Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) launched a report detailing the trauma experiences of their members today. The event was conducted in Johannesburg, South Africa with attendance by press, diplomats, civic society leaders and members of WOZA. The report is entitled “Counting the Cost of Courage: Trauma Experiences of Women Human Rights Defenders in Zimbabwe”.

In 2007 research was carried out to determine the nature and extent of violations perpetrated on WOZA members by state actors.  It used a questionnaire administered verbally to more than 2,000 WOZA members.  The major results were detailed in a report released in March 2008 entitled ‘The Effects of Fighting Repression with Love’.  They showed a high level of arrests, assaults, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, primarily by members of various sections of the Zimbabwe Republic Police.

One section of the questionnaire sought to document traumatic experiences of WOZA women in order to understand the basis of possible psychological and emotional disorders arising from their civic activism – ‘counting the cost of their courage’. The report launched today outlines these findings.
The research explored two broad categories of trauma:

The research

• “displacement” experiences – a concept first developed first in relation to the psychological and emotional plight of refugees fleeing war zones.  It details events such as loss of home, failing to access food and medical care, being lost, being caught up in fighting and similar experiences.
• The second source of trauma is “organized violence and torture” (OVT), including events of torture per se as well as assaults, cruel inhuman and degrading treatment, and verbal threats, insults and taunts.

The data relating to trauma was based on the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire [HTQ]. It was altered slightly from previous uses in Zimbabwe in order to include an historical element, so that there might be a long-range understanding of the women’s experience of trauma throughout their adult lives. Interviewees were asked to indicate trauma events in two forms: those they have experienced themselves, and those they witnessed being experienced by others. They were asked to record these events for three periods: pre-Independence, 1980-1999, and for each year since 1999.

Conclusions
The findings of the report indicate that Zimbabwe is a “complex emergency”:  significant violence, severe economic decline, and the destruction of social capital, which means resembles a war. As is the case in most complex emergencies, women and their families are generally the most common victims, and Zimbabwe is no exception.  Many women of all ages have been brutalized, raped, tortured, and even killed for their political activities and of those of their male family members.  As children are normally in the presence of their mothers, they been equally victimised.  Most often such victims demonstrate psychological effects of their experience and witnessing of traumatic events.

Additional findings indicate that:

• Zimbabweans have a history of mass trauma dating back to colonial experiences. The members of WOZA have experienced trauma over all the past three decades, as well as before Independence in 1980.
• The frequency of trauma of all kinds has been steadily increasing. An average of 2.9 events per respondent for the pre-Independence period doubled to 5.8 in the two post-Independence decades, and then tripled to 16.7 in the period 2000 to 2007.
• There are generally more displacement experiences than OVT however – indicative of the worsening socio-economic situation.
• It was found that 1,051 [53%] women in the sample had scores indicative of psychological disorder.
• Trauma research suggests that repeated exposure to trauma has a cumulative effect, making the victim more likely to suffer from a psychological disorder. Zimbabwean women, with their history of repeated trauma through recent history are then candidates for clinical psychological symptoms resulting from repeated trauma of various types.
• WOZA women have received very little counselling to help them deal with their trauma.  Some group healing sessions with professional counsellors were organized, but remarkably, the women seemed more concerned to discuss their ‘displacement’ issues than their experiences of OVT, which they said they expected in any case and they had recovered from.  Of course, this does not mean that they do not have any trauma-related disorders, but they themselves do not perceive them, and their observed behaviour does not indicate them either. It is possible that the psychological effects of their trauma may well be lessened due to their understanding of the reason for their suffering and their preparedness to make a sacrifice for the future of their families and their nation.

WOZA Recommendations
What is clear is that the Zanu PF government seems to be oblivious to the destructive impact of widespread use of violence as a political tool of control and repression.  Although it has appeared to have achieved its immediate goal of stifling dissent for some years, it has surely had seriously adverse long-term effects on both the victims and the perpetrators.

It is also clear that any government has a responsibility to care for the welfare of its people. At what point will a Zimbabwean government confront the legacy of trauma and look to begin a healing process? This must be an important consideration in determining what form of authority emerges from the current SADC mediation process.

In order to deal with the problem of the prevalence of OVT as a common feature of our society, we recommend the following:

• Stop the political violence; disband militia camps in all areas of the country. Any political violence must be reported, investigated and prosecuted through the courts without any form of favour or political influence.

