By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Sep 1 2010 (IPS)

Fisheries contribute at least $10 billion dollars to African economies every year. In countries such as Angola, Egypt and Namibia, fisheries are vital economic drivers.

Fishermen on South Africa's West Coast. Credit: Patrick Burnett/IPS

But parallel to the situation for most of Africa’s farmers, Africa’s fisheries resources generally provide fragile incomes for small-scale fishers.

Mari-Lise du Preez, a forestry and fisheries researcher at the South African Institute for International Affairs spoke to IPS about how fisheries can be a vehicle for community development.

Q: How important are Africa’s fisheries? A: When fish stocks collapsed in other parts of the world, a lot of interest started being paid to countries in Africa, for instance Western and Southern African countries. We have a big industrial fishing fleet from European and Asia seeing this as attractive.

On the other hand, you get countries where small scale exploitation of fisheries provide a lot of livelihoods. For instance in a country like Angola, more than 90 percent of the fish is caught not for export: it is caught for the local population.

I heard the Angola Minister of Fisheries saying, “Having no meat is no big deal in Angola but when there is a shortage of fish it becomes a political issue.”

It’s not the same everywhere but in a country like that, that’s where people get most of their protein from.

In terms of development, if you look at figures as well, worldwide there are less than one million people employed by the big fisheries sector, but it is estimated that the artisanal sector employs 50 million people.

Despite the debate over who catches more fish, there are many, many more people employed in the small-scale sector – this attests to the contribution of fisheries to economic development.

It’s difficult to generalise, but for countries on the coast, fisheries play a very big role.

Q: How do fisheries contribute to nutrition in Africa? A: In South Africa, people from the coast eat fish, and so do those inland, in restaurants there is sushi. In a country like Angola, most people rely of fish for nutrition, so yes, it is important.

Unlike minerals, fish are food. The sector therefore contributes directly to food security in Africa.

Q: There have been reports from different parts of the continent about how small-scale fishers are marginalised. Whether by industrial fishing fleets off the coast of Senegal or Somalia, or by problems with licences for fishing communities in South Africa. What can be done to protect and expand opportunities for artisanal or small-scale fishing?? A: I know in South Africa they have been speaking about small-scale fisheries policy for a long time. It’s an issue that hasn’t yet been sorted out and it’s a political issue. People can really get upset.

However, there are examples to look at like in Angola, there are many small scale fishers.

One example from there is to organise some of these fishers into cooperatives, similar to the ones for agriculture in South Africa. This is one of the ways [to support the sector], because it’s a highly informal sector and it’s difficult to know what’s happening in an informal sector.

The difficult thing about fisheries is there is no “one size fits all” example, because you have societies with different challenges. You have different fishery systems with different challenges, like the abalone fishery in South Africa. You can’t compare it with fishing hake, because different species [reproduce themselves] at different rates.

Q: How sustainably are Africa’s fisheries managed? A: We have acknowledged many problems in the world lately, that involve natural systems. There is growing recognition of complexity, meaning that if you touch one part of it, you don’t only impact on that part.

In that sense, something like a water catchment area, even a forest: they keep water basins healthy; this in turn keeps fish healthy. For instance, a community polluting a water source affects the fish: they can’t breed.

Q: How does the quality of water management impact on fishing communities? A: If you look at the sea for instance. It’s interesting to look at the journey we have been on. First people thought, it’s inexhaustible. It was basically open access.

When the realisation came that marine resources can be exhausted, then came the laws, such as the exclusive economic zones. The idea was to protect the economic value.

However there is often a big disconnect from the people that make decisions at the central level and the people in the communities. What needs to taken note of is that people in communities make decisions [that affect conservation] each day; what governments need is to engage communities in managing these resources.

What needs to be recognised is the big impact that fisheries and water resources in general have in enhancing lives of small scale fishers.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Jul 17 2010 (IPS)

China’s interest in Africa is frequently portrayed simply as that of a rising economic power seeking natural resources. Deborah Brautigam argues that this portrayal misses the full complexity of business relations between China and the continent.

Deborah Brautigam, author of ‘The Dragon’s Gift: the Real Story of China in Africa, argues that in contrast to Europe and the United States, China also sees Africa as an important market. As well as dominating exports of consumer goods to Africa, Chinese companies are exploring manufacturing and infrastructure construction across the continent, and coming up with innovative ways to profit from and pay for it.

Speaking to IPS during a recent visit to South Africa, Brautigam said African governments, large and small business owners, and civil society will have to remain alert to take advantage. Excerpts of the interview below; Read the full interview here. (pdf)

Q: Let’s talk about the recent deal to build refineries in Nigeria: how does it illustrate what you’ve called “resource-backed infrastructure loans” by China in Africa? A: First of all, it was a only a memorandum of understanding.

The key thing to look at is where the financing is. There is no financing mentioned in this [May] deal. [In July, some details of funding for a first refinery were reached.]

I think it will be very brave Chinese bank that takes on a 20-something billion dollar project in Nigeria because, yes, Nigeria is much more stable than Democratic Republic of Congo, but the DRC projects are much smaller.

I think they would be much smarter to start with one oil refinery and see how it goes. Right now 85 percent of the petroleum products consumed in Nigeria are imported and they export raw oil, so it’s really a bad situation.

But the reason the situation is like that is political. A few people at the top benefit from having some control over the imported oil products, and they don’t want that situation to change. So it’s a challenge for this deal to be consummated.

Q: What are the strengths and weaknesses of China’s involvement in Nigeria? A: Nigeria is a country in which there have been a lot of discussions of doing these resource backed infrastructure loans. My understanding is that the Nigerian government came up with this idea. Perhaps they looked at Angola and some of the things the Chinese were doing there.

They proposed this to the Chinese, Indians, Koreans: so a number of different Asian companies and government got a proposal that they do oil-backed trades, getting access to concessions out in the Niger Delta and in return they could do the infrastructure projects.   It is a different kind of deal than the DRC and Angola. Because in Angola the oil is being pumped so you can secure loans with oil that is already being exported. In Nigeria, you can get a concession but there is no guarantee that you will actually get oil there and of course there are expenses.

In DRC, the Chinese made very sure that they put in the contract that the copper concession had to be evaluated so they could be sure there was enough copper in there, and copper that could be mined at a cost-effective price.

Q: What is in it for China in the end? Why get involved in complex, risky deals? A: I think it is useful to look at China’s relationship with Africa as part of its strategy of going global. It’s about China being part of globalisation.

You can call this neo-colonialism, imperialism but what globalisation is all about is moving up the ladder, it’s about becoming a world economic power and so China looks at Africa as a partner in this.

So what do the various parts Africa provide for their partnership?

What they are largely providing is raw materials; but the other side of it is, [Africa is] a huge market. The West has by and large been competed out or they have given up on African markets but these markets are huge. China is the single largest exporter to Africa all across the board.   The Chinese look at Africa in a different way. The West looks at Africa as a place of war, disease, chaos and terrible things and a place to be pitied. The Chinese look at Africa as a place for consumers and business partners and it’s a very different picture.

Q: Chinese products and retailers are highly visible in African markets. What is their role in Africa’s economies? A: Chinese traders are playing two roles.

On the negative side, they are competing with other traders. In Tanzania for example, Chinese traders are sitting on the pavement next to the Tanzanian traders and laying out their groundnuts, speaking Swahili, calling customers to come buy their groundnuts.

And this has happened in a lot of countries. To see a Chinese person there… people are not comfortable and the same applies in small shops. That provides a lot of competition for local traders who may not want someone coming in speaking their language selling right next to them.

On the other hand the Chinese traders are creating more opportunities for consumers. They bring in cheaper things. Sometimes the quality is not good, but often the quality is good and consumers learn which traders to trust.

There has been very interesting research into how Africans are reacting to these kinds of products. There has been a problem of copying – this is not so much on the level of traders but Chinese coming from China and taking African fabrics back to China, having them duplicated there at a cheaper price and bringing them back to sell in Africa.

Q: What role should governments, civil society and business play to take maximum advantage of the possibilities brought on by China? A: For African governments, it is very interesting to learn more about the things the Chinese have done in order to raise themselves out of poverty. Not to copy their policies but to look and adapt their program of experimentation and try new things out.

There is a lot we can learn from what the Chinese have done over the past years. So I think for African governments they also have another kind of partner and they can use this as leverage for policy space.

African governments over the past couple of decades haven’t had a lot of policy space because they have been subject to conditionalities. It’s not just about governance but economic policies.

What the Chinese are saying is that there is a lot different ways to develop and it doesn’t all have to be by Washington consensus.

Business people have new partners. A lot of African traders have been going to China and picking up Chinese goods and services and bringing them back. What’s been happening in some parts of Africa is that traders have been going to China and looking at their factories and say, This is not difficult to do. And they have been seeking Chinese technical assistance to help them set up factories – I have seen this happen in Nigeria for instance.

For civil society, what will be helpful is if they can learn as much as possible about what the Chinese are doing – both the negatives and positives.

As with any new partner, they need to be sure that they keep the partner on their toes. They want to push for greater transparency, they want their government to release information, they want have figures: how much aid are we getting, how much investment are we getting, how much trade are we doing, how many export products, do we have debt, can we repay it?

That is what a democratic society is entitled to know and that’s the role for civil society. And also pushing for standards and enforcement of standards.

I think they are doing a good job but they can do better.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, May 11 2010 (IPS)

The abuse of domestic workers, the majority of whom are women, is still widespread in South Africa despite calls for the government to intensify the implementation of the domestic workers law.

SADSAWU Secretary General Myrtle Witbooi says violations of domestic workers' rights go unnoticed and unreported. Credit: Davison Makanga/IPS

Despite the law’s eight-year existence, various speakers at a recent conference on domestic workers noted that this skills sector is still regarded as casual work by most employers. The May 7-8 conference, titled “Exploited, Undervalued and Essential” and hosted by the University of Western Cape’s Social Law Project, revealed sad cases of domestic workers’ rights violations.

A private business

While appreciative of the legislation, the South African Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (SADSAWU) is concerned with its poor enforcement. According to SADSAWU Secretary General Myrtle Witbooi, the private nature of the sector makes it difficult for them to mobilise workers. The union has 4,500 members out of an estimated one million domestic workers in the country.

“We believe most workers would like to join the unions but they do not know about us because they are isolated. They stay at the backyard of employers’ homes,” Witbooi told IPS.

As a result, most cases where worker’s rights are violated go unnoticed and unreported. They record little success with the few cases that come to their attention, due to the slow and onerous arbitration procedures. In some instances, Witbooi revealed, employers win due to their influence in the employer-employee relationship.

