Lazarus Sauti

Lazarus Sauti In 2013, Zimbabwe endorsed a new supreme law, but the country is still struggling to comply with Constitutional requirements that provide for equal representation between men and women in public affairs. Women, who constitute 52 percent of the population as per the 2012 national population census, are less than one third of the country’s parliament and still under-represented and misrepresented in media. Speaking during a Landscaping Gender Conference at Cresta Jameson Hotel recently, Agnes Nhengo of the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development said inequality is still rife in newsrooms as women are not evenly represented both in leadership roles and in media coverage. “On the very powerful and important platform that is media, women are still not sufficiently represented and are prevented from enjoying their rights and freedoms simply because they are women,” she said. “While lack of access to good education is usually blamed, some

Lazarus Sauti In Zimbabwe, land is power and in most parts of the country, particularly rural areas, this powerful property is owned and controlled by patriarchal lineages. M en are the primary landholders, and women negotiate access to land through their male relations relying on fathers, brothers, husbands, uncles or male-dominated traditional authorities, a fact supported by the Human Rights Watch, in its recent report titled “ You Will Get Nothing: Violations of Property and Inheritance of Widows in Zimbabwe ”. According to the report, women, especially widows are still vulnerable to age-old patriarchal practices which deny them the right of inheritance to their late spouses’ wealth and property. Another study undertaken by the Transparency International Zimbabwe (TIZ) reinforces that the ownership of land in Zimbabwe is still a male privilege despite a progressive Constitution that provides for equal treatment between boys and girls as well as men and women. T

Lazarus Sauti Substance abuse, the harmful use of psychoactive substances like alcohol and illicit drugs, continues to be on the increase among youths in Zimbabwe. The World Health Organisation (WHO) – a specialised agency of the United Nations (UN) that is concerned with international public health – estimates that millions of people, especially the youth in Zimbabwe and other countries are abusing alcohol and illicit drugs. “Substance abuse, especially alcohol consumption,” adds the international public health agency, “is one of the top three major health problems worldwide.” Furthermore, the World Health Organisation asserts that costs of substance abuse take in the direct cost of healthcare delivery treating the consequences of use, the wide-ranging damage to families of users, as well as the impact on socio-economic transformation. The Seventh-day Adventist Church concedes that alcohol and substance abuse are not only rampant in today’s world, but also major h

Lazarus Sauti “Knowledge and information are crucial factors in human development,” said seasoned social scientist and celebrated scholar, Professor Ngonidzashe Victor Muzvidziwa of Midlands State University. “Without information, there is no development.” Speaking as the guest of honour at the Zimbabwe Library Association (ZimLA) 51 st Conference under the theme “ Libraries in the National Development Agenda: Repositioning Libraries for Sustainable Development ”, at Fairmile Regency Hotel in Gweru recently, Professor Muzvidziwa added that in Zimbabwe, libraries play a crucial role in enhancing the free flow of information and ideas, as well as advancing freedom of expression – essential human rights supported by the United Nations. “Libraries, nerve centres in giving access to full and objective information, are tools of empowering many people, especially school children and they support important development tools such as the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Econom