• Intensive research should be undertaken into the effects of OVT on Zimbabweans, both as victims and as perpetrators.
• A centre be established within Zimbabwe to carry out research, training and treatment related to victims and perpetrators of violence.
• A needs assessment be conducted regarding what treatment is needed to heal both victims and perpetrators.
• Research should be conducted and disseminated on the most effective ways for non-violent protestors to prepare themselves to lessen the traumatic effects of torture and other forms of violence.
• All government law enforcement agents be trained specifically on their international responsibilities regarding OVT and be required to make specific commitments not to follow orders which require them to contravene this commitment; an international rescue programme could be established to assist any who lose employment as a result of adhering to this commitment.
• All members of the government, defence forces and party institutions who are identified as perpetrators be required to appear before a forum where they admit their crimes; the more senior officers identified as giving orders should be prosecuted.
• Joint sessions of victims and perpetrators should be held to aid the healing process on both sides.
• Government should immediately lift the current ban on organisations providing humanitarian assistance and also allow a United Nations team to address the humanitarian crisis and widespread hunger without political interference.
• A transitional authority should form a body to consult and develop a transitional justice plan of action designed to bring healing and reconciliation and then deal with justice and restitution for victims in the new Zimbabwe.

The type of evil that has become an integral part of government behaviour in Zimbabwe must be eradicated and the mindset of power hunger and disrespect for other human beings overcome. It can only happen through the actions of a government with a strong will to correct wrongs and ensure that the rights of all Zimbabweans be respected. We therefore believe that the most appropriate government to replace the current illegitimate incumbent would be a non-political transitional authority whose members have as a priority transitional process of healing, transforming and rebuilding. Such an authority will have the capacity and neutrality necessary to dismantle the structures of violence and oppression.

Nonetheless, whatever format the new political dispensation in Zimbabwe takes, it will need to embark on an official programme of acknowledgement of injustices. Economic recovery and democratic reform, whilst imperative, can only go so far in restoring the dignity of people. We believe that for dignity to be fully restored a new administration needs to assist individual survivors to rebuild their broken lives whilst ensuring that ‘liveable peace’ is achieved. It is the only way Zimbabweans can bury the ghosts of their past and move forward into a more secure future.

As well as outlining the findings on the research done on WOZA members, the launch also outlined some statistics of post-election violence since the 29 March harmonised elections, giving a brief overview of the horror that many Zimbabweans have been faced with in the last few months. These statistics added further poignancy to the call for a lasting peaceful solution in Zimbabwe and the urgent need for a national programme of healing.

To read a full copy of the report, click here Counting the Cost of Courage: Trauma Experiences of Women Human Rights Defenders in Zimbabwe

To read statistics and case histories of post-election violence since March 2008, click here post-election-violence-in-zimbabwe-2008.doc

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has been awarded the 5th Human Rights Award by Amnesty International German Section. The award was presented at an award ceremony at the ‘Berliner Ensemble’, a well-known theatre in the centre of Berlin on Sunday 16th November. WOZA leaders, Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, received the award on behalf of the organisation.

Williams and Mahlangu, who were released on bail from Mlondolozi Prison on Thursday 6 November, won an application from Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court to be allowed to travel to Germany to receive the award.

The pair had been released on bail with strict reporting conditions. They had to report to their nearest police station twice a week and were not permitted to travel outside of a 40 kilometre radius of Bulawayo Post Office without the written permission of a magistrate.

Williams and Mahlangu appeared in Bulawayo Magistrate’s Court on Monday 11th November for a routine remand hearing where they requested permission to travel to Germany. Magistrate Maphosa requested however that the application be made in open court on Tuesday 12th. After several delays, the state decided not to oppose the travel application and reporting conditions were temporarily suspended until November 26th to allow the activists to travel to Germany. Upon their return they will resume reporting and remain within a 40 kilometre radius of Bulawayo until their trial which is scheduled for 2nd December 2008.

The German section of Amnesty International assigns the Human Rights Award every two years to people that defend and fight for human rights, especially under harsh circumstances.The award statue was designed by the internationally known sculptor Tony Cragg.

In the past, the prize was given to Turkish advocate Eren Keskin (2001), a human rights defender from Russia, Swetlana Gannuschkina (2003) and Monira Rahman from Bangladesh (2006).

