As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) kicks of its assessment mission in Zimbabwe this week, the country's courts sent two officials of a well-known bakery to prison for breaking the price control law. The IMF has repeatedly called for price deregulation, among other measures, to manage the economic crisis in Zimbabwe.

It is a fact that Morgan Tsvangarai, former president of the Movement For Democratic Change (MDC), asked the west (Britain and the United States) to institute sanctions against Zimbabwe. This fact is not a propaganda initiative by the ZANU-PF. It is the truth - unadulterated fact. There are MDC elected officials in the Zimbabwean parliament. It is another fact that overwhelmingly, the people in Zimbabwe support ZANU-PF. The empirical evidence again says that democracy is a fact of life in Zimbabwe. Democracy is not a propaganda tool of ZANU-PF. The government of Zimbabwe was duly elected by the people of Zimbabwe even though Britain financed the MDC to try and taint the will of the people. People must learn to separate fact from fiction.

More than 60 protesting Zimbabweans, some carrying babies, were arrested and at least another 40 were allegedly assaulted by the police in the country's second city, Bulawayo, on Wednesday (29 November 2006). "The level of police brutality was shocking," said Annie Sibanda, of the activist organisation Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), which had organised a peaceful march to mark the launch of a 'People's Charter', a declaration on political and economic rights, and the '16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence', an international campaign running until International Human Rights Day on 10 December.

Zimbabwe is particularly affected by the AIDS problem: out of a total of 12 million people, NGO’s estimate that 33.7% are infected with the AIDS virus, approximately 4 million people. The overall objective of the project is to keep people living with HIV alive and to decrease the vulnerability of children and youth affected by HIV and AIDS through VCT, PMTCT activities and HAART treatments.

Zimbabwean filmmaker Tawanda Gunda-Mupengo took home the $1,000 first prize in the continent’s largest Pan African Film Festival devoted to Gender Based Violence (GBV). The film, 'Spell My Name', is the moving story of a young teacher who uncovers the sexual abuse of one of her students by the school’s headmaster.

The following is a statement by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) Zimbabwe to the 40th Ordinary Session of the African Commission for Human and Peoples' Rights, Banjul, The Gambia, presented by Wilbert Pfungwadzashe Mandinde (MISA-Zimbabwe Legal Officer) on November 15, 2006.

A child is abused every hour in Zimbabwe, according to new data released by a group of nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working to stop the suffering. "More than 8,600 cases of child abuse were reported in Zimbabwe in 2005 - that is 24 every day ... More than half of all cases reported involve sexual abuse of children," said James Elder, the United Nations' Children's Fund (Unicef) spokesman in Zimbabwe.

For eight consecutive years, Zimbabwe deliberately refused to submit its state party report on human rights to the Banjul-based African Commission on Human and People's Rights (ACHPR). In a surprising mood, Zimbabwe tabled its human rights before commissioners, who are currently attending the 40th session of the commission in the Gambian capital.

Zimbabwe's privately owned cellular companies last week won a court order against a government attempt to force them to route international calls through a state-controlled gateway. High Court judge President Rita Makarau granted the interdict to Econet Wireless and Telecel.

The Financial Gazette has, in partnership with leading mobile telephone operator, Econet, launched a hassle-free classified advertising solution called 'TXT Classifieds', which enables advertisers to place their adverts with the Fingaz straight from their mobile phones. The service takes off from next week, November 16. Pilate Machadu, the Fingaz sales and marketing manager, confirmed the development, saying the service was created with convenience in mind.

Love. That’s the key ingredient of a Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA) strategy to unseat the Mugabe regime. Miriam Madziwa reports.

Women in Zimbabwe are taking to the streets to show their frustration with poor governance, lack of basic social services, and unprecedented increases in the cost of education. In the process, police have arrested nearly 1000 women members of the pressure group Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), for their attempts to hold their leaders accountable.

This past October, WOZA members scored three legal victories after the State failed to substantiate its charges against the some of the women arrested while demonstrating, prompting the magistrates to set the women free.

Others have not been as successful. Some women spend months detained in filthy police cells, sometimes with babies on their backs, attending continually postponed hearings while the prosecution teams try to find charges that will stick. Some have gone into labour while in police detention.

Jane Mlambo* is from a low-income suburb in Bulawayo. At 62 years of age, the widow explains how jam has become a luxury, and she cannot even afford to buy bread on which to serve the spread. Her grandchildren are no longer attending class because of prohibitive school fees and costly uniforms demanded before admission.

Thinking about the past and a brighter future for their grandchildren has stirred up strong discontent not just in Mlambo but also in hundreds of other Zimbabwean women who have joined WOZA.

WOZA's mission is to restore the dignity of the country's women by speaking out against social and economic injustices that have eroded the wellbeing of the majority of the country's citizens. Guided by their motto 'The power of love can overcome the love of power' the women peacefully show their displeasure.

WOZA is now known for it's non-violent but highly imaginative demonstrations during which they persistently call for 'tough love' among the country's leaders to resolve the crisis that has made not just women's lives, but all Zimbabweans' lives unbearable.

