Violence is a major barrier for women to enter into politics, but there are many other and less visible challenges to overcome for politically active women.
Speaking at the seminar “African Spring – also in Zimbabwe?” Jestina Mukoko from Zimbabwe Peace Project explains how female candidates are disadvantaged in politics, because they have inadequate knowledge and capacity to campaign effectively. Furthermore women are often victims of character assassination, and female activists are often labelled as prostitutes, when they enter the political battlefield.
Women’s participation is also intrinsically linked with issues of social-economic stability as well as equal access to resources and social services. At a structural level “the issue of women in politics is not only about political position, but also about the lack of a strong social-economic position of women in our society” says Takura Zhangazha, Voluntary Media Council.
Seen in this perspective political violence against women is only the top of the iceberg. It is an enormous problem in itself, but at the same time it is also a symptom of the underlying root causes, in particular the social acceptance of targeting women, not only because of their political affiliation but also because of their gender.
To see an “African Spring” for Zimbabwean women there is a need to address the underlying cultural and social discrimination that contributes to marginalising women in Zimbabwean politics. And the Government of National Unity must take a lead in developing a culture of equality and social justice.
The ACT NOW Against Political Violence, Torture and Rape campaign has gained momentum, in particular in terms of mobilisation of female activists, who have been beaten down from years of repression.
“Women are strong and believe we need to continue the struggle for democracy. Activism is within us and we will never move backwards. We will continue the fight until we have a people driven constitution in Zimbabwe” says a leading female activists in NCA.
NCA National Spokesperson, Madock Chivasa, speaking about the ACT NOW Against Political Violence Campaign
Mobilisation and education of women
In the past year, the NCA has embarked on a national outreach programme to encourage an open dialogue about the risks and challenges facing women and provide a platform for women to share their personal stories about the physical, mental and social attacks by the law enforcement agencies, militia and youth gangs.
Around the country women and men has gathered in small groups to break the silence and talk about the trauma resulting from being targeted by the state in response to their call for a people driven constitution. This has contributed to building women’s self-esteem as individuals and as active participants in the movement for a genuine democratisation of Zimbabwe’s repressive regime.
Responses to police brutality
In spite of the courage and unity of the democracy movement, activists are still putting their lives on the line when they take up the fight against repression. Many female activists have been faced with police brutality, and women who choose to become active in NCA are acutely aware of the risks of physical assaults, arrest and torture. By teaching women about their rights they have become better prepared for how to react, when the police interrupt demonstrations and NCA meetings.
“Women now stand firm against the police. We tell them that we will not run away, so they can just go ahead and arrest us all. If one of us is arrested we stand together as a group and tell the police men to arrest us all. The police will leave us alone because we stand firm” says one of the women, who has educated grassroots women.
Protection and support to female activists
No matter how firm the women stand, the effects of the medical and psychological trauma from political violence cannot be underestimated. In the past year, NCA has scaled up the efforts to provide counselling, medical and legal support for women, who have been subjected to political violence. No woman should be left alone with the physical, mental and social wounds from violence, rape and torture. Therefore NCA has put a system in place, where women can report any incidences of political violence to the local offices, who will then refer them to medical, counselling and legal support.
Unfortunately the Zimbabwean police and court systems are under Robert Mugabe’s control, and it is not possible to report cases to the police or take the perpetrators to court. The police routinely refuse to investigate any cases of political violence against civic activists, who are perceived as being affiliated with Mugabe’s political rival, Morgan Tsvangirai.
Prosecution of perpetrators of political violence is therefore rare, and in the few court cases, the political elite has sought to threaten or pay the judges to rule in favour of the perpetrator. However, human rights lawyers and doctors still document all the cases, and are preparing to take them to court as soon as the political control of the court system is reduced. Attempts have also been made to prosecute perpetrators in other countries.
International lobbying
The women of Zimbabwe are not alone in their fight against repression. Throughout the past year, NCA and Africa Contact have put pressure on policy makers in Southern Africa and Europe to push for an end to political violence in Zimbabwe.
