Enter Zuma

So the ANC voted for their next party President and it has turned into a Mbeki vs Zuma Wrestlemania. I know very little about Jacob Zuma, I was disturbed like many by the revelations that came from the rape trial, which he was acquitted of. I have been reading and hearing comparisons of him to Bob. Many believe that Zuma's ascendence to power spells the end of South Africa the rainbow-nation-democracy .
Personally I believe that RSA rushed their race issues and that tension will raise it's ugly head sooner or later. I mean take a page out of Zim's book, we rushed the whole we are one people thing too and twenty years later white Zimbabweans were blamed for the suffering of every black Zimbabwe by the government and many black Zimbo share the same sentiment.

Ok all these are valid arguments and fears, Jacob Zuma is no saint and he is facing corruption charges and does South-Africa the regional hegemon really need such a tainted character as head of the nation? Perhaps not. It is bad enough that there are those that refuse to treat African leaders as capable, putting someone like Zuma in there is not really a great way to combat this problem. But who else is there Cyril Ramaphosa?

But the point of this blog is not really about whether Zuma is good or bad for South Africa. It's the media portrayal of Jacob Zuma that sparked this post. Today on ZWNEWS the picture of Zuma that accompanies this article South Africa fears the worst from Jacob Zuma is just wrong

Come on people! Surely we can get our points about a questionable character across without making him look like he is completely crazy. It's shit like this that gets people sitting on the fence to totally jump ship and support him.


They do it with Uncle Bob too
Ok this one might be crazy! LOL!

I am not endorsing any of these men. My views on uncle Bob are clear, but seriously?

Hope?

This week has been Interesting News Week for Zimbabwe let's begin shall we?

1. Outcry as Zim withholds degrees So it seems the government of Robert Mugabe has decided to curb the brain drain facing the nation by forcing Zimbabwe's educated to stay and work in the failing state for 3 years upon completion of their studies. Said a government official, "graduates should be patriotic and give back to society knowledge acquired". What the official left was "for free" because really the amount these indivuduals would be paid is ridiculous




2. Related to the joke that is Zim currency, Gideon Gono Govenor of the Reserved Bank said when commenting about cash shortages before the holiday season, "A practical solution is on its way very soon and before the festive season. Let us not despair, for failure can never be a viable option for us as a people. The destiny of our future is squarely in our hands." Our hand Giddy?? Really? I think not! This one is all you and uncle Bob, bravo!




3. Meanwhile on the BBC, this picture of a discarded Z$1 000 bank note almost made me cry

4. But......there is hope ......I think....light at the end of the tunnel. Zimbabwe has not been completely shafted by SADC. It was reported that the SADC tribunal rule in favour of a farmer and blocked the seizure of his farm on the grounds that it was racially motivated. Wow an african body actually decided that white africans have rights....I am stunned.

Who knows if this story is one to rekindle hope, but as a friend of mine said today "I believe in Zim"!

Violence Against Women

The level of violence against women in Zimbabwe is frightening. But what is even more chilling is the acceptance of violence against women in the everyday that is chilling. This morning a friend directed me to a Soros sponsored website Eyes on Zimbabwe and on that website I watched a video on torture and the severe beating of Grace Kwinjeh of the Movement for Democratic Change. This weekend women from Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) a pressure group in Zimbabwe were arrested and presumably beaten for staging their ongoing demonstrations against the injustices facing the citizens of Zimbabwe. Violence in Zimbabwe has become an everyday occurrence and women are frequently the victims. This violence is politically motivated and I often wonder how much of this violence stems from a socially accepted norm.

In 2006 an MP from the MDC embarrassed the party when he vehemently opposed the passing of H.B. 9, 2006.

Said the MP Timothy Mubawu:

"It is against Gods principles that men and women are equal....It is a dangerous Bill and let it be known in Zimbabwe that the right, privilege and status of men is gone. I stand here alone and say this Bill should not be passed in this House. It is a diabolic Bill. Our powers are being usurped daylight in this House." (Debate on Domestic Violence Bill persists)



The MDC minister with these words exposed a side of Zimbabwean culture that has fed and condoned the type of violence that is visited upon women be it on the political arena or in the home. When I was growing up there was a woman in my neighbourhood who was chronically abused both physically and emotionally by her husband. It was not a secret that she was being abused because her sick husband would beat her, then take her to hospital and nurse her back to health until the next beating. The women in our neighbourhood, my mother included, condemned the man's behaviour but negated that condemnation by asking what she (the woman) had done to provoke, the broken limbs and bruises that she was forced to parade through the neighbourhood and town. The men pretended not to see her bruises and continued to praise and admire the husband. Young women in the neighbourhood despised the wife and were constantly making themselves sexually available to this man.



The violence between this couple started when they were still high school sweethearts. The rumour (never confirmed but most likely true) was that they lived next door to each other and the parents on both sides knew of the violence. When the woman was at boarding school it is said that one day she came back to school late after a visit to town and she found her beau waiting for her. Before she could even say hello she was slapped and kicked while her schoolmates watched in horror and only saved when a groundskeeper chased the boy away. We'll take this story with a grain of salt it has never been confirmed. But the couple lived across the road from my house, and we watched in silence as she paraded the bruises of his handy work and never once did anyone step in to say a thing or even offer her a safe haven.



