At the service of women in distress

“There are many challenges that I face on a daily basis but they are easy to overcome because this is my life, I breathe and eat it. I am very passionate about my job,” she said in a recent interview.

A lawyer by profession, she joined Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association soon after graduating from college. She later moved to the Child Protection Society and then Action Aid International.In all these organisations she dealt with women’s issues, finally taking the leadership position at Musasa Project in 2009.

“When I became the director, the organisation was collapsing but I took the initiative to resuscitate it because I wanted to make a difference. I can say that was a landmark success in my career,” Musanhu said. The project was formed in 1988 and has managed to build temporary shelters to accommodate the survivors of domestic violence.

Her job is very demanding as she provides a 24-hour service to women in distress. “At times I wake up in the middle of the night and run around, in order to ensure a woman is safe. But at the end of the day she throws that away by going back into the very same abusive relationship. This is makes my job really frustrating. But I have learnt to celebrate the small impact that we make, and the successes,” she added.

She bemoaned the reluctance by government to implement laws that protect women’s rights and blamed women for not fully utilizing the laws that do exist.

“We have beautiful gender sensitive laws in Zimbabwe that protect women. But it is a pity that they are not implemented. On the women’s part they are not fully utilizing the laws, they only wait for things to get really bad,” she said.

She sadly noted the increase in domestic violence cases and castigated the courts for allowing perpetrators to go unpunished. “There has been an increase in cases of violence and most of them are fatal. What is painful about this is that the perpetrators are not punished, because our laws are not firm enough. Most murder convicts are given five years or less – which is absurd,” Musanhu said.

The Musasa Project faces many challenges. It has only four offices around the country and cannot cope with the demand for its services.

“Most donors are interested in government issues and politics. This restricts us because we are unable to reach the ordinary women on a regular basis. We feel we are not doing enough because as an organisation we only provide legal protection. So at the end of the day the woman who is being abused at home is not empowered economically. She will therefore be forced to return to the husband because she has no other source of income,” she explained.

Musanhu stressed that attitudes and behaviour of society at large were major problems, because some people believe the Musasa Project is there to break up marriages and breed radical feminists.

“I won’t apologize for the good work that I am doing for the women. Most people who have negative perceptions about this organisation are the perpetrators of violence against women. Women come here when their marriages are already broken and our organisation has been building families,” said Musanhu.

She stands tall as a symbol of the protection of women’s rights and her extensive campaign against violence has assisted many women – regardless of class, age or race.