The situation is more dire for migrant workers whose lack of legal status exposes them to exploitation by employers.

One such worker is Mercy Moyo*, a Zimbabwe national working in Cape Town. Moyo had such a bad experience with her former employer that she has now chosen to “freelance”.

“I was told not to use certain utensils and had my salary deducted if I made little mistakes like breaking a cup,” Moyo told IPS.

South Africa has seen a rise in freelance domestic workers like Moyo, popularly called “chars” and researchers want them accommodated by the law.

“They are not defined by law, so they do not have any benefits or rights. Interestingly many employers are also opting for this kind of service to evade law requirements such as minimum salary and Unemployment Insurance Fund registrations,” said the Social Law Project’s lead researcher, Fairuz Mullagee.

Enforcement challenges

The Labour Department is well aware of the anomalies but cites a shortage of personnel as their major challenge. In the Western Cape province, the department has just short of 90 inspectors, too few to monitor even one sector, let alone all the province’s workplaces.

“We embark on an inspection blitz in specific areas for a period of a week each in order to deal with our situation,” said Trevor Bailey of the Labour Department in the Western Cape.

Another challenge is the country’s competing laws. While the Constitution guarantees the right to privacy for home owners, inspectors are empowered to conduct routine checks. It’s a dilemma too difficult to deal with for the inspectors who are sometimes barred from access to certain properties.

Another contradiction is between labour and immigration laws. According to Ray Mungoshi of the Social Law Project, while immigration law aims to keep illegal immigrants out of the country, labour law guarantees everyone the same rights regardless of migration status. 

Solutions

Judge and University of Cape Town professor Halton Cheadle believes the nature of domestic work can be improved if administered at municipal and local government level. Cheadle argued this would make it easy to monitor and organise collective bargaining.

Alternatively, Sahra Ryklief from the International Federation of Workers’ Education (IFWEA) suggested incentives, such as tax relief, to encourage employers to register their employees for the Unemployment Insurance Fund and to pay them minimum salaries.

Others argue that the domestic workers’ law needs a complete overhaul to improve worker’s rights and welfare.

Some employers are complying with the domestic worker’s labour regulations. Carol Spencer in Cape Town’s Muizenberg suburb told IPS she had registered her domestic worker because “I wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of the law.”

Others, like Spencer Daniels*, say they are not aware of the legislation. “We just agreed on our terms with the worker,” he said. 

Decent work

The domestic workers’ rights conference also contributed to ongoing research and consultation on the drafting of a convention on decent work for domestic workers that the International Labour Organisation (ILO) hopes to have adopted by 2011.

The proposed convention is widely seen as a step forward to realising decent work for the domestic labour sector. But it will require a great deal lobbying to convince government to buy in to the idea. Consultation will take place in June and SADSAWU say they will campaign to have the vision implemented.

“It is part of empowering women where we have to be free and speak for ourselves,” said Witbooi. After all, she added, women are the majority of domestic workers.

*names changed on request

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga and Matthew O. Berger
WASHINGTON/JOHANNESBURG, Apr 10 2010 (IPS)

As the World Bank approved a controversial three-billion-dollar loan for a coal-fired power plant in South Africa Thursday, both the details and the broader impacts of the loan continue to be criticised by community and environmental groups.

The U.S., Britain, Netherlands, Norway and Italy abstained from voting on the loan, thus showing their opposition without taking the stronger, less-diplomatic action of voting “no”. Their concerns were largely environment or climate-related, but there are also numerous criticisms of the possible effect of the plant on local communities and its lack of effect in bringing more reliable electricity to the population.

“Energy insecurity and climate change are two of the most significant development challenges of our time,” Sarwat Hussein, senior communications officer for the World Bank’s Africa region, told IPS in South Africa, pointing out that only one in four Africans have access to energy. “This project is an attempt to achieve energy security and lay the foundations for a greener future.”

But whether the plant, being built by South African utility Eskom in the country’s northern Limpopo region, will achieve either of those goals has been called into serious question.

“The project generally has been purported as a project that will help poor people, and will it? No,” says Michael Stulman of Africa Action.

In a statement announcing the loan’s approval, the World Bank stressed how the loan “aims to benefit the poor directly, through jobs created…and through additional power capacity to expand access to electricity.”

But, Stulman told IPS, “The decision really shifts the burden onto the poor communities.”

This burden would come in the form of pollution, reliance on greenhouse gases and the costs of paying back the loans, he said.

This loan, like most of the bank’s actions, is aimed at decreasing poverty through development. “We know that industrial development does not necessarily mean employment because we have seen jobs drop as we have large capital development projects in the country,” said Bobby Peek, director of the South African environmental justice and development organisation groundWork.

Critics also point out that the plant, Medupi, is already having detrimental effects for the health of those living in the area.

Peek reports illegal coal mining is already underway there and that large amounts of water are going to be – and are being – extracted from rivers. Many of those rivers will face contamination from mercury and other toxicants, as will the air from sulphur and carbon dioxide.

Residents of Limpopo Province filed a complaint Tuesday highlighting these and other concerns with the World Bank’s independent complaint body, the Inspection Panel.

A protest was also organised for Wednesday, in which about 60 people converged outside World Bank headquarters here.

But with Thursday’s vote already on the calendar, opponents faced an impossible battle. Once a loan proposal comes before the bank’s board of executive directors, its approval is virtually a foregone conclusion.

This has not stopped many of the contentious details of the proposal from gaining greater scrutiny over the past couple of days, however.

In one, South Africa’s ruling party has investments in Hitachi Africa, which has been contracted to build a boiler for the Medupi project. Since those contracts predate the bank’s loan – which forms only a fraction of the over 17 billion dollars needed to complete the project – the bank and Hitachi say it can be ensured that no bank money goes to that component, and thus potentially to the political party.

“The Hitachi component is not part of what we are financing. We were not party to awarding a contract, and we are not a party to its payment,” Hussein said.

In another, the fact that the loan is in dollars could make it more difficult to repay.

“This means we have to get foreign currency in dollars,” Peek told IPS in South Africa, explaining that if the Rand weakens to the dollar the size of the loan will increase and that the country will have to depend more on exporting and exporting at cheaper prices.

“It won’t only be a financial debt but a climate debt,” said Stulman.

Climate change is expected to hit developing countries, especially those in places like southern Africa particularly hard.

Coal emits more carbon dioxide per unit of energy produced than any other fossil fuel and the Medupi plant is expected to emit 25 to 30 million tonnes per year.

“Simply put, we are very disappointed by the decision by the U.S. and other executive directors,” said Stulman.

The U.S. Treasury Department issued a guidance memo in December directing U.S. representatives on the boards of multilateral development banks – such as the World Bank – to encourage building demand in developing countries for no- or low-carbon energy sources.

Africa Action and other organisations had hoped this would translate into a vote opposing the loan, rather than an abstention.

“The coal lending guidelines are a good start – but now the bank should adopt them and Treasury must show, at a minimum, that it is willing to act on them,” said Peter Goldmark, director of the climate and air program at the U.S.-based Environmental Defence Fund.

The coal-fired Medupi plant – which many say is one of the most contentious loan proposals in recent history – notwithstanding, the World Bank is also funding numerous efforts to address the effects of climate change and provide support for low carbon projects, largely through the Climate Investment Funds which the bank approved in 2008.

In addition to the 3.05 billion dollars for Medupi, the loan approved Thursday includes 260 million dollars for wind and solar projects and 485 million “for low-carbon energy efficiency components, including a railway to transport coal with fewer greenhouse gas emissions”.

Hussein calls these “important steps to support South Africa’s long term plans to mainstream renewable energy technologies”.

When the external costs on health, communities and the climate are factored in, though, the cost of using coal power will be much higher than that which could be provided by a plan that features a more reliable grid and renewable sources of energy, contends Stulman.

Excerpt:

When Mbuyiselo Botha decided to take the African National Congress League President, Julius Malema, to court for hate speech against women, he was confident from the start that the case had merit. But he also knew that this would be the most challenging test of his 15 years of gender activism.

Sonwabo Qathula belongs to one of the many groups of men Sonke is helping to break gender stereotypes. Credit: Kristin Palitza/IPS

“My colleagues from back during the anti-apartheid activism days warned that I had taken a career damaging move; I was seen as challenging the black leadership,” said Botha.

Despite the discouragement and the potential of making enemies at the top, he went on with court challenge and won.

On March 15 the controversial Malema was found guilty of hate speech for he insinuating that President Jacob Zuma’s 2005 rape accuser had enjoyed the act. Addressing students in Cape Town last year, Malema was widely quoted saying: “When a woman didn’t enjoy it, she leaves early in the morning. Those who had a nice time will wait until the sun comes out, request breakfast and ask for taxi money.”

The ruling ANC youth leader was ordered to pay 50,000 rand ($6,700) or publicly apologise for his remarks within a month of the ruling.

“Unfortunately, Malema’s comments reflect a general mentality that men in South Africa and Africa as a whole have. They think they have a right of domination over women, which is wrong,” said Botha, the father of three.

Dispelling myths of male superiority

Having been involved in anti-apartheid protests in the 1980s, Botha knows very well the dynamics of activism. He partook in a series of protests, he was shot and injured in the process and left with a permanent disability. The apartheid struggle, he says, made him realise that “all forms of oppression are unacceptable.”

“After the end of apartheid in 1994, I thought we cannot claim to have total freedom when women are still subjected to suffering through unnecessary cultural practices and perceptions.”

A 2009 study by South Africa’s Medical Research Council revealed that one in every four men interviewed admitted to having raped a woman; the highest rate in the world. The research further found that few cases are reported. The chilling findings are what Botha, through organisations he works with such as Sonke Gender Justice Network and Men’s Forum, seeks to reverse.

Men acting against gender-based violence

When Sonke Gender Justice Network (Sonke) was formed in 2006, the organisation found that a majority of men they surveyed in Johannesburg believed they were not doing enough to end domestic violence. Since then the organisation has been educating and training boys and men to “realign their thinking”.

“We have been working in six of the country’s 10 provinces and we are looking forward to expand our foothold,” said Regis Mtutu, the organisation’s National Programmes Coordinator.

Sonke means “Together” in Nguni languages. And this is the strategy of the organisation in its bid to realise gender equality. “We simply believe that working in the context of men, talking to them together with organisations that push for women’s rights, we can attain our goal,” added Mtutu.

Spreading the message

Currently the organisation is embarking on its flagship programme, “One Man Can”.

“We want to show men that they can respect, love their women passionately, that they can change their values and fight equality within their communities,” Mtutu explained.

