Ruth Butaumocho Gender Forum
In the past weeks, Zimbabwe’s media has been awash with stories on corruption and obscene salaries in parastatals. Equally topical in the Press have been the increasing cases of sexual violence that have kept the courts busy. Over the same period, a landmark ruling was given in a case where a serial rapist was jailed 230 years for raping and robbing 13 women, a sentence that was generally well received by gender activists.

Women rights and gender activists have been lobbying for deterrent sentences on rapist and those convicted of sexual violence.
But probably it is RMG Independent End Time Message founder and leader Robert Martin Gumbura’s court case and subsequent incarceration that captivated both media and public attention for weeks, while generating debate across political and social circles.

His sentencing drew mixed feelings from the court of public opinion, with some civil organisations expressing dismay and outrage saying the sentence was light.

The public argued that Gumbura’s sentence defeated the whole purpose of taking him to court, considering the gravity of his offences.
When all these events were taking place, the public expected women’s organisations to come out guns blazing over the brazen and wanton abuse of women, particularly by some pastors, long considered moral vanguards of our societies.

But, alas, that did not happen.
The silence was deafening.

I remember phoning a regional organisation that deals with women’s legislation issues, seeking a comment on both rapist Chirembwe and Gumbura’s sentences.

A senior officer within the organisation was non-committal and actually asked me to put my questions in writing before slamming her                          phone.

Is it not strange that in a country that has got more than 200 registered women lobby groups, the issues concerning 52 percent of the population are only being represented by a few individuals, namely the Minister of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development, Cde Oppah Muchinguri, MDC-T Honourable Jessie Majome, Netty Musanhu, Virginia Muwanigwa, gender activists Kholiwe Nyoni and Tendai Garwe?

At her level Cde Muchinguri should not be running around advocating and lobbying for women’s rights as it were, but should rather be endorsing positions adopted by women’s organisations so that their recommendations can be turned into law.
Whose purpose then are all these women’s organisations serving?

Is it because the organisations do not have adequate knowledge of how they should drive women’s rights issues vis-a-vis the growing social discontent that is bringing about all these vices on women?

Is it the media’s mandate to fish out comments from women’s organisations, or it should be the other way round? While the women’s movement is alive in various sectors in Zimbabwe, they seem to be preoccupied with getting the most donor funding, and the least activities.

Whatever their mandate is, or whoever they purport to present, their objective can best be likened to a man who winks at a beautiful woman in the dark.

Faced with such a void of a vibrant women’s movement, the majority can only reminisce at the vibrant women’s movements that once swept through Zimbabwe during the time of Janah Ncube, Luta Shaba, Thoko Matshe and Everjoice Win.

Everjoice was one of the most vibrant, active, hands-on feminists the country has ever had.
Her political and rather radical personal views aside, Everjoice challenged the notion that women were second class citizens, fought for their full representation, agitated for their inclusion where they had been left out and made every woman believe that the issue of gender equality would one day be realised.

When she was at the helm of Women’s Action Group, Press statements would fly from all corners, followed by regular marches, culminating in change of policies.

She never relied on invitations to attend a public event, where women’s issues were being deliberated, but would attend the event regardless of the situation.

She often argued that women needed their own space to work on their own agenda, because they knew exactly what was wrong and how they want it addressed.

I am not convinced that the calibre of leadership within our women’s organisations do possesses the passion that spurred Janah, Thoko, Luta and Everjoice to fight for women’s cause, advancement and levelling of the playground.

Former US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton once said “fighting to give women and girls a chance and protect their rights isn’t a nice thing to do, neither is it some luxury that we get to do when we have time on our hands to spend”.
Just like pastoral duties, working for a rights organisation is a calling.
Activists are people driven by passion, keen to share facts they want understood and more widely and led by a vision that is thrust on them as a result of particular experiences.
The leaders of women in our midst don’t appear to be activists or individuals who would want to advocate for change and a better future for Zimbabwean women and the girl                            child.
They are either short of ideas, a workable solution, or simply don’t know how to execute their mandate. But whatever it is, women’s organisations should walk the talk, represent their constituents and justify the perks and comfort that come with the territory.

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