Traditional Leaders in Chipinge to Work closely with a local CBO to Ensure Gender Equality

On 23 April 2019, the Platform for Youth Development Trust, a local community-based organization held an interface meeting with traditional leaders in Muumbe village. The meeting was to seek an understanding of the role that women play in customary courts. Headman Zamchiya and 14 other traditional leaders attended the interface meeting at Muumbe Primary School. The purpose of the interface meeting was to interrogate the role of customary law and institutions of traditional leadership can play in addressing gender disparity within the community.

Traditional leaders have legitimacy on customary norms and values in the community and PYD engaged them because they play an important role in tackling social issues that include gender equality, sexual violence and harmful practices at a sub – national level. Their main function includes maintaining peace and harmony within the rural communities, hence the need to have an interface meeting with the traditional leaders in Muumbe village. 

The traditional leaders expressed their intention to work with PYD in addressing gender-based violence, promote gender equality and reduce teen pregnancy and child marriages in the district. PYD in turn asked the traditional leaders to redefine their traditional roles to include playing a greater protection role for girls and women in the community

“We have seen various organizations that come into our communities with information on gender equality and different legislation that promote gender equality. These organizations come and leave us to process the information on our own. However, today we are happy because an organization from our own community is engaging us with a view to transform our community. We embrace PYD and promise to work with you to ensure gender equality.” Reiterated Headman Zamchiya in his opening remarks. “Let us travel this journey together and see where it gets us” He added

Community court systems are principally based on the customs and practices of communities, thus allowing traditional leaders to be makers and custodians of tradition, culture and related rites. PYD notes with great satisfaction the fact that community courts are officially recognized in the Constitution and in various statutes of the country.

Customary Law and Local Courts Act (Chapter 7:05) Section 12 (1) states that; The person presiding over a local court shall exercise all the jurisdiction and powers of the court but, in the hearing of every case, shall be assisted by not fewer than two and not more than five assessors who shall be chosen by him from a list of persons prepared by him and approved by a designated officer.

It becomes imperative to ascertain the number of women selected as assessors by the “person presiding over a local court” as most cases have a bearing on girls and women. Since the system of justice usually follows customary law or an uncodified body of rules of behavior, it would not pose much difficulty to women to play a critical role in the traditional court system. The traditional court system has the potential to address some of the constraints to women’s economic, political, and social empowerment that exist in the community. 

“PYD is an organization that strongly believe in engagement with duty bearers and community leaders so that they promote positive actions addressing violence against women within their communities, and this interface meeting with traditional is ample proof of that engagement process.” Cynthia Gwenzi, PYD Gender and Advocacy Officer said. “The expectation was that this strategy would improve levels of awareness and give voice to women within the customary court set up and I believe we met that expectation.”

Chipinge District Remember Cyclone Idai Victims at a Community Prayer Meeting.

On the weekend of 15 – 17 March 2019, both Chimanimani and Chipinge districts suffered multiple destruction from Cyclone Idai with survivors needing shelter, water, food, medication and blankets. There was massive death and destruction of property and infrastructure in the two districts. However, on 20 April 2019, Platform for Youth Development (PYD) held a community prayer meeting at Checheche growth point in remembrance of Cyclone Idai victims. The prayer meeting was focused on restoring and maintaining hope in the affected communities, at the same time allay the development of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. 

“We carry strong sentiments and beliefs about our relatives and friends who fell victims to the devastating Cyclone Idai, and as the Ndau people we were raised to love, serve, and honour our fellow people no matter what the situation. Cyclone Idai destroyed families, individual lives as well as our community fabric.” Claris Madhuku told the gathering. 

“The clean-up campaign and the prayer meeting is a symbol of hope as we recover from the Cyclone Idai disaster. As a Christian clergy, we are to play an important role in identifying individuals with challenges in facing with the reality of the Cyclone Idai disaster and we are prepared to offer support to the victims.” Added Rev Joseph Mugidheya of the United Church of Christ in Zimbabwe (UCCZ). 

