onitor

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13 July 2015

Young and stateless

Edition 301

Distributed without any inserts

children denied identity over mothers debts

hospitals use birth records as new weapon

BULAWAYO-According to Section 81 (1) (c) of the Constitution,

every Zimbabwean child under the age of eighteen years has the right
to the prompt provision of a birth certificate.
Yet government institutions are letting children down big time
regarding implementation of this key provision in many parts of
the country.
Thousands of children are failing to register for school because state
institutions such as hospitals are blocking their way to an identity at
times because of debts as low
as $20.
Human
rights
lawyers
handling some of the cases
have described the situation
as rampant.
In some instances, parents are
forced to take legal action just
to have their children registered
as Zimbabwean citizens. But
those are the lucky ones.
According to human rights
lawyers, thousands of children
with no access to legal recourse
are suffering silently in another
episode highlighting the extent
to which the new Constitution
has remained largely an
ineffective piece of paper two
years since its adoption.
Many children have been
forced to abandon school
because a birth certificate is
a registration requirement. Concerned... Prisca Dube
Others have grown into adults
and are now parents showing how the situation has been allowed to
spiral into an inter-generational curse.
The same people are now being parents themselves and thus in turn
their children are not being registered, Prisca Dube, a ZLHR projects
officer involved in campaigns to mitigate the problem, told The Legal
Monitor last week. The birth certificate issue is very rampant in
Bulawayo and Matabeleland provinces, she said.

Mothers force hospitals to release birth records

BULAWAYO-Following awareness campaigns by Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR), two mothers have forced two
prominent government-run hospitals to release the birth records
of their children.
Their children risked joining thousands of children whom lawyers
say are stateless because they do not have birth certificates as a
result of actions by hospitals such as United Bulawayo Hospitals
(UBH) and Mpilo Hospital.
Nokuthula Belinda Dube and Sithembilekuhle Baloyi had to seek
the assistance of ZLHR after the UBH and Mpilo withheld their
childrens birth records. In both cases, the hospitals withheld
the birth records to force payment of outstanding hospital fees
incurred in 2011 and in 2014 by their mothers.
Dubes child is now of school going age. The conduct of UBH
negated the childs right to identity and the right to education as
she was unable to register at school without a birth certificate,
lawyers said.
The hospitals relented after an intervention by ZLHR, which
warned of massive legal consequences if the hospitals insisted on
holding on to the childrens birth records.
Whilst we appreciate the services rendered by your institution
ought to be paid for, we believe that withholding the childs
birth record to secure payment is a violation of the childs right

million Zimbabweans are in neighbouring countries- mainly in

South Africa after fleeing the countrys long running political
and economic turmoil. In a bid to stop the situation spiralling out of
control, ZLHR has intervened. Using a combination of mobile legal
clinics and litigation, the campaign has shown signs of bearing fruit.
Following mobile legal clinics held in provinces such as Mashonaland
West and the Matabeleland region, communities have awoken to their

to an identity as the mother has failed all these years to obtain a

birth certificate for her child, wrote ZLHRs lawyers Nosimilo
Chanayiwa and Lizwe Jamela.
She is now of school going age but has failed to secure a place
because she has no birth certificate. This is now violating her right
to education and will in future violate other rights as her failure
to get education will impact on the quality of life she will have.
ZLHR told UBH that since more than three years had lapsed, the
debt claim against Dube had been prescribed and the hospital had
no legal basis to claim even a cent from her.
In Baloyis case, ZLHR gave Mpilo Hospital a seven day
ultimatum to release the records or risk a legal suit. ZLHR
described the hospitals actions as extortionist.
The institution must adopt lawful means against the mother of the
child to recover debts and not means that negatively impact on the
child, ZLHR wrote to Mpilo Hospital.
The government institution has since concurred with ZLHR.
It responded asking Baloyi to collect her childs birth record.
However, these cases are only part of a larger problem affecting
thousands of children, hence ZLHRs call for government to take
decisive action to stop the worrying trend.
rights and have been vigorously fighting to protect those rights.
Mobile legal clinics are the ZLHR vehicle of engaging communities,
and we pick these issues. Some people come directly to us thereafter
to challenge the conduct of these institutions. We raise awareness
and empower communities to also go and challenge. As with most
institutions, once you start to talk human rights and violations of
these, they relent and do the right thing, said Dube.

