Beneath the surface

Sue went to Zimbabwe to see for herself how WOMANKIND’s partners are coping with rampant inflation and growing insecurity. She found them focusing on supporting women to play their part in politics — and to get equal treatment in the courts.

It's been 10 years since I was last in Zimbabwe — it’s good to be back. Back in the mid-1990s I lived in Zambia in a remote, rural village and going to Zimbabwe was a real treat — running water, electricity, restaurants and good shopping!

Things don't seem to have changed much. The city is still well cared for and people are busy, going about their daily business. But when you look below the surface you can see how much has changed. On a visit to a supermarket to buy some lunch for ourselves and some staff from one of WOMANKIND’S partner organisations, we spent the equivalent of almost half a month’s salary for a Zimbabwean teacher on two loaves of bread, cheese, cucumber, tomatoes and some crisps.

The Director of another of our partner organisations told us that she can no longer afford to buy fruit for her family. Even professionals with good jobs are growing vegetables to sell — or have a second job just to get by. Today we met a young man who had a degree in chemical engineering in the park who was selling sweets to try and bring in a bit of income.

Taking the plunge

On Friday afternoon Emily — Womankind’s Programme Manager for Southern Africa — and I drove for about an hour from Harare to join our partners WiPSU (Women in Politics Support Unit) at a new Constituency Consultative Forum.

WiPSU has set these up in the 24 constituencies now represented by a female MP. Over 50 people (33 women and 12 men) turned up at a small primary school for a two-day workshop to find out how the Zimbabwe government is organised — and why there are so few women in politics.

Over an afternoon of lectures and group work I realised how hazy I was about some of the finer points of the British government — how many women do we have in the cabinet? In the highly political context of Zimbabwe, WiPSU skilfully remains focused on its mission of increasing the number of women involved in Zimbabwean politics and supporting those who have taken the plunge across all levels of the political system.

The colonial legacy

At the downtown Harare Magistrates Court we attended a women’s ‘empowerment’ session run by our partner ZWLA (Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association). Nineteen women, some of them with babies on their backs, sat in Court 9 as a ZWLA legal intern explained what rights they had in the maintenance court they were to attend the following week.

All the women were applying for maintenance for themselves and their children from ex-husbands or boyfriends. A Clerk of Court showed them how to fill in the numerous forms which have to be submitted before attending their hearing. I was surprised that the forms were all in English — many of the women speak English poorly. Even stranger was seeing some of the antiquated phrases such as ‘I am an un/married African woman’, a hangover from British and white-Rhodesian rule.

Poorly maintained

At the same Harare Court we spent half an hour watching the previous week’s ‘empowerment’ graduates appear before the Magistrate to hear the ruling on their maintenance claims.

One case involved a young woman in her early 20s who had a 9-month-old baby by a married man who had two other children with his wife. The woman was asking for maintenance of Z$200,000 (£4 at the informal exchange rate) a month — about a pound more than her ex-boyfriend was offering. The Magistrate asked them both a number of questions in English which were then translated into Shona, although the Magistrate herself spoke Shona.

After a few minutes’ deliberation the Magistrate awarded Z£150,000 maintenance, having believed the man about his salary, shown on a payslip, and his high living expenses. Margaret, one of ZWLA’s lawyers, told me that many men forge their wage slips to show a lower salary than they actually receive in an attempt to minimise the amount of maintenance they will end up having to pay.