For several weeks, WOZA members have expressed their deep concern about the failure of government schools to open. This follows on from distress about the quality of education that their children received in 2008. In the first 20 years of Independence, Zimbabwe’s education system and schools were the envy of Africa. In 2009, we do not have an education system to speak of.

WOZA research
In August 2008 WOZA undertook a survey of our membership. We interviewed a sample of more than 1,000 members in Bulawayo, Harare and Chitungwiza. We asked them about how they are living and about their children’s education. In February 2009, WOZA conducted further research on a sample of 377 members to determine the current status of their children’s education and our members’ ability to access food.

Please click here to read a report, from WOZA’s perspective, of the state of education in Zimbabwe. The state of education in Zimbabwe- a WOZA perspective

WOZA is sending a petition on the state of education to the new minister of education, Senator David Coltart. WOZA members are going door-to-door asking parents to sign. Please sign your support. Email WOZA to receive the petition at wozazimbabwe@yahoo.com and post the completed form to P.O. Box FM 701 Famona, Bulawayo.

Comments from parents on the state of education (February 2009):

“Children need good education but the problem is that our leaders do not show concern about it. They need to take steps about education.”

“I did not go to school but I need my children to go to school.”

“I am heartbroken because in years back we used to go to school even if we failed but our children are failing to go to school. This will destroy our children’s future.”

“It is painful to have an uneducated child.”

“I want my grandchildren to learn so that they finish the poor life I am living.”

“There are no resources in schools whilst they are charging what they want without consulting parents and at the end of the day demanding us to pay teachers salaries.”

Good evening Mr. President, Mrs. Obama, members of Congress and the diplomatic corps, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great honour to be standing here accepting this award tonight and I thank you. The accolade of winning the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award should be a cause for great celebration. Yet, I find that even as I stand here, humbled and grateful, for the recognition, I find little to celebrate.

The Global Political Agreement signed in September of last year should also have been a cause for celebration. This agreement brokered by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) was to be a foundation for dialogue and cooperation between political parties.  A year later, however, we find ourselves in a situation of great uncertainty and violence.

Human rights defenders continue to be targeted for arbitrary arrest, harassment, torture and abduction by state agents.  Oppressive laws designed to silence democratic voices are still in place and still being used against us. My colleague, Jenni Williams, and I return to court on 7 December, facing charges of disturbing the peace for saying that people need food aid. We are facing five years in prison.

This harassment is also visited upon ordinary citizens. A badly paid police force routinely solicits bribes from people going about their business. Innocent people are arrested for loitering and vendors often have their goods looted for the personal use of police.

The economy has also not recovered enough to bring relief to the average household. We see food on supermarket shelves, but we cannot eat with our eyes. Unemployment remains at close to 95%, and with informal trade criminalised, most people remain locked in a daily struggle to feed themselves and their families.

The healthcare and education systems remain in crisis. While some schools have reopened, more and more children are dropping out as parents continue with the daily struggle to decide whether to put food on the table for the day or send a child to school for a week. Child-headed households are also becoming increasingly prevalent as HIV/AIDS, malnutrition, stress and a collapsed healthcare system combine to hound our people into early graves.  In Zimbabwe, the average life expectancy for a woman is 34 years.

This is the backdrop against which WOZA operates, providing Zimbabweans across political lines with a platform to speak out about their issues. Almost every month for the last seven years, women and men have taken to the streets to demand social justice and hold their leaders accountable through peaceful direct action. Invariably these peaceful protests have led to conflict with the state.

Thousands of my colleagues have faced arrest, torture and abduction – their only crime, wanting a better life for themselves and their families. I myself have been arrested more than 30 times in the last seven years for peaceful actions.  Once, I was even arrested for teaching women how to make lemon jam!

These arrests do not deter us because WOZA has empowered us to believe that we deserve better. We deserve to have a roof over our head, food in our stomachs, our children in schools and the nation working. We deserve to live in dignity and free from fear; and it is our right to have our voices heard and respected. That is why I joined WOZA. While Mugabe boasts of having degrees in violence, I and 75,000 WOZA members who stand beside me, have degrees in non-violence.

Our aim is to uphold universality and nonviolence, for a better life-for ourselves and for our children. The Robert F Kennedy award not only validates WOZA’s work, it amplifies our voices. Your efforts send the message that we are not alone and that the world is watching.