Public hospitals have emerged as the biggest culprits, said Dube,

adding that the ZLHR campaign had unearthed shocking cases that
have now been resolved through legal action.
Starved of funding by central government, many public hospitals
have been turning the screws on poverty-stricken patients. In the past,
hospitals had taken to detaining new mothers for non-payment of
maternity fees. The practice ended after ZLHR intervened to enforce
the Right to Health as enshrined under Section 76 of the Constitution.
The hospitals have now adopted a new scheme - awkwardly a tactic
that directly targets vulnerable children.
The hospitals used to detain mothers for payment of bills, then they
moved to withholding the confirmation of birth until the parents pay
the amount owed or face the child failing to get a place for schooling,
said Dube.
She added: If you want to see how rampant this is, you should see
the number of letters ordinary people have in the townships from
unscrupulous debt collectors demanding dues as far back as 2009
when we dollarised.
Dube said HIV and the migration of thousands of Zimbabweans
to neighbouring countries such as South Africa had also
affected children.
We are Africans and children have to be registered under the surname
of the father, so women wait for the men to come from South Africa,
Botswana etc....if they then die before registration, problems befall
the children as relatives are dead, unwilling or there are not adequate
documents to register these children, she said. This has seen a lot of
people being stateless.
Groups representing Zimbabwean exiles estimate that up to three

Harare municipal police and vendors clashed in central Harare last week as authorities sought to remove the traders from their trading stalls. 27 vendors were arrested
while dozens more lost their wares in the scuffle. Three venders were charged with assalting municipal police officers

Legal Monitor
The

For feedback please email ZLHR on: info@zlhr.org.zw or visit: www.zlhr.org.zw

Fostering a culture
of human rights

Priorities for the harmonisation of legislation

with the 2013 constitution of Zimbabwe
Reserved, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, May 2015
Continued from last weeks Edition

ZLHR
Chapter
Legislation
Priority
of the
Requiring
Area Constitution Amendment
Increasing
access
to civil,
social and
economic
justice

Chapter 4:
Declaration of
Rights

Refugees Act
[Chapter 4:03]

Section 80
- Rights of
women

Section 81
- Rights of
Children

Chapter 4: Declaration
of Rights

Summary of Required Amendments

Disabled
Persons Act
[Chapter 17:01]

Section 83
- Rights of
persons with
disabilities
Section 68
Right to administrative justice

Administrative
Justice Act
[Chapter 8:17]

Section 85
Enforcement
of fundamental
human rights
and freedoms

Class Action Act

[Chapter 8:17]

State Liabilities
Act [Chapter
8:14]

Prescription Act
[Chapter 8:11]

StrengthChapter 8:
ening the
The Court
efficiency System
and effectiveness
of state institutions
(justice) in
delivering
on their
mandate
and accounting
to the
public

Supreme
Court Act
[Chapter 7:13]
High Court Act,
[Chapter 7:06]
Magistrates
Court Act
[Chapter 7:10]

Review and inclusion of provision on the protection of

unaccompanied children who are refugees to protect them from
several forms of exploitation and/or abuse.
Inclusion of provisions to ensure that such children have their social
and economic rights catered for by the receiving government.

Commentary
Refugees and particularly children refugees - are vulnerable to many
forms of abuse and rights violations. The government must take measures
to protect the rights of refugee children in accordance with the constitutional rights of the child.

Inclusion of provisions to establish special mechanisms and

departments to look into the welfare of children who are refugees
and also those living with disabilities.
Provision of holistic monitoring frameworks on status of children
who are refugees.
Amendments to elaborate on the rights of people living with
disabilities people as enshrined in the Constitution.
Inclusion of rights and measures to enable people living with
disabilities to become self-sufficient; to be able to access medical
facilities and assistance; to receive psychological and functional
treatment; to receive state-funded education and special facilities for
education; and to access recreational facilities.
Review of the Act to incorporate administrative justice as a
fundamental right as provided in the Constitution.
Inclusion of time-frames within which courts must provide
judgments in cases that have been adjudicated t comply with timely
administration of justice.
Complete review of the Act to give effect to section 85(1)(c) of the
Constitution, which allows for a clear and easy process for a class
or group of persons to bring an action to challenge a violation of the
Declaration of Rights.
Inclusion of provisions to ensure that no onerous requirements
(including those with negative monetary implications) are placed on
those instituting a class action that may prevent them from pursuing
such cases.
Review of Act to make it user-friendly for those with cases against
state officials, including removing unduly tight time-restrictions and
restrictions against attaching state assets to settle debts and damages
orders against state entities. This will ensure equal treatment of
judgment debtors from the state and non-state actors.
Repeal of provisions barring execution against state property to
satisfy judgment debt, as this currently perpetuates non-compliance
and impunity by state agents of their constitutional obligations.
Inclusion of a step-by-step process for the payment of a final
court order for damages against government sounding in money,
including the attachment and sale in execution of movable property
belonging to the state and/or department concerned.
Review of provisions for compliance with section 85 of the
Constitution to ensure that there are no unreasonable restrictions to
the enforcement of fundamental rights and freedoms, particularly
against the state.
Review of all laws on courts to consolidate and rationalise them and
make access and procedure more accessible and user-friendly.
Introduction of a Constitutional Court Act with provisions for access
to this court and provisions for its mandate and procedures (to be
read together with Rules of the Constitutional Court).

