and debt relief as it hinders development in Africa,” he said.
Birthdays are very emotional
Ive just turned 30 and one would think that í’d be happy about this because not very many people these days get to live to a ripe 30. I am happy its just that i can’t stop being emotional about it. Lateley, the sligthest thing can get me down and make me cry and i’m even begining to feel unappreciated by those close to me. At a time like this where no attention is forth coming, what’s a girl got to do but work, work , work.
Funny coming from me coz the better alternative would have been shopping. I would have shopped till i dropped but ther’s just nothing to shop. The shops are virtually empty, and as if this was not enough, i can’t even go binging because ther’s no food either.
The good thing though that has come out of all this is that we’ve all been taught to be resilient. The most horrible thing is that there was no birthday cake for yours trully. My mates couldn’t even take me out for some drinks coz those are in short supply as well. OOH, The other good thing to come out of these shortages is that at least water is available and that’s a healthy drink isn’t it.
There is no place like home
Its been three weeks since i came back from Europe and believe me i’ve had a torrid time trying to adjust. I have plenty of adjusting to do, the first one is not to take internet access for granted. The second one is to appreciate the little food i can find.
This is no joke dear reader things are as bad as they can ever get. I miss the days of the pork, beef and dumplings in Berlin. The days when i’d simply walk into a supermarket and shop to my hearts content. I miss the train rides and the cute little dogs and the friends i made during my stay but all this i would never trade for what i have here.
Whoever said home is where the heart is spoke the truth. i might not have everything to make my life here comfortable but i’m just so happy to be home amongst loved ones. What i really wish for is for this process of development to speed up a bit , but then again is we move with speecd we might end up loosinfg it in the end. After all good things come to those who wait.
A friend once told me that good things come to those who go after them and i think she was right in here own way. Even Bob Marley once sang that none but ourselves can free our minds. I believe that development in Africa will come when we begin to develop ourselves. The process should start within the continent and not from donor countries. Africa has some of the biggest brains and no doubt some of the best leaders in the world and i see no reason why we are not developing quickly.
Just yesterday, the Britian’s Gordon Brown unveiled a massive statue of Nelson Mandela in the UK. His statue now stands in the midst of other great leaders like Winston Churchill. This just goes to show that good things have indeed come out of this continent. I just wait patiently for the day that we as a continent do away with civil wars, corruption , bad governance and all the things that hinder development.
