Gender equality should also consider abolishing lobola

Today i had an insight when i was talking to one lady in the surbub of eMganwini in Bulawayo. She is a middle age woman who works as an administrator at one of the Law firms in the city. The woman is married to a soldier. We were seated together on the bus to Emganwini and after a few interesting general topics we ended up jumping to Gender equality and domestic violence. Personally i have no problem with gender equality and emancipation of women but my problem is the process the women are going to use to be at par with man. All these women lobby groups and women pressure groups want to encourage women to go up the ladder by bringing down men. This woman had a different view, she claimed that these days women are equally educated as men and are also equally paid, they take up responsibilities which were previously reserved for men and likewise men are also taking previously women occupations like saloon work (braiding and platting hair) and taking care of children. Women can now have the chance to negotiate for safe sex and use of contraceptives.
We really had a heated debate till we reached the point where i proposed that if men and women are equal then women can pay lobola for men and there she declined claiming that it is in our culture that men pay lobola for women and that a man is responsible for the woman as the head of the family and she was quick to realize the trap of contradiction that she had got herself into. In our generation only a few people can afford to pay lobola especially with traditional families who charge their lobola in cattle value of which a person can be charged 6 beasts each one at a value of US$400 money enough to get a Japanese make car.
Women have argued that abolishing lobola may make them loose their dignity and worth as African women and one wonders how long can dignity based on materialistic ideas like lobola can last. Women in the modern world are viewed as sexual objects with many appearing on commercials of which most have nothing to do with femininity like Tyre and chocolate commercials. They also became culprits in their own so called oppression when they choose to do pornography.

This should be an issue to taken into consideration and not just women taking issues from our culture that are to their advantage but that are logical and strive to fight for equality with men.


 

housing office party

Telecel failing to meet demand...

Telecel Zimbabwe Limited is failing to cope with the increasing demand for its services and this has left thousands of subscribers storming their offices for clarifications. It is without dispute that Telecel has grown to be one of the top most Networks in Zimbabwe.
New Sim cards fail to register upon purchase and Telecel promises that they will work around 6pm and this does not happen. Yesterday around 1200hrs i visited Telecel and found lot of people waiting to be served by only one counter. those who were there we either turned back because the had no ID cards or had failed to explain their problems. Whilst others handed in registration forms forms and were promised that their Simcards will be operational after holiday most probably after 2 January 2012.
Telecel simcards are going for US$2 on the streets and also the attraction of free data packages as bonus as US$1 juicecard will give you US$2 bonus.

       

Entertainment- Bulawayo comes alive @ Housing Office's HOUSE PARTY

Bulawayo will be hosting top DJs this festive season with several events lined up but the event under the spotlight right now is the Housing Office HOUSE PARTY that is coming alive on the 24th of December at number

192 Babourfields Bulawayo. The event will start at 6pm 24 December to 6am 25th. Its sure not to be missed event with DJs Lloyd Phoenix, John Black, DJ Something, electrocutions from Sonny Jermain and a host of Bulawayo's top most DJs and of course Izwi Media Trust will be there full force..

Chicken murderers...

Zimbabwean girls forced into prostitution in Botswana

Most Zimbabwean girls who leave Zimbabwe to Botswana to seek employment end up in the streets doing prostitution. Yesterday i managed to meet almost close to 18 in Gaborone's block 8 suburb. These girls most of them are under 20years and left Zimbabwe under the illusion that it is easy to find employment in Botswana. The general conception in Zimbabwe is that there are lot of opportunities in Botswana and jobs like doing laundry, cultivating fields, selling and other domectic erands are easily available. Upon arrival they find that the things are not the way they though they could be but fail to go back home because of fear of embarasement and they engage themselves in risky behaviour like having unprotected sex leaving most of them single mothers and at the risk of the deadly HIV virus.
" We are afraid because people laugh at us accusing us of being failures. We also get money from people at home for coming here so we have to pay back and we have parents to support", claimed the 22 year old Mutare born Tavonga Mashiri who have been a commercial sex worker for three years now. " it not by choice", she continued shedding tears," i don't think anyone in her right senses can choose prostitution just for the fun of it, people should not just judge what they don't know. we are also human a feel bad, what will i tell my son when he grows up? that his dad was my customer? please i wish the world should change its perspective and consider us as human too."
Most of them refused to talk to me claiming that i will spread lies when i get to Zimbabwe. here are similar situations also in small night clubs in Mogaditsane, Sebina, Maitengwe and Tonota. Most of them expressed hope that there will be change of government next year and they will return home claiming that the current political dispensation is not creating employment and its not easy to live in Zimbabwe. Sometime in my expedition i met a classmate who threatened to beat me up and hid from the camera. My documentary is coming soon - Botswana in Zimbabwean eyes. 

crispen (mccris27@classicmail.co.za / izwimediatrust@gmail.com)

Zambia- Minister Buries money in a treasure chest.

Zambia’s law enforcement agencies have unearthed Zambian kwacha 2.1 billion (approximately $412,000) in cash buried underground at the farm of a minister in the immediate past government, the country’s police chief confirmed Friday.Inspector-General of Police Martin Malama said officers from Zambia Police, the Anti Corruption Commission, ACC, and the Drug Enforcement Commission, DEC, jointly conducted a raid on the farm of former Labour Minister Austin Liato – about 45 kilometers west of the capital Lusaka – where they found the money and vehicles.“We are doing this not for retribution or harassment; we are doing this for the development of the nation and the future of our children,” Dr Malama said.Police spokesperson Elizabeth Kanjela said the money was hidden in safes in two steel trunks buried underground, covered with a slab and protected with security alarms.She said police officers broke the concrete slabs in a two-hour operation and found the money.“We are going to investigate to know the source of this money. The way of storage of this money is illegal,” said Ms Kanjela, adding that Mr Liato would be interrogated soon.President Michael Sata, in a media statement, said he had learnt with “great shock the discovery of such huge sums of money concealed in a strange and most unusual manner” at the former minister’s farm.The “Mafia-style” under which this money was hidden raises serious questions about how the same was acquired, he said.“It breaks my heart to see how someone could go to such extremes to conceal money if it was legitimately acquired,” President Sata added.