The project has seen the organisation train boys and men in various communities – especially rural and high-density communities. Training, the organisation says, is conducted using imagery and testimonials through audio. The more sophisticated groups are targeted through social networking media such as Facebook and Twitter. Sonke aims to reach out to at least 20,000 men in the next three years and establish many branches that will be permanently located within the communities.

The organisation has been working with traditional chiefs towards the goal of establishing permanent presence in most parts of the country. The aim, Mtutu says, is to change the false ego of man’s domination through the custodians of culture. Men’s sense of supremacy is a product of culture, tradition and religion, Mtutu says.

“When that false sense of masculinity is reversed, we will see a decline HIV simply because forced sexual activities and rape myths would have been eliminated.”

Elsewhere in Africa, Sonke is working in collaboration with like-minded organisations such as Padare/Enkundleni in Zimbabwe, the Kenya-based Men Can and the Rwanda Men’s Resource Centre. Together, the organisations resolved at a 2009 symposium to assist African governments through capacity building and implementation of policy.

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Dec 4 2009 (IPS)

As the 2010 Soccer World Cup approaches, calls for the decriminalisation of sex work in South Africa have been renewed.

A steering committee has been set up with a mandate to push for reforms with the police commissioner and legislature before the world soccer showcase. Sex workers and activist organisations say the World Cup is an opportunity to decriminalise their trade.

“I have seen my colleagues harassed by the police and I have also experienced that,” said Anna Sibisi*, a sex worker for the past eight years in Cape Town. “I would like to see this end before the World Cup.”

Well aware of the resistance to changing the law, sex workers are pushing for at least a moratorium on arrests during the soccer event.

“We should be given temporary licences to operate during the World Cup as they map the long term plans,” Sibisi said. She sees the World Cup as a chance to work uninterrupted and “make lots of money.”

In South Africa, sex workers face a jail term if charged for at least three times. Fines of up to 200 dollars are paid on initial arrests.

“The police have to stop harassing sex workers, doing so will increase their vulnerability, that is why we will engage with police authorities before the World Cup,” said Dianne Massawe of the Sex Worker Education and Advocacy Taskforce (SWEAT).

SWEAT is a non governmental organisation that advocates for the rights of sex workers. The Cape Town based organisation has also been on the forefront of calling for the decriminalisation of sex in South Africa.

“We have realised that people still enter into sex work, therefore we say it is better to educate (them) and have their rights protected – it’s a matter of human rights,” added Massawe. The idea is that decriminalisation will end the abuse of sex workers by police; harassment and arrests – though almost never any charges – force people like Sibisi to operate in risky locations.

South Africa’s HIV and AIDS and STI Strategic Plan (2007-2011) recommended that sex work be decriminalised. For Health researcher Marlise Richter with the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC), the merits of such a move are many; chief among them reproductive health for sex workers.

She said: “If it is legal the sex worker will dictate the terms knowing that the law is on her side, she or he can negotiate with a client for safe sex which is rarely happening now.”

Health activist Tim Bannet of the World AIDS Campaign shares Richter’s view. Bannet says HIV transmission will be significantly reduced if sex work is decriminalised. South Africa expects at least 450,000 visitors during the World Cup, and according to Bannet—sexual activity will increase. The prospect is chilling for a country that has the world’s highest HIV and AIDS rate. UNAIDS says South Africa accounts for 17 percent of global infections.

“Sex workers will be empowered and clients will know this – so there will be less abuse and fear,” said Bannet.

Bannet referred to the New Zealand experience after laws were changed in 2003. Studies conducted by the government five years later showed positive changes, which Bannet said were due to ‘improved working conditions and sex workers being able to negotiate safer sex and report abuse to police.’

But the suggestion of decriminalisation has again sparked furious public debate in South Africa, a reflection of how sex work is still highly stigmatised in African countries.

The process of changing the law began some seven years ago when the South African Law Reform Commission was tasked with reviewing the Sexual Offences Act. However, the process has dragged and the initial bill is expected for parliamentary debate in March next year and final legislation in 2011.

“The delay has not been encouraging and this has had profound effects on sex work operations in this country,” said Massawe. “We anticipate a day when our leaders will realise that this phenomenon will remain part of our society.”

The South African government and the FIFA local organising committee have also been urged to prioritise safe sex campaigns during the tournament. Germany’s hosting of the World Cup in 2006 is cited as a good example. Caroline Keuppers of the University of Munich said condom distribution was increased by 400,000 and safe sex was promoted more than a year before kick off.

The German success story and the reality of the enormous work ahead worries the South African National AIDS Council and other stakeholders who are not yet visible as the tournament fast approaches.

“We are talking to FIFA on all these issues of public health and I think it will also be an opportunity to introduce the human rights aspect—that is of sex workers,” concluded Zanele Mthembu of SANAC Sports and Entertainment Sector.

*Not her real name.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Aug 10 2009 (IPS)

In 1956, twenty thousand women marched to parliament to protest discriminatory pass laws. The march, commemorated as Women’s Day in South Africa on Aug. 9 each year, has become iconic of women’s quest for equality.

Women farm workers say they can support themselves if they are given access to land. Credit: Davison Makanga/IPS

Fifteen years after apartheid was replaced by non-racial democracy, South African farm workers say they still face discrimination. The final week of July saw a coordinated series of protests by farm workers in the Western Cape against poor working conditions, retrenchments and evictions.

The week of protest beginning Jul. 27 was led by Sikhula Sonke, a woman-led farm worker union, and the Women on Farms Project (WFP), a farmworker support organisation which Sikhula Sonke split from last year.

The disgruntled farm workers staged demonstrations at several farms, held a night vigil outside the Parliament buildings in Cape Town and picketed near the venue of the annual Stellenbosch Wine Festival, which attracts local wine and international wine enthusiasts.

At Parliament, the chanting workers demanded to meet the parliamentary committees on agriculture and land affairs within 30 days. Sikhula Sonke organiser Estelle Coetzee said access to land was central to addressing farm workers’ recurring problems.

"They should give the farms to workers and bring in the government so that the farm workers can be shareholders and make them BEE farms," she said.

BEE is South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment programme, which aims to offer opportunities to previously-disadvantaged race groups.

A memorandum to President Jacob Zuma, calling for urgent land redistribution, was accepted on his behalf by Western Cape provincial manager in the presidency Charles Ford.

"Prioritise land redistribution for farm workers, especially women farm workers and build the capacity of farm workers, enable them to own and manage their own farms," read the petition.

Fifty-two-year-old Esmeralda Jacobs has worked on farms for over two decades, living in squalor. She said owning a piece of land would restore some dignity.

"I have children and I have worked for many years at the farm but without having something that I can call my own, it is dehumanising," said Jacobs

A 2004 study by the Nkuzi Development Association and Sikhula Sonke showed roughly a million black workers had been evicted from farms in the decade following 1994, and there are no signs the trend is slowing.

Government programmes for redistribution of land are underfunded and behind schedule; minimum wages for farmworkers are routinely flaunted by landowners.

Land occupation

Last year, members of the Rawsonville Women’s Agricultural Cooperative occupied part of a farm, citing government’s slow movement on land reform. While the land owner is willing to sell them a piece of the farm, the group blames the Lands department for dragging out the funding and formalisation process.

"It’s very difficult to get land. Farm owners sell to each other instead of building the capacity of emerging black farmers. So what we did was a symbol to show the government that we are very serious about the land issue," declared Roseline Presence of WFP, which supports the Rawsonville Women’s Agricultural Cooperative.

Presence said women were capable of producing if given resources. She cited, as an example, a group of women in Stellenbosch which is living off a leased piece of land they have turned into a vegetable garden.

"The women are farming and selling the produce. This shows that if given their own land, they can do more," said Presence.

However, critics say with the government's slow pace and inadequate national budget allocation for acquiring land for redistribution; the chances of land provision to the farm workers are slim.

"To date, government hasn't prioritised farm workers for land provision, I don't think that is going to change because government's vision of land reform to date has been one of large scale commercial farms, there are very few cases of land subdivided into small units for the poor," said Professor Ben Cousins, director of the University of Western Cape's Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies.

"However, the key to getting land reform going in South Africa is from the grassroots, if they (farm workers) continue to mount political pressure, demand for small plots of food production might be possible."

South Africa’s Human Rights Commission has called for a national tripartite dialogue between government, commercial farmers and farm workers. Commissioner Pregs Govender said the continuing violations of workers' rights are worrying.

"Workers are paid wages that are way below minimum and despite working hard. For instance at a horticulture farm in the Western Cape, which produces beautiful flowers but workers living in pigsties," Govender said.

Sikhula Sonke’s Coetzee said the country's progressive laws to protect farm workers would only be meaningful if enforced by the government. She blamed the government's labour and land departments for not responding to their queries in a timely fashion.

"They only talk and seem to understand on the phone but you will never see them on the farms, if the Labour department inspectors are few, then the government should recruit more," said Coetzee.

Also critical is government's speedy reaction against rising evictions and retrenchment. According to Sikhula Sonke, farms that producing export crops such as grapes and flowers are shedding workers due to plummeting business in foreign markets. The farm workers’ group says the government should either bail out the ailing farms or urge the owners to cut costs by means other than retrenching.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Jul 23 2009 (IPS)

Delivering his first state of the nation address in June 2009, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma described sport as ‘a unifying force’ that people must use to live together.

'As Africans we are coming together.' - Kanana FC player, Mayde Mlambo (left), and manager, Thembelani Dumo Credit: Davison Makanga/IPS

The move is particularly significant following a wave of xenophobia that engulfed the settlement and similar communities across South Africa in 2008.

Watching a training session at the club’s patchy training ground, the players’ high spirits seem to defy the makeshift bumpy pitch. Thembelani Dumo, co-founder and chairman of the club, says the move to invite foreigners to play for their team was a conscious choice to set an example to other soccer clubs in their social league as well to communities most affected by xenophobia.

“We stay in the same neighbourhood and the same street, Kanana. We came up with the idea. It sounded good and we just thought of giving it a chance,” said Dumo.

Kanana FC was the first team in its league to recruit foreigners in December 2208. Although other clubs initially questioned the idea, Dumo says they have begun emulating Kanana’s model. He cites teams in high-density areas such as Du Noon and Mitchell’s Plain as examples.

“Some teams have seen how we are doing it and now they do not have that attitude towards foreigners, it’s clear even within our team,” adds Dumo.

The assertion is reflected by lanky Sifiso Skroba, one Kanana FC’s midfielders. Skroba says through interaction at daily training sessions, he now regards migrants from elsewhere in Africa as equals.

“They are our brothers, I don’t have any problem socialising with them, and this is the way we should live as Africans,” said Skroba.