A major plus for the organisation is that the protests always catch State security agents napping because WOZA does not publicise actions beforehand. By the time security agents catch on, the women have already had their say.

With its street action and frequent visit to 'the garden' (WOZA lingo for police cells), the organisation is slowly chalking up victories against a repressive government.

While in the garden, the women seize the opportunity to share some sisterly love through song and dance. The songs also send a message to the arresting officers to realise that they too are victims of the socio-political environment.

Additionally, the women highlight the fact that Zimbabwe's situation is untenable but things are bound to change if they continue speaking out. So effective has this strategy been that police officers who have heard the women's "tough love songs" now refuse to arrest lead singers within the organisation.

WOZA members say through their homemade, hand written placards and leaflet they are communicating with a government that has cut off communication links with its people.

Listening and watching WOZA members plan and stage their projects, one get the sense that here are women determined to have their voices and opinions heard. Here are women who invest their time and meager material resources to stage protracted protests for their dream of a "socially just future."

These women put passion and conviction into their street actions. These women are serious.

The women's commitment is evident through their style of doing things. Members receive intensive training programmes to maintain the organisation's philosophy of non-violence and to always show love. Now even brutal baton-welding police officers have conceded in court that when they go to break-up WOZA demonstrations, "the women are very co-operative and sit down and allow themselves to be arrested."

The spirit of sisterhood ensures packed courtrooms when WOZA activists appear in court. Members who escape the police dragnet after protests go and offer themselves for arrest so that they can be together with their sisters.

With such an impressive record of accomplishment, maybe it is about time disgruntled Zimbabweans start taking WOZA seriously. Currently debate in opposition political circles and civic society is revolving around the need to a 'united and brave leader to direct a popular revolt."

Maybe it's time to draw helpful lessons from WOZA's experiences. Essentially, it is not about how strong the leadership is but how involved, committed and prepared members are in identifying a cause and planning how they will achieve their stated objectives.
It's about unshakeable belief in what you are doing and love for a brighter tomorrow. Just as the old adage notes, "it's love that makes the world go round.” WOZA is using love to unsettle an oppressive regime.

* Not her real name.

* Miriam Madziwa is a freelance journalist based in Zimbabwe. This article is part of the Gender Links Opinion and Commentary Service that provides fresh views on everyday news.

* Please send comments to or comment online at www.pambazuka.org

Doctors in Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, have gone on strike to protest against deteriorating health services characterised by widespread shortages of drugs, food and equipment. The stayaway, which started on Monday, is expected to spread to other parts of the country during the course of the week.

The Zimbabwe government is planning fresh home demolitions, reports ZimOnline. The government in May last year and weeks after controversially winning a key general election, ordered the police and army to demolish thousands of backyard cottages, shantytowns and informal business kiosks, in a campaign President Robert Mugabe said was necessary to smash crime and to restore the beauty of Zimbabwe’s cities.

The maternity wing at Harare Central Hospital has been hit by a critical shortage of midwives, seriously compromising service delivery. Out of the required 158, only 41 are at work and are overwhelmed by work so much that they are finding it difficult to cope.

In reaction to a recent wave of protests against deteriorating social and economic conditions in the country, the Zimbabwean government has intensified its campaign to suppress peaceful dissent, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today (1 November 2006). The 28-page report, “‘You Will Be Thoroughly Beaten’: The Brutal Suppression of Dissent in Zimbabwe,” reveals the repressive tactics that the government has used against civil society activists in the past year.

President Robert Mugabe could live to regret his encouragement of the police to deal ruthlessly with protesters, The Standard has learnt. On Thursday (19 October 2006) the House of Lords recommended that Mugabe's exhortations to the police to beat up trade union demonstrators could be used to arraign him before the International Court of Justice at The Hague for crimes against humanity.

A government spokesman's remark that he has no regrets over the masscare of about 20,000 people by Zimbabwean security forces nearly 20 years ago is reopening old wounds and pitting the country's deputy president against President Robert Mugabe. ZANU-PF spokesman Nathan Shamuyarira made the comments during a recent workshop in Manicaland Province, bordering Mozambique, almost two decades after a five-year reign of terror in the southern provinces of Midlands and Matabeleland by Zimbabwean soldiers of Five Brigade, who were trained by North Korea.

Unknown assailants yesterday morning (22 October 2006) attacked suspended Chitungwiza mayor Misheck Shoko's house and two others belonging to MDC members in Mabvuku in Harare. All the houses belong to members of the anti-Senate faction led by Morgan Tsvangirai.

The Centre for Human Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR) has accused Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) leaders of failing to support the Zimbabwe people in their ongoing human rights and economic crisis saying the problems need external intervention which can best be offered by the region's leaders.

A new report shows that Zimbabwe's education policy for children with disabilities is skewed, with 67 percent of disabled children having no access to any form of schooling. "Clearly, children with disabilities are the worst disadvantaged, and experience the most difficult barriers in accessing education," said a recently published report by the National Association of Societies for the Care of the Handicapped (NASCOH).