I would like to appeal to my sisters and brothers from Africa, guarantors to the Global Political Agreement (GPA). Since it was signed last September, there have been thousands of violations. We call on SADC and all friends present to ensure that the spirit and the letter of the GPA are fully respected and implemented.

We appeal to you to help us rebuild our healthcare and education systems and ensure that every person has enough to eat. We are not asking you to solve our problems for us. We are asking you to support our choices and help us implement them.

In the words of Robert F. Kennedy, “The future is not a gift: it is an achievement. Every generation helps make its own future.” Help us achieve ours.

I thank you.

Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) has launched a report on the state of education in Zimbabwe entitled ‘Looking back to look forward – education in Zimbabwe: a WOZA perspective‘. The recommendations contained in the report form the basis of WOZA’s current campaign on education.

The education of their children has been a major driving force for Zimbabweans and WOZA members in particular, and the motivation behind much activism. In the first decade after Independence, the education system in Zimbabwe reached its peak and was heralded as the best in Africa. In the last decade however, it has been pushed to its decline by power and politics. The report reflects on how this decay took place in order to expose this injustice and to demand its immediate remedy.

The recommendations included in the report include:

• A revamping of the curriculum to ensure its relevance to the children who learn.
• Introducing more vocational subjects – both commercial and technical -and providing opportunities for children to be attached in work places during their senior years.
• Allowing children to be placed according to their abilities and their interests instead of providing the same curriculum for all
• Teaching methods need to stress skills development rather than rote learning of knowledge in preparation for exams.
• Administration of schools needs to be less autocratic and more tended to participatory decision-making; physical abuse, which is common, must stop.
• A subject which teaches human rights, good governance, and democratic practice will need to be introduced to the curriculum
• Teachers and administrators will need to be re-trained to accommodate new approaches to teaching and learning.
• Examination systems will have to be revamped.

In January 2010, ahead of the new school year, WOZA has the following demands:

• Teachers must produce quality teaching and show that they are committed to the learning of all their pupils equally.
• Education authorities must utilise the vehicles that are being purchased to supervise teachers and demand more discipline in schools.
• Teachers must stop demanding top-ups from parents and the Ministry must prohibit this practice.
• The Ministry must work to produce a new and relevant curriculum as recommended above.
• Parents will do their best to pay reasonable fees set by Ministry and levies set by properly constituted and democratic parents meetings at the beginning of each year – we will not accept any fee or levy changes in 2010.

The full report can be found by clicking on the following link: Looking back to look forward -education in Zimbabwe: a WOZA perspective1

WOZA is clear about what it want – a placard at the protest in Bulawayo 08.03.10

SIX HUNDRED members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) marched to the High Court in Bulawayo today in protest against the utterances of the Minister of Education, Senator David Coltart, made in Parliament last week. The Minister said that he would not stop teachers from receiving the illegal incentive payments demanded from parents. Minister Coltart had been invited to receive a petition that the peaceful demonstrators were delivering but could not attend due to a prior commitment. A clerk at the court received the petition instead.

WOZA vigorously oppose the practice of teachers refusing to teach children until their parents provide them with cash incentives. These ‘top-ups’, over and above the usual school fees and school levies which most parents are unable to afford anyway, are just another nail in the coffin of the education system in Zimbabwe. In a recent report on education released in January 2010, entitled ‘Looking Back to Look Forward – a WOZA perspective on education in Zimbabwe’, WOZA demanded that the Ministry of Education stop this practice immediately. It is therefore incredibly disheartening for the Minister to publicly state that they have no intention of doing so.

Four simultaneous protests began and converged upon the High Court. Police officers and clerks at the court merely watched the peaceful protest, listening to the song sung by the demonstrators – “women are crying for an education for their children. Their tears are sorrowful.”  WOZA chose International Women’s Day for the protest as the education of their children is an issue close to the heart of every mother.

WOZA National Coordinator, Jenni Williams addressed members outside the Court, explaining that Minister Coltart’s utterances in parliament were unfortunate as they promoted illegal incentives and corruption. Magodonga Mahlangu lead the singing and sloganeering that finally dispersed the peaceful group.

After the protest dispersed, two plain-clothed police officers cornered Williams and Mahlangu outside the Post Office. As they called for back up the activists calmly walked away.

WOZA leaders were recently summoned by the co-ministers of Home Affairs and instructed to notify police of any processions despite the fact that WOZA does not need to notify police under the current exceptions as it is not a political organisation. Before being dismissed, Minister Giles Mutsekwa of the MDC delivered a subtle threat that they could be ambushed on their return to Bulawayo that day.  It is unclear as to if it was intended as an active threat but in the current security situation, activists remain vigilant about continued reports of threats on civic society leaders.

At noon today, approximately 600 members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise, including representatives from Bulawayo and rural Matabeleland, delivered their views on the constitution to Parliament with a peaceful procession through the streets of Harare. No arrests have been reported as yet but this may change as community leadership are still verifying the safe return of members.

Three processions began at different locations in the city centre, converging on Parliament where a copy of a report containing WOZA’s views on the constitution was handed over. The report is entitled ‘the rising of women means the rising of the nation – no more poverty and starvation, many sweating for a few to benefit’.

The peaceful group sang as they marched, handing out abbreviated copies of the report, much to the delight of bystanders, several of whom joint in the procession. Their songs included, “ukaona madzimai – when you see women they are rising in unity”.

Whilst members waited at Parliament for the arrival of the third group, police arrived in full riot gear, causing people to disperse. When the third procession arrived however, members regrouped to sing, “tirinhume takatumwa kunora bumbiro – we are messengers sent to write a constitution.”

Jenni Williams, WOZA’s National Coordinator, then handed over a copy of the report to a parliamentary official who accepted it whilst asking why WOZA is always demonstrating outside Parliament. Williams addressed the peaceful crowd during which time a police officer politely tapped Williams on the shoulder, asking to please have a word with her.  Ignoring him, Williams instructed members to peacefully disperse, which the police officers present were happy to allow.

Members were happy and excited that they were able to deliver their views on the constitution in a peaceful manner and passed by the offices of The Herald, wanting to test media freedom in Zimbabwe by leaving them a copy of the report as well.

WOZA would like to commend the Zimbabwe Republic Police for their restraint and professionalism in allowing our members to practice their right to peaceful demonstration.

To read a full copy of the report submitted to COPAC, please click here: WOZA presentation to COPAC 29.11.10

More photos of the march can be found on our Facebook page.

SIX members, all women, were arrested along Khami Road in Bulawayo and detained at Western Commonage police station between 8 and 9pm Wednesday.  The women are from Iminyela and Pelandaba suburbs. The members were arrested by police officers who accused them of painting messages on the road. The messages read- ‘power to poor people’ ; ‘no lengthy load shedding’ ; ‘prepaid meters now!’; focus on the electricity crisis in Zimbabwe.

WOZA fear torture of members, 14 members were tortured while in custody in March 2011. This morning, food brought by relatives and lawyers access was denied by Assistant Inspector Purazeni, the officer-in-charge at Western Commonage police station whose officers arrested the six, he is said to have indicated that the orders came from above.

WOZA, a women’s movement identify electricity supply as directly targeting the role of a woman in the home. As a result WOZA have lobbied the Zimbabwe Electricity Transmission and Distribution Company (ZETDC) for close on 5 years to provide an affordable and regular service. A multi faceted protest strategy is used peacefully targeting local and city based company officials.

These arrests follow  a 10th May protest to the Bulawayo electricity power station to launched a 6 week ‘Power to Poor People’ Campaign to ‘discipline’ the ZETDC for its daylight robbery to consumers. Members are also continuing to engage suburban office of the power company with consumer deputations to deliver ‘yellow cards’ with their demands.

The campaign demands are:
1. Stop cheating fixed meter consumers, we demand prepaid meters.
2. Please provide cheaper firewood, candles and matches, we do not want to destroy our environment by cutting down trees.
3. We are tired of 18 hour power cuts -provide proper timetables of load shedding.
4. Urgently put in place a proper and transparent billing system. Stop sending metered consumer’s estimates, send ACTUAL bills.
5. Create a smoother process of customer’s claims for  compensation.
6. Review recruitment policy and bring salaries to decent levels with our current economic record. Professionalise staff performance and honesty. No more luxury cars we need transformers.
7. We will record the exact hours we receive electricity for the last 2 weeks of May while we get petition signatures which we will take to Parliament and demand they review your monopoly and poor service. You have cheated us for long enough, after we submit our demand to parliament we will organise a RED card Campaign. Be warned POWER TO THE POOR – ZERO service ZERO bill. HOKOYO!!