Kanana, the name of the street where most of the team’s players live, is the Xhosa language version of the biblical Canaan – the Promised Land. The name is only slowly living up to its promise for Zimbabwean migrant Peter Mutivi, who now plays for the team.

Mutivi says he now feels more welcome in a community that exploded during the anti-migrant attacks in 2008. The father of three moved to South Africa with his family five years ago and scratches out a living from scarce contract jobs as a labourer. The slow-talking Mutivi’s countenance lights up when asked about his experiences since joining Kanana FC.

“I feel great; there is a sense of togetherness in playing football. You socialise with different people and now South Africans appreciate us because they now know that we want to contribute something to the community,” said Mutivi.

Equally at home is another Zimbabwean, Mayde Mlambo, who says the hype around the hosting of the soccer World Cup tournament by South Africa next year will play a major role in bonding communities like his.

“Everyone is just excited about 2010 and as Africans we are coming together,” Mlambo said.

Positive impact

Dumo is proud of how in a short period, Kanana FC has managed to change attitudes in his community. He says the team is gradually realising its goal of yielding results away from the soccer field.

“They (foreigners) now feel at home, and even during some social functions, they are free to contribute.”

The integration-building in Masiphumelele dovetails with what civic organisations such as the Social Justice Coalition have been working to achieve. Project officer Anele Wonde told IPS that change is slowly being realised in some communities.

She however urges the government to denounce xenophobia more forcefully.

“Xenophobia attacks are costing our country, what we are saying is that the government needs to stand up and address the nation that it is wrong and shameful,” said Wonde.

Wonde says research conducted by her organisation revealed that poor service delivery was a major factor that triggered violent attacks last year. “People were frustrated because of little service delivery in the country, so the government needs to step up.”

According to the South African Police Service, six of the 50 xenophobia cases reported last year in Western Cape Province were successfully tried. Of the six, two got suspended imprisonment sentences while four will serve five years in jail.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, May 14 2009 (IPS)

Migrant farm workers in South Africa are entitled to the same workplace rights as any other employee. But the reality across the country suggests the opposite.

Farmworker settlement: working and living conditions for farm labour are poor. Credit: Davison Makanga/IPS

"The majority know their rights but the main thing is fear of expulsion from work," said Chamu Mpofu, a twenty-five year old Zimbabwean working at the farm.

"The fact of the matter is that the Employment Equity Act says no person may discriminate against a worker based on ethnic or social origin," said Ivan Polson, an inspector with the provincial labour department. "The fact that they are Zimbabweans does not take away any of their rights."

But Philani Zamuchiya, of the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) a respected research and teaching centre at the University of the Western Cape, has researched conditions of employment for Zimbabweans in South African farms. He says generally poor working conditions on farms are worse for migrants, who will accept almost any job opportunity out of desperation.

"The situation for Zimbabwean workers is dire. Although South African labour laws protect them, commercial farmers continue flouting the regulations because they already have a pool of workers waiting to take up employment," he noted. "Although minimum salaries are around 1,253 rand ($153) a month, most farmers are paying their workers a mere 250 rand ($30)," Zamuchiya said.

Privilege Dube has worked on South African farms since 2002, and has nothing much to show for seven years in the fields. "Life is hard. A season is six to seven months, and we have got no food to eat and no houses to stay when it’s off-season time."

Dube was among some two hundred Zimbabweans working in the De Doorns farming community, 100 kilometres north of Cape Town, who gathered to hear about labour protection from officials of the South African Labour department on Mar. 9.

Human rights campaign group People Against Suffering Suppression Oppression and Poverty (PASSOP) convened the meeting. Coordinator Braam Hanekom said the meeting was an eye-opener for migrants whose rights are widely flouted in South Africa farms.

"We believe that it’s a real opportunity for Zimbabweans to get involved, not only to stand for their rights as labourers but also standing up for their human rights," Hanekom said.

Around De Doorns, problems worsen during the off-season for work in the vineyards. The five-month lean period is the most difficult for farm workers who struggle to meet basic necessities, let alone send money to their families back in Zimbabwe.

Constant threats and taunts by locals is another reality the foreign workers live with. The Zimbabweans allege that xenophobic tendencies are still much alive, despite a cessation of violent attacks that broke out a year ago. Tension is compounded by competition for meagre resources in this farming community.

"They call us names and threaten to beat us. We live in fear because we never know what will happen next," said Kudakwashe Moyo, who lives in a wooden shack on a farm compound.

Xenophobia broke into nationwide violence that left more than sixty people dead in South Africa in May and June 2008. Most incidents were recorded in poor communities linked to what analysts say was a result of desperation due to poor service delivery.

Moyo and his fellow migrant labourers largely rely on erratic contract jobs during the off-season. "We get as little as 20 cents for pruning a tree, how can one survive with that kind of money?"

However, lack of adequate information about their rights has contributed to the plight of most immigrants. The government’s Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF) assists workers when they are out of employment. So during off-season period, farm labourers are entitled to unemployment insurance – the taxes are deducted from their wages, as they are from any other worker.

Another worker, Vusisizwe Mafu, said, "We did not know how to get our money. We were given a wrong impression that one needs to be a South African to access it."

Polson set the record saying, "We do not ask them for papers, we do not ask if they are illegal immigrants or not, we ask them if they are a worker, we listen to their problems and we must by law address their problem."

However, collecting UIF or exercising other labour rights does face a major hurdle in terms formal employment contracts; most of the farm workers at the De Doorns meeting said they have no written contracts.

Also in attendance was the Confederation of South African Trade Unions (COSATU). The labour federation said it will work closely with the labour department to address problems in the migrant community. Mike Louw, COSATU coordinator in the Western Cape province urged the new government to support worker rights initiatives.

"We think that they [government leaders] are serious, but the resources are not necessarily being put in place. We will continue to agitate to make government will put resources in place that ordinary workers enjoy their rights," said Louw.

Louw said COSATU – through its member union Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) – will soon embark on educational programmes on farms around the country.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Apr 24 2009 (IPS)

As results of South Africa's fourth democratic elections held on Apr. 22 come in, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) is poised to return to power in the 400 seat National Assembly. The party is also on course to emerge as the governing party in all but one of the nine provinces. The main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, is likely to take the Western Cape.

Buoyed by early voting trends, thousands of ANC supporters descended on the Johannesburg city centre for a celebration rally on Thursday. ANC president Jacob Zuma, who will become his country’s fourth president since the 1994 election ushered Nelson Mandela into office, paid tribute to the party faithful.

"This is for us to thank volunteers who went door to door talking to the South African voters to vote for the African National Congress."

Jacob Simpson, an ANC supporter from the country’s economic hub, Johannesburg, told IPS that he was excited by his party’s "inevitable" victory. "It’s a wonderful feeling, it goes to show that our democracy is growing," he said.

But Cape Town resident John Frere was in a less upbeat mood claiming it was "unnecessary" for the ruling party to celebrate "an expected victory".

"I think the ruling party can start off on a very good foot by not again wasting billions and billions of rand on their partying. They have been having parties before the elections, so we don't need any more parties," moaned Frere. "They should rather put that money on helping the poor and building houses."

Frere’s view signals the expectation that a Zuma-led ANC would deliver on its election promises to ease poverty, create jobs, improve health services and education, focus on rural development and deal with high levels of crime.

Nosiviwe Ntini voted for the ANC because of their campaign commitment to better jobs and salaries. She has to commute to her security officer job in Cape Town’s central business district from Gugulethu, a densely populated poor community typical of the country’s urban townships. "I'm currently getting a pathetic salary and I’m really confident that the new government will fulfill its promises."

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), the largest worker federation in the country, has also urged the ANC to deliver to its constituency.

"While we are celebrating we should bear in mind that it is still a long way to go before we relax. It is now that the ANC, trade unions and the nation at large must work together and begin to implement the policies enshrined in the ANC manifesto," said COSATU national spokesperson Patrick Craven.

COSATU is an alliance partner of the ruling party and was one of Zuma’s major backers in his bid for the ANC presidency. Senior ANC members split from the party following Thabo Mbeki’s failed bid for a third term as ANC president and his subsequent axing as president of the country.

Political researcher Justin Sylvester of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) warns of a tough term ahead for Zuma and the ANC. He said the new president will be under pressure from his supporters to speedily implement its election manifesto but could find that difficult in the current global economic crisis.

"The realities in South Africa is that there are a range of socio-economic challenges, the main being unemployment, education, healthcare and those basic services like sanitation especially to the people in rural areas."

The Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) is an organisation that lobbies for access to treatment for people living with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Fredalene Booysen, the TAC’s Western Cape provincial coordinator told IPS that the new leadership in government should step up tuberculosis treatment programmes. She said TB, a common opportunistic infection for people living with HIV/AIDS currently does not get enough attention from the government.

"We still have long waiting queues, we still have a shortage of healthcare nurses, and we still haven't dealt with people on farms in terms of accessing treatment or healthcare. Those are relevant issues still to be dealt with."

Another health activist, Onisimo Jodana, accused the government of abandoning several health initiatives and putting lives at risk. He told IPS that the government should monitor grassroots programmes and work with community groups to improve service delivery.

"Now that we are moving into the next era of democracy, there must be a process that coordinates activities from the ground. You can't have a government monitoring from the top without local structures having to feedback. There is need for a reorientation and re-strategising given the forthcoming situation."

The outcome of South Africa's fourth democratic elections held on April 22 will be officially announced by the country’s Independent Electoral Commission on Saturday.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Mar 28 2009 (IPS)

Women from South Africa’s three Cape provinces have marched to parliament in Cape Town to denounce the country’s “slow and unbalanced” land redistribution programme. The protesters said if they are not given greater access to land, they will not vote in the country’s Apr. 22 general elections.

Evicted farmworkers with their possessions: while South Africa has been slow to redistribute land, more than two million farmworkers have been evicted from their homes in the past decade. Credit: Sikhula Sonke

“We want what belongs to us, we are fighting for land for the sake of our children’s future so no land no vote,” Maria Pietersen from the Northern Cape whose efforts to get land were frustrated by the local government.

The protest was the culmination of a two-day conference convened by the Surplus People Project (SPP), an organisation that advocates for agrarian reform in South Africa. Women from the provinces of Northern, Eastern and Western Cape exchanged personal experiences at the conference. Issues such as climate change, food prices and the global economic downturn also dominated the discourse.

According to Herschelle Milford, executive director of SPP, lack of access to land is central to problems faced by the women that participated in the conference. “Land reform has failed all, but even more for women. Some women spend a lifetime looking for land, and when they get it, it’s [just] one hectare. So women are saying we are the providers of food, we want to start this revolution in terms of land reform.”

Milford says the government is deviating from the Land Reform Provision of Land and Assistance Act that stipulates the promotion of economic growth and the empowerment of historically disadvantaged persons.

