Empowering Zimbabwean women amidst continuing oppression

Empowering Zimbabwean women amidst continuing oppression

'I am confident we can now mobilise young women because we have the skills and the knowledge'.

That was the conclusion of Miriam Katumba, Vice Chairperson of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Union's (ZCTU) Women's Advisory Council, who was one of 141 women that attended one of the six three day civic education workshops that the ZCTU has run between January and March 2010, with the support of the TUC.

Rita Nyampinga ZCTU Regional Women's Advisory Council Secretary for the Northeastern region who attended the training with Miriam agrees: 'I have gained more confidence and am more eager to do my duty as leader and a women's rights activist'.

And general feedback from the participants continued to be encouraging with women making comments such as: 'Most interesting topic was women participation because it encourages us to stand firm', 'I enjoyed Labour Law reform especially maternity protection, now I know my rights as a women' and 'I enjoyed topic on participation and I want to be a leader'.

All those who attended are ordinary working women who hold elected positions within the ZCTU but as is the case with many trade unionists, their passion for social justice doesn't stop in the workplace. Many are also leaders within other organisations and within their communities and the problems the community faces, they face too.

For example Rita is a single mother with 5 children who recently hosted a big wedding for her son. Now an informal economy worker who prepares lunch for sale as a means of survival, she used to work in communications but was dismissed in 2004 along with 3000 other people for her trade union action. As well as her role in the ZCTU, Rita is also a Vice Chairperson of MS Zimbabwe, an NGO dealing with poverty reduction and intercultural cooperation, the chairperson of the Church and Civic Society Forum, a Board Member of the Women's Coalition in Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Social Forum.

Rita sharing her experiences with fellow women during the Civic Education workshop

The workshops come at a time of intensified and continuing struggle for the ZCTU for decent work, respect for workers rights and democracy. Since the signing of the Global Political Agreement and formation of a transitional government in early 2009, the economy has stabilised and life has improved somewhat for workers and their families. However key challenges remain. The vast proportion of the population live at or below the poverty line; Mugabe and his cronies continue to deliberately frustrate efforts to move forward; the current constitution making process is fundamentally flawed; the labour law needs amending; and draconian laws such as the Public Order and Security Act and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act continue to be used by the security forces to install fear, misinformation and frustrate civil society.

Recognising the need to educate and galvanise trade unionists to counter these challenges, the ZCTU has for a number of years undertaken nationwide Civic Education. However in 2009, the ZCTU became concerned that women's participation at their workshops was extremely low with just 0 to 3 attending each time. As a long time friend and supporter of the ZCTU, the TUC has documented and supported their plight for many years. With the signing of a Programme Partnership Arrangement with DFID in July 2009, the TUC was able to extend its support by signing an agreement with the ZCTU to rebuild the knowledge and confidence of women trade unionists so they increase their participation in union work and contribute to the development of a 'home grown, people driven and people centred constitution of Zimbabwe'.

Rita continues, 'I represent women at different platforms with a potential reach of around 10,000 people and this [workshop] has been a great opportunity to sharpen my skills and knowledge and a lot of people that I interact with will also benefit through education and information dissemination, we thank the ZCTU and the TUC for such a benefiting programme'. Since the training she has already been directly involved in advocacy for women's rights in Zimbabwe and shared her new knowledge with other women and men during the ZCTU's North Eastern International Women's Day celebrations as Master of Ceremony.

In fact it could be said that indirect results of the workshops aim to build confidence and encourage participation, can already be seen with a huge rise in participation (2,234) at the ZCTU International Women's Day activities for many years.

Since the break down of the countries economy and public services, women (and men) from the ZCTU and its affiliates now spend the day cleaning rubbish and sanitising particularly poor communities across the country. Health and safety during the day was also a key feature in their work.

Miriam is married with a son and grand child and is also very active within civil society. She is a National Executive Committee member of the National Union of clothing, a member of the Mbare Residents Association in Harare, the Women's Coordinator for the Christian Alliance and is a provincial member of the MDC Tsvangirai Party. Through these links, Miriam estimates she has the potential to directly or indirectly share her knowledge with 8000 other people. Miriam says 'I will educate others at work and in the community where I participate in various platforms.' She too has already started that work and in her recent address on behalf of the ZCTU WAC she shared her knowledge and encouraged participation at the General Meeting of the Security Guards Union.

Miriam Katumba (Centre) addressing people at the Security Guards General Meeting, besides her is Deputy General secretary of Civil service Employees Association and ZCTU General Council Member.

However the first phases of the project were not without their challenges and in a stark reminder of why this type of civic education is so important and timely, on the first day of the Eastern Region's workshop, in a misuse of the POSA Act, three facilitators were arrested by the police and were illegally detain.

The statement from Tenson Muchefa the Regional Officer for the Eastern Region and one of those arrested said 'The police said they wanted to fix us because we had refused to give them cash. They also demanded the food which the hotel was preparing for the participants. We were detained at the police station in cells up to 3.00pm'. After their release they regrouped the participants and bravely continued the next day.

Fiona Magaya, the ZCTU's National Gender Officer commented that 'That experience led the women to fully appreciate the topics on repressive legislation and the Bill of Rights in the Constitution. They now understand where their rights are being violated and what needs to be incorporated into the Constitution in order for those rights to be protected'.

The first two phases of the workshop have now been carried out. The 40 women strong ZCTU national Women's Advisory Council and 20 women in each of the six regional Women's Advisory Councils totally 141 women are now educated about the Labour Act and Labour Law reform process; the current Constitution making process; Law reform with women in mind and history of the ZCTU.

Each participant is required to present a report of the workshop to their union structures and to assist in the next phase of the project by helping to facilitate and share their knowledge during the 36 district level Women's Advisory Council workshops which will cover more than 700 women. They are also encouraged to share their learning with their families, the organisations in which they take part and within the community.

The project is now past its half way point and the district training is about to begin. However, with a recent Zimbabwe Peace Project monitoring report stating that the month of April saw a 5% rise of politically motivated intolerance around the constitution making process, the ZCTU faces no easy challenge in empowering women amidst this environment of continuing oppression. Whilst excited about the final phase of the project, the TUC will also be keeping a close eye on events and stands ready to assist the ZCTU should it prove necessary.