If in a small suburban community where everyone knows each others business no one stepped in and helped this woman who eventually died in 2002, how can we expect anyone to defend a domestic bill that will protect women across the nation? How can we expect anyone to bat an eyelid when women in political movements are beaten and raped by agents of the state? I am looking forward to the reconstruction of Zimbabwe and I truly believe it is coming soon i.e. the next 10 years, but I am also worried about the gender question. Where do women stand in this opposition movement? Yes there are many women who are occupying prominent positions in the opposition movement but the inclusion of women in this era smacks of the same co-opting and coercion of women of the liberation struggle. The Gender Question is often lipservice, but the real issues are that of democracy, free and fair elections, and regime change. Women's issues: an end to violence, better healthcare, land rights and inheritance, choice, education, and full inclusion in the political process are being lumped in one package and put on the back burner.



It seems men want women to help them win the fight against this current regime with no real guarantees that the gender question will be a priority in the new Zimbabwe. But women are in a catch -22. We also want a regime change, we want food, education, and healthcare for all Zimbabweans, but why are we made to feel guilty for asking for equal rights for women at the same time? Does asking for equal rights under the law truly undermine or dilute the call change? How do we ensure that this time round women's rights are truly included and protections garnered in the new Zimbabwe? I am often criticised by men and women from Zimbabwe for being too westernised and that this call for equal rights and my calling myself a feminist (even if I put post-colonial first) is merely a western induced idea and thus I am a sell-out. Often I am told "you cannot live in Zimbabwe", "you are too white" is it really western, white and sellout-ish of me to demand that women enjoy the same freedoms and protection as men regardless of where I am living?

Home away from home

This weekend I went to a friend's baby shower, this friend is a black South African who has married a white American. The shower was hosted by a mutual friend a white South African and the invitees were 2 black South Africans, 2 South African coloureds , 3 black Zimbabweans, 1 ivorian, what a delicious mixed salad of the African diaspora. We had a lovely time, we ate, laughed, danced and made the mother-to-be shake her booty!! We were African women braving the cold climate while sharing in our friend's excitement of a new addition another woman to our coven. I left the shower feeling warm and fuzzy inside and a little lighter than I normally do. The laughter had reignited my hope for Africa.

Cut to the events of the evening. A friend who had attended the shower invited me to join her for dinner with some men from West Africa, Nigeria and Cameroon. Three guys joined us for dinner at an Ethopian restaurant....OMG it was an African wet dream of a weekend for me y'all. It was freezing outside a icy rain had begun to fall and the pavements were slippery and lethal to walk on, so it was great to be indoors with the delicious smells of zilzil tibs and doro wat. The restaurant Demera is a one of the numerous Ethiopian Restaurants that have cropped up on Chicago's northside. A great spot, but none can rival the Ethiopian Diamond.

It was all in all a good weekend. I got to hang out with people who share the same thread as me. Displaced outsiders who straddle the line between maintaining ties with the "motherland" and completely submerging ourselves in this life. Although I couldn't help but wish that the baby shower was happening at an apartment complex in Jo'burg or that dinner had been enjoyed in downtown Addis Ababa.......Oh well if wishes were horses right? At least there are momemts where this truly does feel like a home away from home

Father Why Hast Thou Forsaken Us?

Greetings Blog World!

In an article I read today Mr. Mugabe was quoted to have lamented over the millions of Zimbabweans, oh wait "his children" who have runaway from him to Britain. I mean c'mon! My favourite quote from this article is:

"Today is the day of understanding each other. Zimbabwe will never be a colony again. If you fail to get sugar for a day, you blame it on Mugabe's government. How much sugar have I given you all these years?"

Ummm Dad I don' think the problem is that we can't get sugar for a day or even the sugar....the problem is that you are abusive and we are all in need of some intense therapy because we watched you beat and rape our mother Zimbabwe down for the last 27 years. We are classic survivors of domestic violence, daddy dearest. Some of us bear the scars, the rest of us attempt to nurse our internal wounds with sugar from Britain.
Typical language of an abuser, blame victim. So because you supposedly freed us and gave us sugar for a short spell we should endure your abuses? Who wants to make Zimbabwe a colony again? Again? Did we ever stop being a colony Mr. I'll sign the Lancaster House Agreement without reading the fine print?

"Should we therefore run away, forsake and abandon our country? We must fight, fight and defeat the common enemy. We should not forsake our revolutionary values.”

The thing about that is that we are running away from YOU! We are not forsaking our country, you nitwit and we do have a common enemy, YOU! What are our revolutionary values? How do your extravagances and mounds of wealth reflect those values? We are fighting Baba you best believe it, and this time WE will truly decide what it means to be Zimbabwean. This what happens to children, they grow up, they learn and they remember.