Faith Duri

Domestic violence especially against women and children seems to be worsening as families struggle with anxiety, economic stress and living in close physical proximity to one another due to the Covid-19 induced restrictions.
Government’s fight against the global pandemic is expected to mean more days of enforced social isolation which poses a huge threat of more cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) being reported, experts have noted.
The National Peace and Reconciliation Commission (NPRC) said in a statement in 2021 that the increase in GBV cases is worrying and government as well as other stakeholders need to adopt a gendered approach in responding in crises while they take GBV as an emergency and provide necessities to guard against distress and malnutrition.
“The NPRC noted a marked increase in GBV and implores family to take advantage of this lockdown to build sound relationships, mend broken ones, appreciate one another and live in a peaceful co-existence.
“The state is urged as prescribed by the law to take all reported cases of GBV seriously and protect all victims and survivors of GBV during this period,” read the statement.
GBV cases are estimated to have had an increase of 70 percent as compared to the pre-lockdown trends and about 94 percent of those cases affect women and children.
The most dominant forms are physical violence (38%) psychological violence (38%) economic violence (11%) and sexual violence (5%), about 90 percent of the cases are Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).
Musasa Project, Katswe Sistahood and Pakasipiti also reported an increase in GBV and IPV cases over the period of Covid-19 lockdown.
Musasa Project based in Harare recorded a total number of 2 519 GBV calls from the beginning of the lockdown on March 30, 2020.
Masvingo provincial police spokesperson Inspector Kudakwashe Dhewa stated that domestic violence has already surged in many areas as measures imposed like isolation compelled a number of women to be confined at home under the same roof with their perpetrators thus exacerbating women’s vulnerability to domestic violence and mostly women in high density suburbs are affected.

Thabiso Nxumalo

WELEAD Trust youth organization has said the Zimbabwean Constitution is not youth-friendly and the recent amendments to it seem to be doing more harm than good to the citizenry.
The organization, that focuses on youth leadership, advocacy and seeks to bring youths together to co-create a safe space for them to lead, said the national constitution limits the inclusion of youths in public offices and as a result their pleas are not addressed.
In an interview, WELEAD Media and Communications Officer Prince Gora said the organisation noted with concern how the national constitution is not pro-youth especially in public offices bearing.
“As an organization, WELEAD Trust is not very happy with the fact that the constitution limits participation of youths in public offices, for example, young people have to wait until 21 to get into parliament and until 40 to get to the senate or run for presidency,” Gora said.
He said constitutional issues in Zimbabwe do not always stem from loopholes in the constitution but on implementation, ultra-vires amendments with some of the laws being born out of the constitution.
“Generally speaking, implementation of the constitution itself is mostly lacking together with other laws of the country not being aligned to it.
“Also, the recent amendments to the constitution seem to be doing more harm than good,” said Gora.
The organization said a lot still needs to be done in educating and engaging youths in constitutional issues and also called upon government to implement section 7 of the constitution.
“There is limited awareness of the constitution. A few young people are even afraid to learn about the constitution and constitutionalism as they see it as being political.
“Also the government of Zimbabwe is not implementing section 7 of the constitution which deals with constitutional awareness very well,” added Gora.
WELEAD launched the “We Know the Constitution” campaign in September 2021 and have so far covered Masvingo, Chiredzi and Chitungwiza, directly reaching out to over 1000 youths.
The campaign, that runs under the hashtag #ConstitutionCulture is targeting youths in an effort to raise youth awareness and literacy of the constitution of Zimbabwe and its implications on youths.

….as crisis in education sector continues

Rutendo Chirume

International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has called upon the government of Zimbabwe to respect rights of workers like freedom of association as provided for in the country’s constitution following the arrest while demonstrating against low wages of 16 members of Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union (ARTUZ) in Harare on January 14 2022.
ITUC which represents 200 million workers in 163 countries including Zimbabwe strongly condemned the brutal arrest and unlawful detention of teachers for carrying out their legitimate trade union activities.
Amid calls to respect citizen rights, ITUC secretary general Sharan Burrow wrote a letter dated January 14 to President Emerson Mnangagwa bemoaning the deteriorating workers’ conditions and said the police officers involved in the arrest of teachers should be brought to book.
“The ITUC hereby makes the following demands to your government: the unconditional release from police custody of all the detained members of ARTUZ, immediately cease harassment of trade unionists by state security forces and judicial persecution of the same, investigate and bring to justice police officers who brutalised the demonstrators,” she wrote.
Burrow also questioned the capability of government under President Mnangagwa saying that the workers’ conditions have deteriorated far worse during the New Dispensation.
“The teachers and rest of the workers in your country have a very clear message –they want to be paid their United States dollars as was the case prior to October 2018.
“They are not demanding more, and it has already been proven that your government cannot go beyond what Mugabe left, instead we see a reverse if not the worst in conditions,” wrote Burrow.
Meanwhile the feud between teacher unions and government continues unabated as educators continue to demand the restoration of 2018 pre-October salaries, which has resulted in the recent arrest of 16 teachers while demonstrating though they were released after being detained in police custody for three days.
In November last year, government accused ARTUZ and PTUZ to be working with European agencies in order to oust the current government.
The arrested teachers were each granted ZW$ 5000.