Facilities and resources for disabled persons have generally been very
limited in Zimbabwe, restricting their participation in public affairs and
economic, political and social life. Strengthened legal provisions may assist to improve the level of participation and subsequently the quality of
the lives of this community, which has now received specific protection
under the new Constitution.
Administrative authorities continue to violate the Constitution by refusing to comply with the rules and tenets of natural and administrative justice, particularly in decisions that are taken in state institutions and by and
against state (and non-state) actors. While such action can be legally challenged after the fact, it is critical to prevent such abuse in the first place.
Where legal action is taken, decisions (and the reasons for such decisions)
must be furnished expeditiously.
Class actions have been notoriously difficult to institute and pursue in
Zimbabwe. This is primarily due to the prohibitive administrative barriers
and complex and costly procedures imposed by the law and the courts.
Such onerous requirements have made it impossible for those with limited
resources to proceed with such action.

Good practice in the region and internationally has seen an improvement

in enforcement of rights against errant state institutions and actors. Now
that a protective provision has been included in the new Constitution, the
legislation must be overhauled to enforce this protection. This will also
help to counter impunity for violations committed particularly by state
actors in the course of their official duties. There are currently also undue
time-restrictions on suing state officials and agencies and a prohibition
on attaching state property to settle debts and damages orders against
state entities. These need to be removed and overhauled.

Currently the prescription periods for claims against the state are
very short and have negatively affected the ability of victims of statesanctioned violations to claim against such actors and institutions. The
Constitution has addressed this, and the Act must now be aligned to
ensure this is respected.
The unavailability of court rules for the Constitutional Court continues
to cause uncertainty in terms of procedure, thereby limiting access to the
court and reinforcing uncertainty of a standard procedure implemented
equally for all litigants.

Review and inclusion of provisions to outline the jurisdiction,

powers, practice and procedure of the court.
Inclusion of time-frames within which each court must provide
written judgments in cases that have been adjudicated on.
Inclusion of provisions to establish a Rules of Court Committee
to review or enact rules for the different courts that include all
stakeholders of the justice delivery system.
Inclusion of functions of Rule of Court committee to include review
and enactment of specific procedures on how matters are to be
heard before the court to advance the right to a fair hearing within a
reasonable time as stipulated in section 69(1-4) of the Constitution.
Stipulation in the Rules of Court of maximum periods within which
urgent or ex parte matters are heard so that matters are finalised with
the urgency that they deserve.
Inclusion of requirement that the frequency of all circuit courts be
announced through government gazette notice.
Removal of provisions of the High Court Act and Magistrates
Court Act on civil imprisonment, as it violates section 49 (2) of the
Constitution.
To be continued

Legal Monitor
The

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Left in the cold

Fostering a culture
of human rights

...Children mirror the harsh life of Zimbabwean flood victims

We feel like people in prison, read the petition,

adding: Your government is treating us like
second class citizens and as if we are people with
no rights. Your Excellency, we ask you to come as
soon as possible to see for yourself the conditions
we are living under.

CHINGWIZI-It may be bitterly cold but after

walking for several kilometres to school, 11-yearold Taurai* wouldnt mind a gulp of clean fresh
water before starting classes.