Concurring with Milford was Gahsiena van der Schaff, lobbying coordinator of the Aids Legal Network, an organisation that advocates for the rights of people living with HIV and AIDS. Van der Schaff said many people have died silently, their condition worsened by lack of shelter and land to produce food.

“This government is giving an impression that women are not good enough to own land and even to farm,” said van der Schaff.

The impact of inadequate access to land is also felt on commercial farms where gender-based discrimination is rife. Diana Hlathe, a farm worker in the fruit-growing area of Wellington, Western Cape told IPS how as a women, she is denied benefits enjoyed by male workers. She says equal remuneration is still a dream, and calls for government intervention have gone unheeded. Hlathe, who suffers from arthritis, says her weekly wage of $25 is not enough to cover medical costs.

“We are working very hard at the farms. The owners are getting richer because of our hard work but we are getting only survival wages. For instance, I was given R200 ($20) as bonus for the whole of last year. The government should do something,” moaned Hlathe.

Sikhula Sonke, a farm worker rights organisation has made several submissions to local and national governments without positive response. Ida Jacobs, organiser of Sikhula Sonke has been pushing for access to land for farm workers. However, she claims the government has shot down their efforts.

“Women said they are not going to vote this year because the government does not do anything for farm workers. If you talk of farm workers, the government turns its back on us,” said Jacobs

However the national Department of Land Affairs says it has fulfilled its pledge of allocating land to women. The department says through its Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (WARD) programme, it has established structures in all provinces. Although the department could not provide figures, it maintains most rural women have benefited from the WARD programme.

“We have women who have benefited from the land reform and who are even exporting their products. So that is evidence that much has been done to make sure that women have advanced as beneficiaries of the land reform programme,” said Eddie Mohoebi, national spokesperson of the department.

But the association of emerging farmers, the National African Farmers Union (NAFU), says women who got land during the government’s redistribution exercise are fewer than male beneficiaries.

“We are still compiling figures, but indications are that although women’s numbers are increasing, they still fewer than men. From our records, they are just below 50 percent of our total membership,” said Motsepe Motlala, president of NAFU.

The Surplus People Project is critical of the commercialisation of land and agriculture in South Africa. SPP believes the provision of land to small-scale farmers, farm dwellers and workers, is the best way to bring about the transformation of the agriculture sector away from monopoly by a rich minority to the benefit of the majority. The organisation is also lobbying for environmentally-friendly farming techniques.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Mar 26 2009 (IPS)

In yet another attempt to bolster food security in the country, a charity organisation has opened a food bank in Cape Town which will operate like a huge warehouse from which food is handed out to the poor.

The food banking concept is the latest of a raft of measures taken by both non-governmental organisations and the government to curb poverty, such as the distribution of food parcels, vouchers and social grants.

Patrick Andries, executive director of Food Bank South Africa, says the programme, which is planned to be rolled out countrywide, aims to assist the 20 million poor South Africans who are living under the poverty line of $1 a day.

“The basic concept of food banking is that you have a centralised warehouse facility where you collect food via donor agencies, food manufacturers, farmers, wherever food is available. We bring that food into the warehouse, store and repackage it and get it out to communities in need,” explained Andries.

However, questions remain if initiatives like Food Bank South Africa are only short-term solutions to the long-term problem of food security in one of the continent’s most advanced economies.

Statistics South Africa reported that inflation of food prices reached 16.1 percent year on year in January, shockingly high compared to declining global trends – in the United States, for instance, inflation of food prices was at 2.7 percent year on year and 3.2 percent in the United Kingdom.

“We are [more than] the rest of the world affected by high food prices. This is a major concern for the most vulnerable groups of our society,” said Priscilla Sehoole, agriculture department chief communications officer.

Grain South Africa, an association of farmers specialising in grain products, warns that the country’s rich harvests of the past ten years are set to decline. The association said many farmers are leaving the sector due to lack of profit.

Data from the Department of Agriculture show first indications of this trend. South Africa produced twelve million tonnes of maize IN 2008, three million in excess of local demand. A forecast for this year predicts farmers will produce two million tonnes less. Most importantly, South Africa is an importer of wheat, which has a direct impact on prices of staple foods like bread.

Grain South Africa chairperson Neels Ferreira told IPS that farmers are disgruntled over issues relating to the low profitability but high risk of farming. Farmers need more support and subsidies from government to be able to produce affordable, healthy food, he argued.

“The ability of farmers to produce affordable food at a profit is the only way [South Africans] can be sure of having food to eat at a price they can pay,” Ferreira said.

John Rook, policy coordinator of the Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme, argues that a solution could be the diversification of staple food in South Africa. He says farmers should be encouraged to plant and use equally nutritious alternatives to maize, such as sorghum. Rook maintains that the availability of more products will improve food security and prices will subsequently fall.

“As a general principle for Southern Africa as a whole, we need to see food security as a multi-commodity dimension and move away from the idea that if the price of maize is high, then it is a crisis,” suggests Rook.

The government’s agricultural policies have come under fire not only from commercial farmers and agricultural experts but also from land rights activists, such as Andile Mngxitama, who blames the South African government for failing to fulfil its pledge of redistributing 30 percent of land between 1994 and 1999.

Mngxitama says only five percent of land has been given to the previously disadvantaged since South Africa became a democracy. He believes that if the majority of poor South Africans were given adequate fertile land, subsistence farming would increase, thus promoting self-sustainability.

With so many factors affecting food security in South Africa and the continent at large, it becomes apparent that there will not be a quick solution to reducing food insecurity, hunger and poverty.

For Professor Cheryl Hendricks, director of the African Centre for Food Security at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, solving the food security puzzle transcends commercial farmers concerns. She suggests robust support for the country’s poor through developmental programmes aimed at income generation.

Hendricks believes social grants could be an effective means of poverty reduction if tied with conditions of productivity and skills development. “Programmes, such as food-for-work where services are rendered on public sector investment programmes and food-for-school, where families with school-going children receive food parcels if children attend school, indirectly increase the long-term household labour force potential,” she explained.

“Investments in the informal sector with microfinance programmes, business skills training, market and business incubator programmes also help poor households gain access to additional income,” added Hendricks.

She stresses the fact that all sectors of society needed to play a role in addressing poverty: “The private sector can assist by broadening employment opportunities for the poor, granting opportunities for skills development and incomes. NGOs are very active in various roles from advocacy, feeding schemes and health care. If they and the private sector link up, we could see more people reached.”

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
HARARE, Feb 25 2009 (IPS)

Women’s rights activists in Zimbabwe are outraged by the low representation of female politicians in the new unity government. Only four women are part of the 35-member cabinet, laughably short of the equal representation of women in decision-making that Zimbabwe signed onto at a regional summit in September 2008.

Zimbabwe is a signatory to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development, which stipulates that women should hold equal positions to men in both public and private sectors by 2015.

The director of the non-governmental organisation Women in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU) described the gender-biased selection of cabinet members as "shocking" and "sad".

"Regional and international instruments (for gender equality) that Zimbabwe is a signatory to have spoken to the need to ensure that we have better representation of women in decision-making positions, but at such an important democracy-building stage like this, the three political parties have not committed to what they had promised", lamented WIPSU director Cleopatra Ndlovu.

She challenged the political parties to implement their quota systems by granting women opportunities to exercise real power. At the same time, Ndlovu urged women to claim their rights and shift from being "mere voters" and "campaigners for political parties" to political decision makers.

Prominent Zimbabwean gender activist Thoko Matshe, who heads the Feminist Political Education project in Harare, said the road to gender parity now looks longer following last week’s setback. Matshe took a swipe at the MDC, a party she says she used to believe represented real change for women.

No real change

Between them, the two formations of the Movement for Democratic Change, in line with the negotiated agreement on power-sharing, the MDC factions led by Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara appointed 16 ministers, and chose three women, including Theresa Makone as minister of public works, Paurina Mpariwa as minister of labour and Priscilla Misihairambwi-Mushonga as minister of regional integration and international trade. The Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) only contributed one woman to its cabinet complement of 15; Olivia Muchena was allocated the women’s affairs department.

Matshe complained it was "by default" that a woman should head the women’s affairs department, while the three other female politicians also oversaw departments that were not the most vital. Male politicians, in contrast, have been chosen to head all key departments, such as national security, finance or home affairs.

"Morgan Tsvangirai comes from the Movement For Democratic Change. If I take the change, it indicates that we should do things differently. But if among 14 nominees from his party we have just two women, it really means we should take the democracy out of the name of the party", said Matshe.

Apart from the four female cabinet ministers, another four women were appointed as deputy ministers last week, but without cabinet seats, their roles are largely ceremonial. According to the Zimbabwean legislative framework, they cannot be acting ministers in the absence of their superiors, for example.

Misihairambwi-Mushonga said she was disappointed by the low numbers of women in cabinet, but confident that her colleagues and herself would make their marks by championing women’s issues during their tenure: "Whilst we have a few women in cabinet, most of them are women’s activists. I’m sure we will be able to speak out."

"As a feminist, I am very disappointed, but existing political agreements have set a foundation for the feminisation of many issues, including health, food security or HIV and AIDS. So there is hope that this discussion around gender equality will be taking place", she added.

Vice president and ZANU-PF member Joyce Mujuru, in contrast, believes women should fend for themselves instead of rely on quotas to get into power. She told the state-run Herald newspaper the low representation of women in high positions was unfortunate, but blamed women for not fighting hard enough for decision-making positions. Because many women lack confidence, they are their own worst enemies, Mujuru told the newspaper.

Women sidelined

To ensure women’s empowerment and gender equality are not sidelined again, Zimbabwean women’s rights group have now started to prepare inputs for the country’s new constitution, which, according to constitutional amendment number 19, will be promulgated during the next 18 months.

Rutendo Hadebe, deputy chairperson of The Women’s Coalition, a grouping of Zimbabwean women’s rights organisations, says the coalition will take advantage of the constitutional reform process to lobby for progressive provisions that will empower women and "close a past of inequality". The coalition plans to collaborate with the four, female cabinet ministers to spearhead the process.

"We are grateful for the four that are there, it’s better than nothing. We will do whatever we can to support them and work with them," said Hadebe.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
HARARE, Jan 23 2009 (IPS)

Nearly 50,000 cases of cholera have been reported in Zimbabwe by the World Health Organisation; the death toll stood at 2,755 on Jan. 21.

International and regional humanitarian organisations are working with Zimbabwean health care workers and volunteers to slow the spread of the epidemic, but human and financial resources are stretched to the breaking point.