NCA has held a series of demonstrations around the campaign in Johannesburg. When the Southern Africa Development Community held an extraordinary summit in Johannesburg in June 2011, NCA handed in a petition calling on SADC to pressure Zimbabwe to put an end to political violence.
NCA Activists on their way to hand in petition to SADC
NCA Chairman Lovemore Madhuku and International Coordinator Munjodzi Mutandiri visited Copenhagen in December to mobilise support for the campaign. Civil society arranged a conference to address the issue of women’s political participation, and the Danish Government opened the doors to discuss the current political situation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs took note of NCA’s analysis of the Government of National Unity’s failure to provide stability and security for Zimbabweans, and NCA stressed that there is an urgent need to ensure that all Zimbabweans are free to choose their leader and contribute to building the future of the country.
In February, NCA’s partner Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), went to Geneva to engage the United Nations in the fight against political violence. During Zimbabwe’s review by the Committee on the Elimination of all Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), RAU successfully lobbied the Committee to condemn the systematic use of political violence against women. The CEDAW Report called on the Zimbabwean Government to end political violence.
International Solidarity
On the International Women’s Day and May Day, activists from Africa Contact took to the streets to urge Danish citizens and policy makers to show their solidarity with the women of Zimbabwe. More than 500 Danes showed their support by having their picture taken for a virtual petition on Facebook.
Danes calling for an end to political violence against women in Zimbabwe
The events caught the attention of Danish policymakers and the then Minister of Foreign Affairs Lene Espersen said: “I think we should fight all attempts at trying to misuse women for political purposes. So let’s speak up and speak up loud for the Zimbabwean women”, when she had her picture taken for the petition.
Strengthening the movement for a democratic Zimbabwe
The campaign has not only contributed to improving the situation for female activists. It has also strengthened NCA as a movement. The fear and consequences of political violence is something that is present in the lives of all activists. By initiating discussions about political violence at all levels of the organisation, NCA has become even more relevant for its grassroots supporters, because the organisation acknowledges and seeks to assist the physical and psychological risks the membership face.
“The campaign against political violence is the first of its nature in NCA. We have always campaigned for a people driven constitution, and our members were positively surprised to see us talk about political violence. It has helped us mobilise our grassroots, especially women“, says a member of NCA’s Task Force.
But the struggle does not end here. Political violence, especially against women, has become integral to Zimbabwe’s political battleground as is still used as a tool to silence critical voices. It is expected that Zimbabwe will have a referendum on a new constitution this year and elections next year. Mugabe is not expected to give up power without a fight and is likely to launch a new campaign of intimidation and violence against the democracy movement. We need to prepare ourselves to protect women and provide support for the victims of political violence – and speak out to the international community on the continued human rights violations in Zimbabwe.
Last year we went on the streets in Copenhagen in a solidarity event to raise awareness about political violence against women in Zimbabwe, and this year we went into the meeting room to address Danish civil society and mobilise support to continue fighting for women’s right to participate in decision-making and public life.
NCA Chairperson, Lovemore Madhuku, speaking at the conference on 8. December 2011
The report presents NCA Chairperson Lovemore Madhuku’s analysis of political violence in the context of women’s role in the struggle for democracy in Zimbabwe. It also includes NCA International Coordinator Munjodzi Mutandiri’s presentation of NCA’s strategies of mobilising and protecting activist women, who live in fear for becoming targets of physical attacks, abductions, torture, rape and psychological violence.
At the launch an activist from Africa Contact stressed the importance to continue our work with inclusion of marginalised groups, such as women, in political processes and decision-making. Africa Contact remain deeply committed to the fight for Zimbabwean women to continue the struggle for democracy without fear of political violence.
In Zimbabwe and around the world, women face a range of different problems when they become politically active, such as economic and cultural barriers for their active participation. Director of the Danish Institute for Parties and Democracy (DIPD), Bjørn Førde, stressed that the issue of women’s political participation cannot be addressed as an isolated problem.
Director of DIPD, Bjørn Førde, speaking at the launch
The roots causes of unequal access to power and influence are closely interlinked with economic, social and cultural power, and in many societies the loss of power equals a loss of economic benefits, social status and power in other spheres of life. A genuine process of democratisation therefore need to address the issue of separating political power from social and economic power.
