Patricia Tshabalala is one stern breed of female activists that the hardships of recent decades have nurtured.
Unlike some of the most celebrated and renowned female activists Jestina Mukoko, Jenni Williams and human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa, Tshabalala’s multifaceted activism has remained untold by the media.
For more than a decade, she has been vigorously fighting for the rights of abused and disadvantaged children in the city’s high density suburbs.
She is also an accomplished political and residents activist as well as a gender activist and an active member of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA).
“Activism runs in my blood. It all started during my days at school when I used to lead other students in protests .I used also to give my parents a headache because of my firm belief in whatever I do,” said Tshabalala, who is the founder and director of Vulindela Guardians Orphans Care, a charity organisation that looks after orphans of AIDS victims.
Tshabalala founded the organisation in 1996 after losing a lot of friends and relatives to the AIDS pandemic.
“The deaths of very close friends and relatives, most of whom left orphans behind, inspired me to set up the orphanage .The Zimbabwe National Network of PLHIV (ZNNP+) assisted me to set up the centre together with nine local women. The Matabeleland Aids Council (MAC) trained us on how to effectively run the Organisation,” said Tshabalala in a recent interview.
BEAM corrupt
In 2004 Vulindlela Guardians Care partnered with Ruth Feignbaum to assist disadvantaged school children with school fees.
With the support of the Rotary Anns of Bulawayo South, the project has managed to pay fees for 431 orphans at seven primary schools in the city. Disadvantaged pupils from Insukamini, Gampu, Umkhanyiso Nkulumane, Mpumelelo and Helemu primary schools have benefitted from the fund.
“What we did under this programme was to identify deserving people who had been left out under the government’s BEAM programme because of corruption. The programme left out a lot of deserving children because beneficiaries were selected on partisan lines,” she said.
One of the beneficiaries of the programme, Michel Gwidiri, said he was very grateful to Tshabalala’s organisation for paying his school fees.
“My dream is to become a doctor and I promise Vulindlela that I will do better at school,” said Gwidiri, a grade six pupil.
Through donations sourced from both local and international donors, Vulindlela has managed to source food for 54 child-headed families as well as clothes in ward nine where she resides.
Tshabalala is also the ward‘s Child Protection Committee chairperson.
The ward covers Mpopoma and Matshobana high density suburbs.
Sex abuse
Tshabalala, who is also the ward’s coordinator of Mercy Corp, an organisation that helps children with disabilities, lamented the high number of cases of cases of child sexual abuse in the ward.
“Residents in my ward are concerned about two nightclubs in the area that have corrupted the minds of children. Children as young as 13 are being sexually and emotional abused at these two beer drinking spots. We are surprised that management at these two notorious nightclubs are allowing school-going children to patronise the clubs and be abused,” she said.
Tshabalala said as the chairperson of the child protection committee she works with various stakeholders including the police and health officials.
“The latest clinical statistics indicate that cases of sexually transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancies are on the increase in the area. I personally know children’s neighbours who have been sexually abused at the two nightclubs,” said Tshabalala, who is also the chairperson of the local Ward Aids Committee (WAC) and secretary of the Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA). Both organisations are planning to hold demonstrations against child abuse at the two nightclubs.
Biography
Tshabalala was born in 1956 at Kwekwe general hospital. Her father was a police officer. She did her sub-A at David Livingstone in 1961 before proceeding to the then Plumtree African School where she did her grade seven.
She went back to David Livingstone in 1971 and did form one and two before dropping out of school due to what she described as circumstances beyond her control.
She is married to an engineer and the couple were blessed with eight children, three of them now late. Tshabalala said paid tribute to her husband for supporting her in her activism work.
“When I started activism my husband was not giving me enough support but with the passage of time he began to appreciate and be supportive,” she said.
Post published in: Gender Equality