Farid Abdulkadir, head of operations in Zimbabwe for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies told IPS that his organisation's 9.2 million dollar Cholera Emergency Appeal, launched at the end of December 2008 has raised only 40 percent of its target.

IPS: What are the latest casualty figures? Farid Abdulkadir: At the moment we are talking of over 2,700 people who have died of cholera in various parts of the country. There are also over 50,000 people affected by cholera. The pandemic is on the rise and the rains that are being experienced in the country have also made the situation worse.

IPS: What is the Red Cross doing to contain the epidemic? FA: So far we have mounted cholera operations composed of three main activities. The first one is hygiene promotion targeting people in schools and markets on how to prevent and avoid being contact with cholera. [We're explaining] how to identify the signs of cholera and what to do when someone shows them.

We have also mounted an operation in terms of supplying clean water through purification. We have produced two million litres of water in various parts of the country through the emergency unit which is purifying water with chlorine and giving it to the community.

The final component is supporting the Ministry of Health with additional drugs and increasing their bed capacity to be able to cope with the increased numbers of patients in hospitals.

IPS: What is expected next as the epidemic develops: is it increasing rapidly or is it being brought under control? FA: The truth is that cholera cases are on the increase because of a health system that has been overstretched, a water system that has not been functioning appropriately and the rains that are coming.

As you know, Zimbabwe is facing a lot of economic problems and an inflation rate that has several zeros. You are talking of several factors that are promoting cholera, which is a preventable and curable disease that is killing people more than it should.

IPS: Now, you mentioned you are working with the Ministry of Health, tell us more about your working relationship with the government of Zimbabwe. FA: I can tell you the Ministry of Health staff is working round the clock under difficult circumstances to deal with the cholera situation.

There are weaknesses in the system due to the economic problems, but we are working with them. We gave them allowances to keep them moving and going. They feel energised; they feel that people are not leaving them alone in this fight. There is massive upscale of operations through both colleagues that have come to reinforce the system and the existing staff that are working within the Ministry of Health.

IPS: And what about support from other players in the international donor community. Are you receiving enough funding? FA: The truth is our funding level is very low. We have money to last us for another month but the problem is that the resources that are coming in are very minimal which will definitely slow down the operation.

We have to maintain the three components of the operation at the same time. We have one that looks at prevention, ensuring that the disease is cured at the source and of course providing health services to the community because they need and require it. Our biggest problem has been the funding level that we are currently experiencing, and we urge all communities and people all over to help Zimbabwe fight cholera.

IPS: Can you explain what kind of support is needed? FA: The support required is in terms of drugs, water purification chemicals, and hygiene promotion material. And in terms of upkeep for the ministries of Health and Water Resources to maintain the tempo and energy in the fight against cholera.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
HARARE, Nov 15 2008 (IPS)

"I was raped by four Zanu PF militias at night, just outside their base, during the elections. They took turns to rape me, accusing me of supporting the opposition, MDC [Movement for Democratic Change]", said Pauline Moyana* from Mutasa, a community in Zimbabwe’s eastern Manicaland province.

The Zimbabwe Rape Survivors Association's Betty Makoni is working to bring rapists to justice. Credit: Davison Makanga/IPS

Another woman, 53-year-old Sophie Makore* from Hurungwe in northern Zimbabwe, says she has lost hope following a gruesome experience at the hands of Zanu PF activists. A few months ago, militia men stripped her naked and raped her multiple times. Like in Moyana's situation, the perpetrators told her she was being penalised for supporting the opposition party.

"The wounds are not healing, they still feel pain" – Betty Makoni

Moyana and Makore's testimonies are only two of many women’s accounts from rural Zimbabwe that have taken place during the bloody and controversial presidential election rerun held this June. One woman from eastern Zimbabwe was drained by a doctor of 250 millilitres of semen after having been gang raped for three days.

Stories of brutal militia raping young girls and women old enough to be their mothers and burning of houses of MDC supporters are now being recorded by a group of women rights activists who want to bring perpetrators to justice at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

So far, only one man has been jailed for the rapes that have taken place during the last few months. He was sentenced for 22 years in south-western Zimbabwe's town of Masvingo.

Well-known Zimbabwean activist Betty Makoni recently formed the Zimbabwe Rape Survivors Association (ZRPS), an organisation that records women’s politically motivated rape cases, lobbies for legal justice and rehabilitates rape survivors at a safe house in neighboring Botswana, as many women, out of fear of retribution, are too scared to testify in Zimbabwe.

"Most women were attacked physically but also suffered spiritual damage. They are afraid of going back to their villages," says Makoni. "The women are highly traumatised and, what makes matters worse, ostracised by local communities."

"The pattern of the cases is that of systematic political persecution. Testimonies from women reveal how army chiefs and Zanu PF militias deliberately embarked on a campaign against MDC supporters. We are talking of state-sanctioned violence here," she added.

ZRPS cooperates with a team of lawyers from US-based advocacy organisation AIDS-Free World to gather evidence and seek legal recourse through international or regional courts. Makoni said ZRPS will take the cases to courts outside of Zimbabwe, because the country’s legal system does not have a history of trying cases of human rights violations in a transparent manner.

"So far, we have assisted some 150 rape survivors, and 20 have given us evidence for our case affidavits. We are working hard on bringing all culprits before justice", said Makoni, revealing that, already 180 men, mainly army officers, have been listed as respondents.

AIDS-Free World co-director Paula Donovan told IPS she believes the systematic and widespread nature of the rapes will make a strong submission in court, even though Zimbabwe is not party to the Rome Statutes of the ICC, which tries persons accused of crimes against humanity.

" What has become clear is that such widespread nature of the sexual violence constitutes crimes against humanity. We know Zimbabwe is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court Convention, so [if the cases will be not heart by the ICC] there are many avenues of pursuing them, for example by getting a referral from the United Nations Security Council", explained Donovan.

If the United Nations Security Council agrees in an unanimous vote that the cases are of gravity, it will open the doors for Zimbabwean government officials to be prosecuted, except for the country’s president, who retains immunity. The accused can be charged under universal, regional jurisdiction of countries party to the international treaty of crimes against humanity.

Donovan says another option is to bring the cases before the Africa Court on Human and People's Rights, although it was worrying that the court has not tried a single case in the ten years since establishment. Another stumbling block is that only 24 of 53 African Union member countries have ratified the protocol creating the court in 1998. Rights groups blame bureaucracy and lack of political will for the delay in justice.

"It’s unfortunate that justice processes are slow but the women want their cases tried, whatever it takes," said Donovan.

Activists say it is crucial that the cases are brought to court so that women’s rights can be restored in a country that has committed itself to Millennium Development Goal 3, which aims to create gender equality and empower women.

Netsai Mushonga, coordinator of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe said state-sanctioned violence against women does not bear well for Zimbabwe’s efforts towards women's empowerment. "What is happening in our country is a total disregard of women. Our leaders [who have sanctioned violence against women] should be taken to task", she said.

The claims of Zimbabwean rights organisations have found support from multiple international human rights bodies. Amnesty International last month called for judicial justice for all perpetrators of state-sponsored violence in Zimbabwe, lamenting that human rights violations with impunity are on the increase. Another human rights watchdog, Human Rights Watch, reported that sporadic violence is on the rise in the wake of the unity government stalemate between Zanu-PF and MDC.

*Not their real names.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Oct 16 2008 (IPS)

Zimbabwe's agricultural production has been hit by a long list of difficulties – several rounds of severe drought, a collapsed currency that has made fertiliser and other farm inputs very expensive, ill-considered land redistribution, and brutal pre- and post- election violence by the ruling ZANU-PF that has hurt rural populations most.

"Generally in Zimbabwe people are living from hand to mouth, there is no food in the shops; those who had farmed didn't produce enough for themselves and also for the nation. The general population is starving. There is no food. People can not even get food to buy, so it's a difficult situation people of Zimbabwe find themselves in," said Lovemore Chinoputsa, a civil rights activist.

In the arid south-western provinces of Matebeleland, some desperate villagers are eating inedible wild fruits or unripe mangoes to survive. The aid agency Save The Children in September reported that "many people in the Zambezi Valley, the poorest and driest area, were now surviving on a vile-tasting, fibrous root called makuri."

Wilson Khumbula, leader of a minority opposition party, ZANU-Ndonga, told IPS that poor families in south-eastern parts of the country and rural Masvingo are begging for grain door to door. "People have now resorted to begging and some are marrying off their young daughters to privileged families in exchange of grain. This is how dire the situation has gone."

The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has described the situation as a national crisis and appealed for 140 million dollars to feed 3.75 million people it expects will be in need of food aid by January next year.

"The situation is already critical in many rural areas, particularly in the worst affected southern districts but also in some districts in the east, centre and northwest of the country. A large number of farmers harvested very little this year and have now exhausted their meagre stocks," said WFP spokesperson Richard Lee.

Zimbabwe's food situation was worsened by a three-month ban on relief work imposed by government in June this year. The ban was lifted at the end August, but non-governmental organizations are yet to resume full-scale operations.

Political interference during food distribution continues in some parts of the country. ZANU-PF officials are demanding that only their supporters get food under the government-initiated subsidy programme, the Basic Commodity Supply Side Intervention. Alois Chaumba, chairman of Zimbabwe Peace Project, a civic organisation that promotes tolerance told IPS that rural Manicaland and Midlands provinces are the most affected.

Hope for a better harvest next year is fading; experts have warned that Zimbabwe's food crisis is set to claw into 2009 due to ill preparation.

The government portfolio for agricultural support, the Resource Mobilisation and Utilisation Committee, headed by Dr Mariyawanda Nzuwa is battling to cope with farmers needs. The department is now giving inputs to selected farmers with a 'track record' of good farming skills. However, minister of Information and Publicity Dr Sikhanyiso Ndlovu told IPS that his government is ready for the farming season. He says farmers in the country have been provided inputs under the government-sponsored 'Farm Mechanisation program'.

"The plan from the government is that no one should suffer from hunger in the country. We are restoring Zimbabwe into the breadbasket of the region because of this preparedness. We only hope to God that we have good rains," said Dr Ndlovu.

Renson Gasela, a food security expert and former head of the state parastatal Grain Marketing Board differs with Ndlovu. He says there are no signs of preparation on the ground.

"It's already too late to make any meaningful impact as far as the food situation is concerned because we are only three to four weeks away from rainfall and yet there isn't anything that has been prepared, we read a lot of what is being done but on the ground there is nothing," explained Gasela.

Henrick Olivier, chief executive officer of the Commercial Farmers Union, says the impending season is a 'disaster' before it even starts. He says in addition to continuing eviction of white commercial farmers, inputs are in short supply. He points out that only 40,000 tonnes of fertiliser and 9000 tonnes of maize seed is available.

