Members' occupied traffic controlled intersections, traffic circles and main roads by sitting in for over 10 minutes bringing traffic to a halt. The placard-bearing activists also passed out leaflets calling for a devolved system of government and asking motorists and passers-by to make noise or 'hoot' for Devolution. The scenes of the protests where loud and noisy as motorists 'hooted' their support.
At the protest on Khami road Ntemba traffic roundabout, the 200 protesters were just completing their activity when a small black vehicle without number plates arrived and plain-clothed police officers jumped out of the vehicle and began to assault the members with sticks bearing thorns. Eight members suffered the beating with one having to be taken to the clinic as thorns were imbedded in a wound in her neck.
The demands of the protests are the release of a completed draft constitution that gives power to the people. As talk of a second GNU increases, WOZA demand an end to elite occupation of our systems of government and a devolved power and accessible provincial government and councils. WOZA make the charge that Bulawayo, Matabeleland is DYING because of centralized decisions which kill it. The elite have killed Bulawayo and now they are killing other parts of Zimbabwe.
The system required should include the following rights:
– The right to select our own provincial and council representatives.
– Powers to make local decisions, based on our views about control AND use of our local resources. And how we want resource distribution to develop the local economy and create jobs for locals.
– MPs and Councillors who will be accountable to us, the electorate, and the right to recall them.
The protests will continue and citizens of Bulawayo and other cities are asked to make noise in the street – Hoot or whistle to demand your human right to a livelihood.
WOZA members believe that a devolved system of government is necessary to save the city from sure death. Bulawayo is WOZA's home town and members have been watching as it becomes closer and closer to death by marginalisation and neglect. Once Bulawayo was the industrial hub of the country, but centralised decision making has been used to sideline many business, social and political initiatives that would have raised the resource-rich province to great heights. This neglect has nothing to do with the current economic downturn as in early 1920s, the then Government refused to initiate a programme that would have brought waters from the mighty Zambezi river into the dry arid earth of Matabeleland and created an industrial and agricultural oasis.
Recently public statistics quote the closure of more than 80 businesses and the loss of over 20 000 jobs. Over one million Zimbabweans are said to live in South Africa, with the majority being Ndebele speaking people from Matabeleland forced into economic exile by marginalisation.
WOZA selected this form of protest to make a point that public spaces are spaces for public expression. Since last year Bulawayo police have been taking occupation of the streets with large deployment of riot police, water tankers and other instruments of protest repression.
Bulawayo residents along with WOZA members have grown weary of the constant and indiscriminate 'stop and search' of pedestrians and commuters. Most of the time Police officers manning these points will directly tell people that they are looking for 'WOZA women' with placards or WOZA material.
Post published in: News
WOZA (Women of Zimbabwe Arise) is a well known organisation whose record in the fight for human right speaks for itself and the members are justly proud. But just as is implied in its name it is a predominantly a woman’s organisation the organisation has also remained a predominantly Bulawayo and Matebeleland organisation. There is nothing wrong with its gender bias but everything wrong with its regional bias.
So far WOZA has championed national causes and it has had the respect and support of all Zimbabweans right across the board. WOZA must know it does not have the nation behind it in this “Occupy for Devolution†campaign because it is a regional one.
“Bulawayo, Matabeleland is DYING because of centralized decisions which kill it,†WOZA argues. If the truth be told – and it must – there is not single city, town, growth-point right down to the village in Zimbabwe that is not dying after 32 years of gross mismanagement and rampant by this Mugabe and Zanu PF dictatorship. That is a fact and those who want to split hairs and the self indulgency of one city being worse than another miss the key points – 1) we all suffered and 2) devolution (some people have gone further and ask for the break up of the country) is not necessarily the answer.
If there is one thing that has boasted beyond recognition in the thirty year of Mugabe rule it is the size of government. Zimbabwe had three times as many deputy minister- level and above officials than other comparable nations, add to that governors, and executive mayors for every hamlet! And each layer of government had its own chefs and entourage of hanger-on and they were all paid by the impoverish taxpayer and ratepayer.
Zimbabwe had its golden economic age during the white colonial days and the size of national government and local authority was tiny compared to today. It was not the “centralised decisions†of this dictatorship that destroyed Zimbabwe politically and economically. It was the dictatorship itself.
It is ease to see why WOZA decided to take up this devolution issue; WOZA is a regional organisation and devolution is the top flavour in the region. There is nothing with per se, indeed it is WOZA member’s hold peaceful demonstrations on any issue, but WOZA must also realise they have lost their nation wide appeal, support and relevance because of this decision.
WOZA knows other than Matebeleland the rest of the country has no appetite for devolution and still it has taken upon itself to have this imposed on the rest on nation although it is clear the position is based on baseless supposition and the consequences have not been thought through carefully. Its short term interest of remaining relevant to Bulawayo is no excuse.
We all have the right to speak but not to shout “fire†in a packed hall because many people could be killed in the ensuing stampede! WOZA as a respected and experienced human rights campaigning organisation should know that!