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Zimbabwean women bear brunt of national crisis
By
Thokozani Khupe
MP
AS THE national crisis
continues to take a bungee jump, Zimbabwean women are worse off than
they were before the regime's pastime to sleep on duty gravitated into
this deep slumber.
Women, children, orphans, the aged, the disabled and child-headed families
are the ultimate victims of a regime that has lost the compass to steer
the nation to the calm waters of economic stability, affordable food
prices, good health care and education.
Yes, the regime
has since lost the compass and is allowing the winds of fate to drift
the ship to whatever hidden water coral.
Our nationwide campaign with the gospel of change has taken the MDC
leadership to the remotest of rural areas. Even in the urban areas,
the story is the same. It is the same story of women struggling to send
their children to school; women waking up to find they have nothing
to give their dying child; women on the market stalls vending all sorts
of commodities for the sake of their children.
In the rural areas, it is the same old story of women who spend the
night at the nearest grinding mill waiting to see if the 10 minutes
that electricity is available every night will make them go back home
with maize meal on their heads. Most of the times, they go back to tell
a sad story to their families that it will be another week of hunger
and starvation.
In the urban areas, it is the story of women travelling for kilometres on end to the nearest open well to get water because the state-controlled Zimbabwe National Water Authority (ZINWA) has since gone into a permanent state of hibernation. It is the story of sanitary ware that is not available. It is the story of the ordinary woman in the urban areas combing the nearby forest for a handful of firewood to cook meals for their families.
The state-controlled
Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority (ZESA) has neither the electricity
nor the capacity to supply. It has since caught the usual ailment suffered
by most parastatals; it is now in an advanced state of decay due to
mismanagement, patronage and corruption.
As women in leadership positions, the ordinary Zimbabwean woman must
always occupy a special place in our minds. The average woman must always
guide our principles, our policies and our programmes. The journey to
a new Zimbabwe begins when we begin to recognize and appreciate the
plight of the ordinary woman; when we begin to empathise with the disabled;
when child-headed families become the discourse in our political boardrooms.
Indeed, the road to a new Zimbabwe commences when the aged and the disadvantaged
become our preoccupation.
On Saturday, the MDC national executive meets to deliberate on the deteriorating
condition of the average Zimbabwean, among other issues. We will not
forget the ordinary woman who continues to bear the brunt of this debilitating
crisis.
It does not matter which woman has occupied which position. That should
never be a national preoccupation. This fixation with individual women
and the positions they hold is the tragedy of our contemporary politics.
After all, the fixation with individuals is what has led to the latest
era of "solidarity marches" and bussed male delegates to a
Women's Congress. We must rise above petty political squabbles about
personalities and begin to think about women in their collective sense.
When we start afresh as a nation, we must put the woman on the forefront;
not the woman in her individually ambitious sense, but the woman as
the embodiment of the collective spirit of the legitimate struggle we
are waging.
A New Zimbabwe, a new beginning. Our resilient women will make sure
we succeed.
Thokozani Khupe MP is the vice president of the MDC faction led
by Morgan Tsvangirai
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