"This coming season… before it even started, it's been a disaster, there is no inputs, there is no fuel, fertiliser, chemicals or seed available and whatever is available is in short supply. There is no preparations whatsoever. It's not a good season that's lying ahead of us," said Olivier

According to Gasela, Zimbabwe requires an annual total of one million tonnes of grain for human consumption and 400,000 tonnes for industrial use, but with haphazard preparations way behind schedule, a harvest that size might be a distant dream for the country.

Relief aid organizations have reacted swiftly to distribute emergency food in worst affected areas, but the task is overwhelming. Some families are accusing relief aid groups of selective assistance. The aid agencies are targeting only poor families, leaving out those deemed to be privileged and vetting is at the discretion of humanitarian workers.

"There is no food in the country, so these NGOs should help everyone, we are in the same situation as everyone," said a distraught Masvingo villager who was left off the beneficiary list.

However, humanitarian organisations say beneficiaries will be increased once they resume full-scale operations, but for now, as WFP points out, the immediate task is to address the funding shortfall.

"Over the last five years we have had a fantastic response from the international community," said the WFP's Lee. "The donors have been remarkably generous, providing us with hundreds of millions of dollars, but unfortunately we do still need more, and we urgently need those donations so that we can get food to the people who need it in Zimbabwe.

"At the moment we will run out of stocks in January, just as the crisis is reaching its peak, so we really need extra resources now so that we can make sure we get enough food into Zimbabwe and it out to the people who need it most."

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
CAPE TOWN, Feb 9 2008 (IPS)

A police raid on a Methodist church which provides shelter to hundreds of refugees in the South African financial centre of Johannesburg is continuing to draw angry responses.

Protesters speak out against the raid of a church housing refugees. Credit: Davison Makanga

Officials have been accused of engaging in physical and verbal abuse during the late night raid, during which more than a thousand people – many of them Zimbabweans – were arrested on suspicion of being in South Africa illegally or of involvement in criminal activity.

“We condemn police brutality at the Methodist church; they should respect refugee rights in this country. In fact, the raid is reminiscent of the apartheid era,” said Braam Hanekom, co-ordinator of People Against Suffering, Suppression, Oppression and Poverty, an immigrant and refugee rights group in South Africa which helped organise the protest.

The Treatment Action Campaign, which lobbies for HIV-positive people to have access to anti-retroviral drugs, also assisted with holding the demonstration. “Our interest in this protest is that many of the people arrested last week were denied access to medication while in custody, and as a movement we condemn that in the strongest terms,” said Regis Mtutu, projects officer for the Cape Town-based organisation.

Methodist representatives have denied that the church was sheltering criminals.

“We are just helping desperate people here. As you might know, most of them are running away from serious situations, like Zimbabwe. The fact that the court did not find any case against these people clearly shows that the police overstepped by harassing these people,” said Thembi Sibanda, a senior official in the Methodist Church.

According to a recent survey, up to a million Zimbabweans are residing in South Africa; most have fled the political and economic crisis in their country. The study was conducted by the Zimbabwe Diaspora Forum, based in Johannesburg, the Mass Public Opinion Institute – a non-profit in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare – and the Institute for Democracy in South Africa.

Along with migrants from other states, Zimbabwean refugees may experience discrimination at the hands of South Africans – in part because of fears that they take jobs in a country already beset by high unemployment.

“I don’t have problems with these makwerekweres, but they cause crime and take all our jobs here,” said Kuselo Tini, a minibus taxi driver in Cape Town. “Makwerekwere” is a derogatory term for foreigners.

Noted Killion Moyo, a Zimbabwean residing in Cape Town, “We now live in fear…They always threaten us with death, especially in high density areas like Khayelitsha.”

However, the Zimbabwe Exiles Forum claims the accusations of South Africans are unfounded.

“It’s not factual that foreigners take all the jobs here. The truth is, South Africa is experiencing a skills shortage; and on the other end, foreigners (take) menial jobs that are shunned by South Africans,” said Gabriel Shumba, executive director of the forum – a non-profit headquartered in South Africa’s capital, Pretoria.

Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold general elections Mar. 29, a poll in which 83-year-old President Robert Mugabe – head of state since independence in 1980 – will seek a sixth term. The vote will take place amidst ongoing rights abuses in South Africa’s northern neighbour, and economic decline that has brought about hyper-inflation, unemployment reported to be at about 80 percent, and shortages of basic goods. According to the United Nations World Food Programme, an estimated 4.1 million Zimbabweans currently require food aid.

In his annual state of the nation address Friday, South African President Thabo Mbeki said the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front and the country’s main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), had addressed major differences concerning next month’s ballot – this in talks that he has been mediating at the request of the Southern African Development Community.

“These include issues relating to the constitution, security, media and electoral laws, and other matters that have been in contention for many years,” he noted.

“The relevant laws in this regard have already been approved by parliament, including the necessary constitutional amendments.”

However, the MDC has reportedly been far less optimistic about the results of the negotiations, and expressed anger at Harare’s decision to hold the elections on Mar. 29. The party wants a new constitution passed before the polls.

“We have said it again and again: the elections will be flawed without a people-driven new constitution,” noted spokesman Nelson Chamisa.

The Zimbabwe Election Support Network has also expressed concern at the move to hold the ballot next month, saying hurried preparations will undermine the credibility of the vote.

These fears have been echoed by Zimbabwean political analyst John Makumbe: “The March elections are only academic. The ruling party will obviously win and the situation in the country will further deteriorate, and more people will leave the country even after the elections.”

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
HARARE, Jun 25 2007 (IPS)

Zimbabwe’s escalating food crisis comes amid resurgent accusations that food aid is being abused as a political tool.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have said that more than 2,1 million Zimbabweans in both rural and urban areas will be in dire need of food aid in the third quarter of this year.

The figure is set to escalate to 4,1 million by early 2008, more than a third of Zimbabwe’s population. The organisations estimate a 44 percent decline in tonnage from last year’s harvest to this year.

Zimbabwe has suffered poor harvests since the government started its chaotic land reform programme in 2000. Over a number of years the ministry of agriculture’s predictions of a ‘‘bumper harvest’’ have come to nought.

‘‘Zimbabwe’s looming food crisis is the result of another poor harvest, exacerbated by the country’s unprecedented economic decline, extremely high unemployment, and the impact of HIV/AIDS,’’ said Amir Abdulla, WFP’s regional director for Southern Africa.

‘‘This year’s crisis is partly caused by the drought but we cannot deny the fact that the economic crisis and poor planning are the major causes,’’ emphasised Vincent Gwaradzimba, secretary for agriculture in the opposition political party the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

Furthermore, at the height of the 2006/7 cropping season, the government bungled by purchasing sub-standard fertiliser from South Africa. The fertiliser boob did not only cost the treasury but also impacted on the harvest.

The FAO/WFP report says perennial drought regions such as Matabeleland South, Matabeleland North, Midlands, Manicaland and Masvingo have reached the red light stage with many families having harvested nothing. They could run out of food as early as next month.

‘‘It is not even true to say that we will only start starving by July. The facts on the ground show that there is no food in the granaries. Pupils are staying away from school because of this,’’ a primary school teacher in Masvingo province told IPS.

‘‘We only received maize two weeks ago when Zanu PF was campaigning for a parliamentary by-election,’’ the teacher added on condition of remaining anonymous.

Moreover, some senior government officials are reportedly threatening relief agencies. Manicaland province governor Tineyi Chigudu was quoted lashing out at the WFP’s implementing partners for working ‘‘in cahoots’’ with the MDC.

In Matebeleland South, ruling ZANU PF member of parliament Abednigo Ncube threatened to close World Vision Zimbabwe. Ironically, these are provinces hardest hit by food shortages.

The accusations have led National Association of Non-Governmental Organisations (NANGO) to again refute ZANU PF members’ allegations that it is pursuing the MDC’s agenda.

‘‘To the best of our knowledge, there are no non-governmental organisations that seek to buttress opposition politics. NGOs are there to implement government plans to develop communities,’’ said Fambai Ngirande, NANGO spokesperson.

President Robert Mugabe announced that the government will institute a mechanisation programme aimed at providing agricultural equipment to promising new farmers, regardless of political affiliation.

‘‘It is a national event… the realisation is important that there must be occasions when we must be together. After all, we eat together,’’ Mugabe was quoted as saying in the state media.

Experts from the FAO and WFP Crop and Food Supply Assessment Mission (CFSAM) have cautioned that the urban areas are equally affected by the food crisis. They estimate that around one million people in urban areas will face food shortages over the coming months and could need food assistance.

The government of Zimbabwe has entered into a contract to receive 400,000 tons of maize from Malawi and is expected to import a further 239,000 tons of wheat and rice.

Another estimated 61,000 tonnes of maize could be brought into the country through informal cross-border trade and remittances in kind, especially from South Africa. This leaves a gap of 352,000 tons of cereals to be met by food aid.

Meanwhile, the climate change office in the ministry of environment and tourism has pointed to global warming as being the cause of erratic climate trends in Zimbabwe. Washington Zhakata, the coordinator of the office, said a number of factors linked to global warming are affecting the country.

‘‘We have realised that of late there is less rainfall and more drought, so we are going to be affected by this trend,’’ said Zhakata.

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
HARARE, May 25 2007 (IPS)

Attempts to convince Zimbabweans to stay in their country are futile as long as the political and economic crisis continues, say activists and politicians.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) has launched a campaign in Zimbabwe to dissuade the youth from crossing the border to neighbouring countries.

But Nicholas Mukaronda, coordinator of the Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition based in South Africa, said that economic stabilisation is the only lasting solution to migration dynamics facing the southern African nation.

‘‘Unless the people are assured of a stable economic situation, nothing will lure exiled youths back,” Mukaronda told IPS.

Wilson Khumbula, an opposition politician, also said that especially young men will continue to desert their communities for neighbouring countries.

‘‘Girls are turning to prostitution and young men are crossing the borders illegally because of the economic hardships and political retribution. Unless these fundamental issues are addressed, we will see more border-crossing,” added Khumbula.

Moses Churu, a 30-year-old man who was recently deported, confirmed what Mukaronda and Khumbula said: ‘‘I am trying to find my way back to South Africa. I know the risks but I do not have any choice. Things are hard here.”

According to IOM statistics, 25 percent of deported youths unsuccessfully applied for passports. Some 28 percent stated that the high cost of a visa deterred them from applying for one.

Acquiring a South African visa is a far-fetched idea for many as one has to produce traveller’s cheques worth 2,000 South African rand (about 285 US dollars).

It is also becoming increasingly difficult for ordinary Zimbabweans to get passports. The registry temporarily suspended the processing of passports last year due to high costs.