The campaign includes obtaining signatures to a petition dubbed the ‘Anti Abuse of Power’ Petition; completing of a time sheet of power cuts and the delivering of a ‘yellow card’ to the company.   WOZA has campaigned for affordable and available electricity since 2006 with its ‘power to the people’ campaigns. In response to a campaign demand the company have just advertise power cut schedules but have indicated that there will be longer cuts as this is winter in Zimbabwe.

Please help save our activists from torture by calling +263 9 403996 up to 8 speak to Assistant Inspector Purazeni,  the officer-in-charge at Western Commonage police station or call the Law and Order Dept on +263 9 72515. Please remind them to conform to international standards of detention and ask them to allow WOZA members to lobby for and power for all to enjoy.

Note: A ‘Deputation’ or Delegation is one of the forms of nonviolent direct action from the 198 methods authored by scholar Gene Sharp. Members met and select a smaller group to ‘represent’ them in delivering their demands to an official of an organisation viewed as violating people rights.

Eight members Grace Moyo, Stella Chivunge, Sikhangezile Sibanda, and Simangaliphi Msimanga, 16yr old Cecelia Ncube, Siboniso Siziba, Miriam Moyo, and Memory Matandare arrested on 24 May 2011 appeared in Western Commonage Magistrate Court on the 15th of August 2011. The Magistrate Themba Chimiso ruled that the state must withdraw the charges before plea. This followed an application by the defence team from Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights challenging the charges.

The accused were charged with two counts: 1. Intentional engaging in a disorderly or riotous conduct as defined in section 41(a) of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act 9:23. Alternatively Encumbering or obstructing the free passage along any street, road, throughfare, sidewalk or pavements as defined in section 46(2)(f) of the Criminal law codification and Reform act.

Lawyers Lizwe Jamela and Nosimilo Chanayiwa cited a Supreme Court ruling obtained by WOZA leaders Williams and Mahlangu for a 2008 protest related arrest. Lawyers argued that the charges were similar to the section 37 (1) a (1) of the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act, the subject of the Supreme Court ruling. As a result of this ruling, it followed that WOZA members should not be arrested under similar conditions as they infringe on their constitutional right to freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, section 20(1) and 21(1) of the Constitution. This argument rendered the Prosecutor D. Ndebele dumb and he had no option but to withdraw the charges before plea and record this in the docket. The members, including a 3 month old baby Rejoice had spent a night in custody. They were arrested during a peaceful protest in the Pumula suburb of Bulawayo at their local Electricity supply office demanding a decent electricity service. WOZA members were conducting a ‘power to poor people’ campaign targeting the Zimbabwe Electricity company which has a monopoly and overcharges its service.

Six members accused of writing messages about the poor electricity service appeared in Tredgold Magistrates Court, Bulawayo on 18th of August 2011. The six members, Janet Dube and 5 others were in the dock for most of the morning facing Trial. The Trial is being heard by Magistrate Roselyn Dube and the state prosecutor is Jeremiah Mutsindikwa. They are defended by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, Lizwe Jamela and Nosimilo Chanayiwa. They are charged with contravening section 140 of Criminal Law (Codification and Reform Act) Chapter 9:23, malicious damage to property. The property being the tar road connecting the Pelandaba to the City centre. Malicious damage to property reads: Any person who, knowing that another person is entitled to own, possess or control any property or realising that there is a real risk or possibility that another person may be so entitled, damages or destroys the property. (a) intending to cause such damage or destruction; or (b) realising that there is a real risk or possibility that such damage or destruction may result from his or her act or omission; shall be guilty of malicious damage to property, and liable to. (i) a fine not exceeding level fourteen or not exceeding twice the value of the property damaged as a result of the crime, whichever is the greater; or (ii) imprisonment for a period not exceeding twenty-five years; Two police officers who arrested the accused gave evidence. Shepherd Sipili and Lawrence Chademana’s evidence seemed to contradict their own written statements. They admitted arresting Sibekezele and Therezia, saying the other accused could have been arrested by other officers who were not in court. The trial will continue on the 1st of September where the Engineer Lengama Douglas Ncube from City Council must explain how he calculated the USD 349 damage apparently caused by the women’s graffiti. The six women were arrested on Wednesday 18 May 2011 by armed police officers. During their detention they were denied access to food and lawyers, split up and help in inhumane conditions in suburban police stations and held for longer that the 48 hours allowed by law. WOZA would like to thank Jamela and Nosimilo Chanayiwa of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human rights for delivering a legal victory for the Pumula members and look forward to another victory for the six accused of writing ‘power to poor people’.

