/ 25 October 2010

She will overcome

She Will Overcome

Two years after the formation of Zimbabwe’s unity government, Jenni Williams, firebrand activist and leader of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (Woza), says that very little has changed.

“Very little social justice has been delivered by political leaders. Human rights defenders and ordinary people are still harassed frequently,” Williams (48) said.

Williams was freed from jail in late September after securing the release of 83 women arrested after a peaceful demonstration against police brutality.

Woza is based on the principle of peaceful resistance — thus its slogan “Woza Moya” (Come healing spirit), which can often be seen daubed on surfaces in public spaces.

“With coalition government came dollarisation, which increased instances of crime,” Williams said. It has become hard for an already underpaid and corrupt police [force] to clamp down.

In Zimbabwe anyone can be arrested at any time, especially in the middle of the month when officers are broke.

“The big criminals exploit police poverty and bribe their way out of trouble, but democratic space for human rights defenders remains limited. There’s a constant threat of a recurrence of the violence that we witnessed in 2008, as seen by the recent violence around the ­constitutional process.”

Williams said that two years ago most Zimbabweans did not have the luxury of one meal a day. After the formation of the government of national unity (GNU), there was a brief improvement.

“While food was available and affordable for a while, prices have begun to creep up without anyone being accountable. So people are back to being hungry,” she said.

“Agricultural output has grown minimally, but our members still await a fair and just distribution of land with title deeds so that they can grow food for their families.”

With 98% unemployment, many Zimbabweans try to eke out a living as informal traders. But, according to Williams, most of them have to sell “on the run” because of constant police harassment.

“In one instance the officer in charge told his officers he wanted sugar to take home at the end of the day. The next day he put in an order for bars of soap,” Williams said.

She lists other issues that Woza tries to address — lack of water, lack of security, poor education and health and corruption.

“The government can demonstrate an authentic desire for national healing by putting a programme in place like South Africa’s truth commission,” Williams said.

“We need a new constitution that addresses issues of dual citizenship, land distribution and the possibility of recalling corrupt leaders.

“People are willing to contribute to the drafting of a new democratic constitution but concerns were raised about the efficiency of the process. It’s doubtful that the people’s voices will be heard.”

The mother of three adult children has been in jail more times than she can remember. She has also been on the business end of police batons — photographs show her body badly bruised after a beating.

She has ascribed her fighting spirit to her parents — an African father and mixed-race mother, the daughter of an Irishman who married a Matabele woman.

“As long as my children’s future is sacrificed on the altar of political expediency, and as long as I have comrades willing to fight for social justice in a non-violent manner, I will have the energy to continue to fight,” she said.

A 2008 study by Woza found that Zimbabwean women had suffered higher levels of trauma, including violence and lack of food, under the government of President Robert Mugabe than during colonial rule.

Her worst experience was her arrest with 13 colleagues during the 2008 presidential election. They were denied bail and locked up for the entire run-off period.

“The prosecutor argued that we would ‘mobilise a Kenya’ — unfortunate language which we presumed to mean that we would mobilise people to vote,” she said.

“We have a credible record of non-violence. We were arrested on the day we were marching and calling on the SADC [Southern Africa Development Community] to put a stop to election violence.

“It was persecution by prosecution. My colleague, Magodonga Mahlangu, and I spent six weeks in prison before we got bail. The case was eventually thrown out of court.

I was relieved when Amnesty International made me and my colleagues ‘prisoners of conscience’.”
Woza was founded in 2003 to give a voice to women, but men have increasingly identified with the demands for social justice and have joined it in increasing numbers.