IOM opened a youth information centre, called Safe Zone, in Chiredzi in the south-western part of Zimbabwe earlier this month. Chiredzi is only two hours from the border with South Africa, and is therefore an area where high numbers of border jumpers pass through.

The centre also provides a haven for deportees who have returned home. ‘‘Safe Zone is a place where youths can enjoy themselves and be informed through daily education sessions on safe migration, responsible sexual practices and HIV prevention,” Nicola Simmonds, IOM Zimbabwe’s communications officer told IPS.

IOM has also launched a ‘‘safe journey road show” which goes around Zimbabwe. The road show is done with a truck that converts into a stage and a giant movie screen with a crew of actors trained in interactive theatre. Through audiovisual information packages, the target audience is drawn in by music, dance and film.

They can win t-shirts, posters and music cassettes. The messaging revolves around illegal migration, human trafficking and HIV/AIDS.

‘‘I have seen the films and they are good. They are in local languages. I have learnt a lot. It has made me think twice about border jumping,” said Solo Chauke of Tshovani township in Chiredzi.

‘‘The response has been amazing so far. We draw huge crowds every night. During the day we have youth clubs that help spread the message in the community,” added Simmonds.

IOM bases its activities on statistics that an estimated 17,500 illegal migrants are being deported every month from neighbouring South Africa and Botswana. Some 70 percent of deportees are from south east Zimbabwe.

IOM has initiated hairdressing and carpentry income-generating projects and plans are underway to help illegal Zimbabwean migrants in cities like Johannesburg to return home.

One such initiative received an indifferent response in the United Kingdom. IOM offered packages worth 3,000 British pounds (about 4,300 US dollars) for voluntary repatriation but the initiative failed. Thousands of Zimbabweans are illegally living overseas, with an unofficial figure that 2,5 million are residing in South Africa alone.

A support centre was set up at the Zimbabwe-South Africa border post town of Beit Bridge. To date, thousands have benefited from the centre by receiving medication and travelling money. A shocking number of 1,450 unaccompanied children have also passed through the centre.

Khumbula is concerned that the ruling party, ZANU-PF, will hijack the IOM programme. ‘‘We are heading towards the 2008 elections. ZANU PF will use its old trick of hijacking these projects.”

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
HARARE, Apr 23 2007 (IPS)

The rattling sound of galvanized tins has become characteristic of Patience’s* daily routine which starts at 4 am every day. Patience (43), a single mother, is one of the many who rush in the early morning to the Zimbabwean capital’s Mbare Musika market to buy fruit and vegetables to hawk.

She uses the tins to carry her meagre goods. Her daily net profit is just 10,000 Zimbabwean dollars, an amount which is not enough to feed her family. According to the official exchange rate this amounts to 40 US dollars but on the parallel market it is just more than half a US dollar.

‘‘I do not have any choice. I have to continue fighting, but life is getting unbearable for me and my kids,” says a solemn Patience. She is one example of millions of Zimbabweans who have for the past seven years been fighting for survival while yearning for a better tomorrow. Living conditions are degenerating by the day.

The arrival of the New Year saw a growing discontent in the country’s workforce. Doctors, nurses and teachers embarked on protests over low remuneration. At the beginning of March, civic and opposition leaders were arrested and tortured for ‘‘instigating” violence.

Since then, security force members have been active along all the major highways in the country. The heavy police presence has been called ‘‘an unofficial state of emergency”. Abductions of opposition political members are the order of the day. Ordinary people are constantly terrorised by the police and the militia.

‘‘It has become frightening. We no longer have the freedom to walk during the night in our own country,” says Stanley* of Highfield in Harare.

Indications are that the presidential and parliamentary elections will be arranged at the same time in 2008. Political tensions are set to hot up. This, coupled with economic hardships, will drive scores of people out of the country.

An estimated 50,000 Zimbabweans cross the country’s borders every month searching for better fortunes in neighbouring countries. ‘‘Unless regional leaders fulfil their moral obligation to intervene, an influx of Zimbabweans will affect their own countries and destabilise the region,” says social commentator Ernest Mudzengi.

Stanley confirms that he is also looking for an opportunity to flee. ‘‘My hope of change coming to Zimbabwe anytime soon is fading by the day.”

The minister of information and publicity, Sikhanyiso Ndlovu, has chided deserters for leaving the ‘‘much greener pastures” of Zimbabwe.

Meanwhile, the countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been mute about the Zimbabwean crisis. The only exceptions are Botswana and, recently, Zambia.

For many Zimbabweans, the recent SADC indaba was just another show of massaging Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s ego.

‘‘SADC should have taken a much bolder stance. (South African President Thabo) Mbeki has been there but he has been ineffective. I doubt that he has changed his mind about quiet diplomacy after the summit,” contends John Makumbe, a lecturer in Political Science at the University of Zimbabwe.

The SADC heads of state tasked Mbeki with brokering dialogue between the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) and the ruling Zanu-PF. But minister Ndlovu has made Zanu’s position clear. He insists that the MDC is a ‘‘western-sponsored party which will not be given special treatment ahead of home-grown parties.”

Going by events so far, the government’s impervious nature will scupper prospects of earnest dialogue. ‘‘Our government is disregarding the dialogue initiative because SADC was not assertive. If they want to have an effect they have to be clear and insistent,” explains Jacob Mafume, a human rights lawyer.

Former MDC member of parliament, Hilda Mafudze, says problems in Zimbabwe will not only affect the SADC region but Africa as a whole. She argues that bad governance in the country will drive away possible investment in Africa’s development vehicle, the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).

‘‘If African countries fold their hands on Zimbabwe, the NEPAD project will fail,” emphasises Mafudze. NEPAD advocates good governance as prerequisite for foreign investment.

The Centre for Peace Initiatives Africa (CPIA) views the existing conditions as a major challenge but is positive that SADC’s latest plan will start a new chapter of tolerance in Zimbabwe. CPIA is an organisation that has been facilitating dialogue meetings for the past four years.

‘‘We encourage political parties to compromise for the good of our nation. Dialogue is the key to our crisis,” argues Rena Chitombo, CPIA communications officer.

While many believe that the neighbouring countries hold the keys to the future of Zimbabwe, activists in the social movement, International Socialist Organization (ISO), think otherwise.

They believe that piecemeal demonstrations in the fashion of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions’ (ZCTU) two-day mass stay-away in April will not yield results under the current ‘‘military regime”. Instead, they say, constant democratic protests will drive the message home.

‘‘We cannot wait for someone from outside to help us. We hold our own destiny. We have to organize a series of demonstrations until the government obliges,” exclaims Mike Sambo, coordinator of ISO. * Not their real names

Excerpt:

By Davison Makanga
HARARE, Mar 29 2007 (IPS)

”It is appalling how our government has simply discarded its own people,” exclaims civic activist Max Mkandla. He is referring to the ruling ZANU-PF’s Operation Murambatsvina (”drive out filth”) and its follow-up, Operation Garikai (”living well”).

Informal traders have been battling to survive since the government’s infamous Operation Murambatsvina destroyed homes and stalls almost two years ago in May 2005. About 700,000 traders were chased from urban areas known to support the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

The attacks happened shortly after the controversial parliamentary elections of that year in which the ruling ZANU-PF drew two-thirds of the electoral support amid indications of vote rigging. The ”operation” aggravated the economic meltdown in Zimbabwe for ordinary residents.

Traders are still constantly subjected to police harassment. The police conduct sporadic raids and confiscate merchandise. Traders are forced to pay fines for trading ”illegally”.

They have had to devise innovative plans to avoid police interference. Some display only a small sample of goods with the rest hidden in a safe place. Others sell fruit, clothing and basic commodities such as soap and cooking oil from car boots. But sometimes their luck runs out.

”We have to do something to earn a living, even if it is risky. Hide and seek with the police is the name of the game. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It all depends on the moods of the police officers,” says Maxwell Tumbare, an informal trader in Zimbabwe’s capital of Harare.

Little has come of the government’s Operation Garikai which was launched to address the criticism by United Nations Special Envoy Anna Tibaijuka about Operation Murambatsvina. Her report confirmed that over 2.4 million Zimbabweans’ livelihoods were detrimentally affected by Operation Murambatsvina.

The government is on record as saying that Garikai as a ”follow-up programme” to Murambatsvina was to be completed by August 2005.

Operation Garikai was to involve the construction of housing units and ”legitimate” stalls and flea markets.

Regarding the markets little has happened apart from a centre for small and medium enterprises built in Harare’s Glen View suburb. The centre accommodates carpenters and metalworkers. ”We are now working from here but the place is too small for our operations,” Isaac Makanga, a carpenter, complains.

Construction arrested at foundation level is testimony to an ambitious project that never was. In Chiredzi in the south eastern part of the country traders are selling their goods wherever they can. It is the same story in other provinces.

”The government embarked on an unplanned project and is now failing to deliver because of a combination of factors, especially inflation and corruption,” explains Heneri Dzinotyiwei, a professor in political science at the University of Zimbabwe.

The hyperinflationary environment strangled Operation Garikai as operational costs increased by the day. Inflation is currently at 1,729 percent. Most contractors and suppliers withdrew their services after the government failed to honour its financial obligations.

Building at housing projects around the country has been abandoned after the government rushed into construction without consultation with local authorities. Those that have been completed are without proper sanitation and electricity.

At one such project in Chiredzi, inhabitants use a common lavatory at a nearby school while in provinces like Matebeleland South and Mashonaland West people use the bush.

”We have no choice but to live here. It is better than staying in open air,” Solomon Mhere from the Chiredzi project laments.

Operation Garikai houses have been criticised because of their size. ”Match boxes” is the term commonly used to describe them. A typical bedroom cannot accommodate a double bed, let alone a wardrobe or other furniture. Mkandla describes the living conditions as ”inhumane. The houses are not fit for human habitation”.

Jan Egeland, the United Nations’ special envoy on humanitarian issues, became the government’s enemy overnight after condemning Garikai houses at Whitecliff farm on the outskirts of Harare. Egeland described the situation as ”puzzling” and ”disastrous” during his follow-up visit in December 2005.

Corruption in government circles has contributed to the fiasco. Government officials have been accused of milking the national treasury by inflating supplier quotations and taking the extra cash. Suppliers oblige as long they are guaranteed of being awarded tenders.

”There is no accountability by our government. Therefore it is unsurprising that all these cases pass unnoticed,” explains Dzinotyiwei.

The government went on to defy logic when it spurned the assistance offered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). ”People are suffering because of political expedience,” says Itai Zimunya, programmes officer with the Crisis In Zimbabwe Coalition.

Excerpt: