The 158 members arrested today in Bulawayo were all released late this afternoon. The 127 women and 31 men were held in Southampton House all afternoon. Police Internal Security Intelligence (PISI) officers questioned two leaders, Williams and Mahlangu whilst the others had their names recorded. Attempts were made to keep Williams and Mahlangu in custody but the rest of the members refused to be released without them and vocalised this.

Two Central Intelligence Organisation (CIO) officials, Maphosa and Ndebele, also attended and recorded the life history of Williams, advising her that they would now be frequently visiting her home and monitoring her movements. None of the activists arrested were charged in the end.

The message delivered by WOZA was delivered loud and clear and whilst we recognise that police restrained themselves from brutality today, WOZA will continue to protest for an end to violence against all Zimbabweans and for a constitution-making process that has people at heart.

Members of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) have refused to participate in the government dictated school pledge programme.

Members, adults and child human rights defenders met on 30 April and 1st May 2016 and shared knowledge of what school officials instructed children and their parents to do at close of the last school term.

Members resolved to refuse to participate and will refuse to give their consent to their children’s participation on the following basis.
1. There was no consultation of themselves or their school development association representatives.
2. The wording of the pledge is problematic to christians even if it is paraphrased from the preamble of the Constitution.
3. To sequence the saying of the pledge immediately following the Lord’s prayer borders on blasphemy.
4. To force children to therefore make a pledge or oath violates many sections of the Zimbabwean Constitution.
4. WOZA is a movement of nonviolent human rights defenders who believe in democratic solutions to develop Zimbabwe. Forcing children to salute the flag militarises and brainwashes them and such an act should not be allowed by any responsible parent.

WOZA members views are captured in the attached newsletter and members commit to the included plan of action. WOZA Moya April 2016 I wont Pledge

At 12pm today, hundreds of members of WOZA and MOZA marched through the city of Bulawayo. Representatives from Harare, Mutare, Masvingo and rural Insiza joined local members to demand ‘peace – not piecemeal amendments.’

The group of singing protestors marched from near St Mary’s Cathedral, pausing outside to send messages of solidarity to Bishop Pius Ncube, whose courageous outspokenness against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe have often made him a target of the State. The group then progressed several blocks to Southampton House, the location of the Police Licensing Inspectorate, the office that receives and processes applications for peaceful gatherings.

Several hundred members proceeded to sit down peacefully on the pavement outside Southampton House to await arrest, which was not long coming. Three armed police officers escorted a group of approximately 200 into the building where they still remain.

Human rights lawyers are in attendance. Two mothers with babies that had also been arrested have been released.

One young member that is known to police was separated from the others and taken by uniformed police officers to Drill Hall where she was questioned on why she had been talking to Magodonga Mahlangu, one of the WOZA leaders. After being made to do several push-ups, she was released.

The protest comes two days after an all-stakeholders meeting with civic society and citizens was held in Bulawayo to deliberate on the implications of Constitutional Amendment Number 18 and the SADC-led mediation between the ruling ZANU PF and opposition MDC parties. The outcome of that conference was a complete rejection of piecemeal amendments to the current constitution and a renewed demand for a new, democratic and people-driven constitution-making process as the foundation for resolving the crisis in Zimbabwe.

WOZA, as frontline women human rights defenders that have often been on the receiving end of police brutality for having the audacity to claim their constitutional rights of freedom of expression and assembly, are also demanding an end to violence as a prerequisite to any meaningful change. See ‘10 Steps to a New Zimbabwe’; WOZA’s position on the mediation efforts, available on this website.

More information will be made available as it emerges.

FOLLOWING on from the 26 august 2015 protest to The Bulawayo Mayor and handing over of a yellow card, WOZA members in Harare have conducted a protest to the Minister of Local Government Honourable Saviour Kasukuwere. The 9th of September 12noon protest drew participation of 600 members.

Two protest groups converged at the Ministry of Local Governance located along Leopold Takawira Street and two members delivered the petition which was accepted by the Ministers Secretary. The protestors delivered their message through song – ‘vendor’s aramba’ (which means vendors have refused) and ‘Mavendor musawashungurudze’ (which means do not abuse vendors). As it traditional at WOZA protests, two prayer warriors led the prayers calling on Zimbabweans to respect the right to trade and called on divine intervention to stop the looting of vendor’s goods.

Members petitioned the Minister Saviour Kasukuwere his predecessor Minister Chombo is the one who began this human rights violation with orders for vendors to be forcefully removed. The petition included 11 demands and called on Minister Kasukuwere as follows:
“As women and mothers of this city, we ask that you work towards finding solutions that will cater for both the interests of the local authority and informal traders. Women have to put food on the table. They live at the sharp end of desperation seeing children’s faces showing hunger and this is what motivates them to try and find food. Vendors should not be persecuted for trying to feed their families. We expect you as our Minister to protect the rights of vendors and allow for peaceful trading. The issues we need to be addressed as we dialogue for a lasting solution include:
• City council collect vending fees and also allow Park Rite Africa to collect a second payment. Why did council mandate a parking company to collect weekly payments from vendors? We demand to have affordable standardised monthly fees which can be paid directly to the city council for transparency and accountability.
• We demand receipts for confiscated goods from all police officers seizing these – there must be transparency and accountability and no theft.
• We demand to know where looted goods are taken and the process to help us recover our goods. Vendors should be allowed to reclaim their goods. It is an injustice to give the first lady, Grace Mugabe confiscated goods for her political campaigns. Where is the justice for those affected by this looting?
• City council should have conducted an audit of stand allocation and one person; one stand
• Vendors should be allowed to trade undisturbed on a daily basis. Many vendors have their right to trade disturbed by party youth who come and force vendors to leave their stands and goods to attend party events. This violates their Constitutional freedom of assembly and association (chapter 4, section 58)

WOZA petition 9 Sept15

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members numbering around one thousand converged upon the Executive Mayors office in fife Street Bulawayo to urge the majoy to stand up for the constitutional rights of vendors.

As the members began their activity at city hall having marched from 11 different locations, a council staffer handed WOZA national coordinator a formal response to the WOZA open letter of 24 June 2015.

The letter confirms council position that the deadline will not be adhered to until council and stakeholders together find and expand vending sites.

The mayors letter closing calling for ‘good sense will prevail and we can be allowed enough time to organise ourselves as Bulawayo’

WOZA applaud the antiRiot police for restraining themselves and merely observing proceedings.

WOZA members keenly watch for news of a response from Mininster Chombo to the Mayor and hope it will promote peace and dignity.

see the mayors response here:

see pictures at https://twitter.com/radiodialoguefm/status/614368793494728704

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) today submitted a letter to the Executive Mayor of Bulawayo Councillor Martin Moyo, calling on him to stand with the people of Bulawayo trying to eke out a living by informal trade. The majority of WOZA members are involved in informal trading.

WOZA members urged him to be courageous and defend the Constitutional right to earn a living.

WOZA made recommendations as to what issues the Executive Mayor should address as part of a collect Council and Civic Society initiative and ignore the ultimatum from the Minister of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing for vendors to vacate the pavements and streets by 26 June 2015.

The open letter reads, “Executive Mayor we will stand by you if you stand by us. Let’s us find sustainable livelihood’s in a dignified manner befitting Zimbabweans. Don’t be a part of another ‘moment of madness’. We will not be moved from our streets until there is a comprehensive plan in place.”

See the open letter here
Open Letter 24 June 2015

All three WOZA members arrested yesterday, including Magodonga Mahlangu, were finally released at 1pm today. They have been charged under the Criminal Law (Codification and Reform) Act – section 140 – malicious damage to property and section 143 (b) – ‘ the crime of malicious damage to property or negligently causing serious damage to property is committed against property that is owned, possessed or controlled by the State, a statutory corporation or a local authority.’ These charges are as a result of recent calls to choose love over hate that have appeared on roads in the western suburbs of Bulawayo. There is no evidence whatsoever to link any of the three arrested with the road markings however.

The two other members arrested, Rosemary Siziba and Sitshiyiwe Ngwenya, were picked up from their homes late last night and taken to Donnington Police Station, where they were held until lunch today. Rosemary Siziba was with her one and a half year old daughter. Mahlangu spent the night at Figtree Police Station, some 40km outside of Bulawayo.

None of the members were physically harmed but Law and Order officers Ngwenya, Mathonsi and Mutyayambidzi threatened Mahlangu with death whilst still in Bulawayo Central Police Station; telling her that she would meet the same fate as her dog, Snowy, which was battered to death by police officers during a raid on Mahlangu’s home in recent weeks.

In the last week, police have raided and searched the homes of two other members looking for paint, although they did not find any in either home.

In a busy day at court for Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), the 26 members on trial in Gweru were finally removed off remand today. A visibly irate magistrate refused to further remand the group and had harsh words for the prosecutor when he once again confessed that the docket was not ready. She accused the state of not being serious about the matter and went on to state that the accused had been highly inconvenienced by the whole process, with some of them having sell goats in order to make the court hearings. She ordered the police to proceed by way of summons if they ever gathered the necessary evidence. The group of 26 had been arrested in March whilst launching the People’s Charter in the Midlands town. They have appeared on remand on at least four occasions since their March arrest.

In a separate incident, in Bulawayo the four members arrested during a localised housing demonstration in Mabutweni in October last year, again appeared in remand court this morning. They did not have the same luck as their Gweru comrades and were further remanded to 28 September.

Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) members are to participate in a ‘Right to Water’ civic society organised coalition march at 10am friday 14 november 2014 in Bulawayo. The march will start at the Egodini bus terminus and end at the city Hall. The City Mayor is expected to address participants along with civic society leaders.

The march focus is against the installation of prepaid water meters which Civic Society leaders view as a violation of the international instruments covering the right to water. The march sees the launch of a petition drive for residents of the city to get council to reverse the decision to install prepaid meters.

Bulawayo Residents Right to Water Campaign – SAY NO to Prepaid Water Meters Petition

In late 2013, the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) revealed that it would be introducing prepaid water meters as a means of water management in Bulawayo, with the concept set to be piloted in Cowdray Park’s Hlalani Kuhle area. With prepaid water meters, people pay for water up-front before accessing it, in the same manner that they purchase airtime first before being able to make calls. Research by Bulawayo civic society organisations found that prepaid water meters are unworkable in poor communities such as Cowdray Park, and indeed anywhere else in Zimbabwe due to the current economic situation. They would inevitably lead to residents consuming less water than they need for a healthy life, leading to outbreaks of diseases such as cholera. Consultations have also revealed that the majority of residents of Bulawayo are against the move. BPRA in association with several CSOs in Bulawayo is thus carrying out a Right to Water Campaign, which among other things seeks to compel the Bulawayo City Council (BCC) to reverse its decision to install prepaid water meters.

• The BCC resolution seems at odds with the new constitutional dispensation which reads – every person has a right to A) safe, clean and potable water B) sufficient food. These two points are interlinked as the one feeds the other and help people survive!
• Pre paid meters will destroy the spirit of “ubuntu” as people will no-longer be free to share water – this is a taboo in our culture.
Sign this petition and JOIN the campaign for the RIGHT TO WATER. Together we can make BULAWAYO CITY COUNCIL (BCC) REVERSE its decision to install prepaid water meters.

CHECK OUT THE MARCH PHOTOS AT facebook.com/woza.zimbabwe