WOMEN of Zimbabwe Arise members numbering 150 made it to the steps of the City Hall Mayors office but senior ranking police officers blocked their access to engage the Mayor and the Mayor did not attend to address the aggrieved members, his voters. This was the third day of protest bemoaning the Bulawayo water woes.

Four of the five protests were disrupted at the start of their march by police officers who grabbed their banners and placards and threatened to beat the members.

The 3 days series of protests followed meetings with council officials in their suburban offices. Since 1st November, over 800 members conducted deputations or sent delegations to council officers to lodge complaints about water problems. Officials at most of these centres referred members to Council officers in Tower block where technical staff work and to the Mayor at City Hall.   As a result the Monday protest was to Council Tower block, Tuesday to the Government complex where the Ministry of Water is housed and then the final protest to City Hall.

WOZA has been communicating with the Council PR Department and received a letter dated 29 October 2012 (BMN/W1/27), from the Town Clerk. This is the last paragraph in full, “Bulawayo City Council is committed to entering into a dialogue with you and your members to discuss more issues regarding the water crisis and water shedding. Council is available to provide further information to clarify issues on water raised by your organization.” Following up on this as a genuine invitation WOZA found their way blocked by Police on all 3 days of the protest campaign.

Those that made it to the steps of City hall on 14 November 2012, were greeted by very senior uniformed and those wearing plain clothes. The officers’ primary objective seemed to be to disperse the protest and attempted to take WOZA leaders Jennifer Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu to the police station which is located across the road to discuss the water problems. When asked if they had a mandate to act officially for city council they failed to give a plausible answer.

Dispersing the protest, Williams advised members gathered that negotiation with police to secure an address by the Mayor had failed and that the invitation issued by the Town clerk a false promise of dialogue. The WOZA leader then advised members to mobilise the ‘recall petition processes for Bulawayo councilors to be recalled by the electorate as they had failed to meet members or deal with the water crisis.

WOZA demands included the following
1.    City council and the Minister of Water must convene public hearings and come up with a consulted plan of action on the water problems.
2.    Members demand an END to water load shedding that extends beyond 24 hours and keep to timetables.
3.    City council must supply water purifying tablets
4.    City council must devise more effective methods of supplying residents with clean water in an orderly manner.
5.    There is already an outbreak of diseases and the health delivery systems cannot cope with the queues and demand for drips and medication. The Health Department must also have a disaster management plan in place for all residents to inspect and be able to input to.
6.    Demand increase to 100 litres per family per day from water bowser allocation, 40 litres is not enough for a family of five.
7.    Stop charging penalties; we are already penalised by the water crisis.
8.    Please help control fairly the access to boreholes and stop unscrupulous opportunists pretending to ‘own’ the borehole.

Demands to the minister
9.    Firstly we have to make these demands through the Mayor due to centralised power and lack of access.
10.    Honourable Mayor, tell the Minister that he must be accountable. He has made many empty promises but not delivered a single promise. He promised the water crisis would be dealt with by the first week of October but a month later we are thirsty. He must explain what he has done with the money he told us he had in his pocket.
11.    We demand that the minister also conduct a consultative process and come up with a comprehensive plan to bring water to Bulawayo. We demand this be done in a non partisan way separated from anyone’s political ambitions.
12.    Honourable Mayor we demand that you tell him and all your councillors that we are tired of being used as political tools. We demand constitutional devolution so that we can determine our own destiny. We are sick and tired of perennial problems and politicisation of our basic rights. Bob Marley sang these words, “you fool some of the people sometime but you can’t fool all the people all the time.’

Although the officers tried their best to be professional and no members were beaten, they still violated rights to freedom of expression and assembly of the participation and barred access to elected city officials. WOZA would like to nonetheless commend the officer commanding Bulawayo Chief Inspector Rangwani for finally realizing that arrests and beating will not deter the WOZA members. We applaud his effort to professionalise police response and encourage him to continue on this path to respect for democracy.