The prayer meeting was a collaboration between PYD and religious leaders in Chipinge district as a collective effort to provide both material and emotional/spiritual support to Cyclone Idai victims. PYD strongly believed that the community prayer meeting was a strategy for reducing the victim of Cyclone Idai’s trauma. Survivors of a devastating phenomenon of the stature of the Cyclone Idai usually feel guilty about loved ones who lost their lives and property lost. Thus, a community prayer meeting helped by reducing survivors’ guilt and increasing their hope for future life.  In PTSD, the acceptance of a spiritual power normally leads to a spiritual awakening which, in turn, can assuage survivor guilt. From the speeches and prayer outline that was conducted during the meeting, it became evidently clear that the survivors of Cyclone Idai had found refugee in the community safety net and empathy. 

“For those of us who were left suffering after the disaster, the prayer meeting is the first step in giving us the strength and hope to carry on living.” Said Mrs. Irene Kaitu (56 years), one of the Cyclone Idai survivors

Cynthia Gwenzi, PYD Gender and Advocacy Officer stated that the Cyclone Idai had a gender perspective in its trail of disasters. “Women feel powerless in decision– making process. Powerlessness in decision - making increase their social and psychological vulnerabilities and women are at risk of falling into deeper poverty post Cyclone Idai.” She said.

The meeting was well attended by both the Christian community and other civic leaders within the Chipinge district. The community applauded PYD for taking the initiative to remember the victims of Cyclone Idai as well as invoking a collective effort in offering spiritual and moral support to the survivors. 

Independence Day Statement: Zimbabwe at 39, embracing devolution for vision 2030.

Chipinge: Platform for Youth Development Trust (PYD) joins the rest of the nation in celebrating 39 years of independence. As a community-based organization that is grounded and socially embedded, we are compelled to use this day to appeal to Zimbabweans and mostly the young people to put pressure on the government to open up spaces and opportunities where it becomes possible for Zimbabweans to enjoy the benefits of the freedom brought about by independence. 

Zimbabwe is celebrating majority rule after having gone through the agony of a white minority rule that was predominantly racist and brutal. The majority came through a protracted war of liberation that had so many phases of struggle. This year’s Independence Day is being celebrated under the theme; “Zimbabwe at 39, embracing devolution for vision 2030.”

PYD notes with great interest the 2019 Independence Day theme as it resonates well with section 264 of the Zimbabwean Constitution Amendment (No. 20) Act 2013. Through this section, the local authorities will have legal status that it lacked in the erstwhile centralized system due to the fact that it is now governed through a Constitutional provision as opposed to a mere statute. 

PYD is in support of devolution as it gives greater attention to rural communities’ participation in socio - economic policy formulation and implementation. At the same time, it allows the local authorities to promote transparency and accountability in governance and decision-making as well as management of local resources.

However, PYD bemoans the fact that real power is still to be transferred to local authorities, despite the fact that the aims of local authorities are to create participatory and democratically elected structures that identify need and ensure provision of services. 

Thus, local authorities were never an independent sphere of community development as they constantly face administrative, political controls and oversight by central government. Again, they were being used as a way to entrench Zanu PF’s hegemony and enhanced politicians’ stranglehold over the local communities. This rendered local authorities ineffective since their operations were not supported by the constitution for them to operate independently. This made Zimbabweans to experience nominal decentralization and token participatory exercises by ordinary people in which their contribution was overplayed by the partisan interests of the ruling party.

PYD believes that it will be progressive if this anomaly is addressed as the nation embraces devolution.

As a community – based organization, PYD welcomes the statements spoken by President Mnangagwa with a pinch of salt where he has promised to defend Zimbabwe as a constitutional democracy that will respect the provisions on devolution. We are hoping that the current government will walk the talk and see it feasible to have the real transfer of administrative, political and fiscal powers to the local authorities for devolution to have a transformational effect on our rural communities. 

PYD urges President E. D Mnangwagwa and his administration to come up with clear timeframes in the implementation of section 264, as the lack of timeframes heavily undermines the provision on devolution.

As an acknowledgement on the importance of the Independence Day, the Platform for Youth Development will partner the church fraternity for a cleanup campaign and prayer meeting in Checheche.The cleanup campaign and prayer meeting will help to express our solidarity with the victims of Cyclone Idai that ravaged villagers in Zimbabwe mostly in Chipinge and Chimanimani districts. This will be our opportunity to remind our young people the values and ethos of independence as well as the importance of decentralization of administrative and economic power.