As the International Women’s Day is coming to an end, we left the launch with new inspiration to continue our struggle for women’s opportunities to contribute to defining the future of their countries.
According to the recommendations from the international conference Countries in Transition – Options for Women’s Political Participation three is a need to intensify education and mobilisation of women at all levels of society.
The conference focussed on Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunisia, which are all undergoing political transformations. In these processes women are often excluded from the political arena and the transitions towards more democratic governance systems have to a large extent materialised as a handover of power from one small group of elderly men to another group of men.
Discussions about women’s political participation is often reduced to the question of the number of women in high level positions, such as parliamentarians, party leaders or board members. This entails a risk of forgetting that women at all levels of society have the right to influence decisions that influence their lives and livelihoods.
Limited participation of women in politics is also a symptom of a broader democratic challenge. Political processes are often driven by a small urban-based elite without broad involvement of citizens at all levels of society.
Promotion and protection of women’s political participation is in itself important, but it also has a broader purpose of developing a participatory democracy, where all citizens are free to contribute to shaping the future of their country.
Zimbabwean women are powerful, resilient and determined to have their voice heard and exercise their right to vote. The regime has realised the powerful force of women in the democracy movement, and therefore they specifically target women, says Lovemore Madhuku, Chairperson of the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).
He is speaking about political violence against women at the international conference Countries in Transition: Options for Women’s Political Participation in Copenhagen, initiated by the NCA and the Danish organisation Africa Contact.
Zimbabwean women have always been a main driving force for change. They were at the frontline in the liberation struggle against the white minority rule in the 1970s and more recently in the pro-democracy movement against Robert Mugabe’s authoritarian regime.
Women have therefore also suffered some of the heaviest violations by the regime, including violence, torture and rape. This has left communities in a state of fear and apathy, and many Zimbabweans have withdrawn from the political arena or fled to neighbouring countries.
This issue is not just about women, but about families and communities. One of the most evil forms of violence we have witnessed is when youth militia force family members to have sex with each other. It breaks down communities, and no one will be willing to participate after, Munjodzi Mutandiri, International Coordinator of the NCA explains at the conference.
At the moment Zimbabwe’s future is in the making as the country prepares for a constitutional referendum and elections. To secure a genuine transition towards democracy political violence, especially violence targeting women, needs to come to an end and the perpetrators must be held accountable for their actions.
Political violence is a serious problem in itself, but at the same time it is also a symptom of a deeper problem, resulting from the nature and history of Zimbabwe’s political power struggle.
Today NCA’s Chairperson, Lovemore Madhuku and International Coordinator, Munjodzi Mutandiri spoke at a seminar at Centre for African Studies in Copenhagen. First Madhuku took the audience back to the liberation war, where today’s leaders of Zimbabwe were groomed. At independence in 1980, many of the political leaders came straight from the battlefield.
As new generations have grown up and started to claim their space in the political arena, the ageing leaders from the liberation struggle have continuously, loudly and violently claimed that their authority cannot be challenged, because they won Zimbabwe’s freedom 31 years ago.
Alternative voices gained weight as Zimbabweans came together in the 1990s and started pushing for a new agenda for a people oriented and participatory democracy, where power should be won in free and fair elections. But as Madhuku put it:
They believe the legitimacy comes from the bullets and not from the ballots. They won black majority rule. Now we must fight to win the respect for the electoral vote
The struggle in the past decade has been a competition between ideologies, where the ideology of violence is challenged by an ideology of democracy where power should not be won in a battle but given by the people in regular elections.
Political violence has become an integral part of this battle when the political elite use the military, police and militant militia to beat people into compliance with their political agenda.
The machine of violence has not been dismantled since 2008. It has been oiled and can be reactivated anytime. There is a need for communities to unite and say no to the violence, Mutandiri said at the seminar.
While many would like to believe that the Government of National Unity has bridged the gap between the political parties, a compromise between the ideological differences cannot be reached.