But the only available water at Nyuni Primary

School in Chingwizi in Masvingo province where
Taurai is a student is salty and is sourced from a
single borehole shared with dozens of villagers and
domestic animals.
The water is unbearable. I dont think its meant
for human beings, says the Grade five pupil.
The salty water is hardly Taurais biggest problem.
He badly needs a good education to escape the
poverty that surrounds him but government neglect
of rural schools such as Nyuni Primary School
poses a serious threat to the future of thousands
of children such as Taurai. Section 75 of the new
Constitution guarantees the Right to Education and
obliges the State to make education progressively
available and accessible. The conditions at Nyuni
Primary School make a mockery of governments
commitment to the new governance Charter.
Students are forced to make do with a classroom
without walls. Classes are conducted in a tent
supported by wooden poles, exposing pupils to
intense cold and danger of the tents collapsing
on them. Left with no options, villagers have come
to accept the structures as classrooms.
Even at such a dilapidated structure, children are
still chased from school for non-payment of
fees. This is despite court pronouncements that
children should not be removed from classes
because of their parents failure to settle debts
with schools. The dire conditions at Nyuni Primary
School mirror the harsh circumstances that
thousands of villagers displaced from their homes
due to floods and later settled in Chingwizi have to
endure on a daily basis.
At a mobile legal clinic convened by Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights at the school and
attended by scores of people, it emerged that the
internally displaced villagers are fast becoming a
forgotten lot. The only arms of the State they are in
regular contact with are the police and the courts.
And often this when the police officers visit to
harass them or when the villagers have to attend
court to answer spurious charges arising from
their vigorous clamour for government to respect
their rights.

Day 120: Where is Itai?

Missing person appeal

This is what passes for a school in Chingwizi, 35 years after independence

There are no immediate health facilities.

Even burying the dead is a nightmare due to
lack of a proper burial site since the villagers are
considered to be in transit. Many of the villagers
are yet to receive their compensation and have to
scrounge around to feed their families. Serious
hunger and poverty pervade the area, with the
majority of the villagers having lost property such
as household furniture, utensils, building materials,
grain, crops, fruit trees and livestock during the

The unmarked vehicle used during his

abduction has been identified as a white
Nissan Hardbody. Our efforts to ascertain
Mr Dzamaras whereabouts have failed
to locate him to date.
We are appealing to anyone who has
seen Mr Dzamara since 9 March or has
any information about Mr Dzamaras
whereabouts to please contact lawyers
representing him on the following
contact details.
Hotline/ Cellphone: 0779 204 102

We do not have food and we are facing starvation,

they said in the petition, claiming that close to
20 000 people internally displaced by floods
are affected.

But, for young Taurai and fellow internally

displaced persons whose difficulties are refusing to
fly away, a 400 km detour from his busy itinerary to
visit Chingwizi could help President Mugabe get a
firmer grip of the dire situation some of his subjects
are enduring at home.
*Name changed for security reasons

Victory for Dabengwa

HARARE- Justice Chinembiri Bhunu has ordered the Zimbabwe Electoral
Commission (ZEC) to act within the confines of the law in the execution of
its duties. The ruling followed an application filed by Zapu leader Dumiso
Dabengwas lawyers advocate Tererai Mafukidze and Bryant Elliot seeking
an order compelling the electoral body to take full responsibility of the

voter registration exercise.

Justice Bhunu said the electoral body could not be barred from using voters
rolls compiled by the Registrar Generals Office before the adoption of the
new constitution, adding that there is no law that barred ZEC from doing so.

Lawyers calm villagers

CHISUMBANJE- Chinyamukwakwa and Matikwa
villages are on the brink of open hostilities as
human rights abuses allegedly fuelled by ethanol
giant Green Fuel further deepen tension between
the company and the community.
So tense are relations between villagers and
the quasi-government company that Zimbabwe
Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) recently
dispatched officials to monitor the situation and to
provide legal support.
ZLHRs Blessing Nyamaropa, Peggy Tavagadza,
Kenndy Majamanda and Langton Mhungu and
the Claris Madhuku-led Platform for youth
development recently held a legal mobile clinic
with the villagers and judicial officials to calm
the situation.

Itai Dzamara, a pro-democracy activist

has been missing since Monday 9 March
2015. Mr Dzamara was abducted by
some unidentified men from a barbershop near his home in Glen Norah
at around 11:00 hours for yet to be
established motives.

relocation process. Last week, the flood victims

took the extra-ordinary step of directly petitioning
President Robert Mugabe to intervene after local
officials and responsible ministries ignored their
plight.

There hasnt been a response yet to the petition

by President Mugabe, who was in New York last
week as part of his hectic foreign travel itinerary
that has severely limited his stay at home lately.
The presidents critics say the flying hours he has
clocked in close to two dozen trips undertaken
this year alone could have been better spent at
home tackling problems such as those ravaging
people in Chingwizi. His supporters and officials
defend the trips as necessary to fulfil his duties as
African Union and Southern African Development
Commnuity chairman respectively.

such as the police and local traditional leaders were

siding with Green Fuel in the long running dispute.

According to villagers, the community has seriously

suffered since 2008 when Macdom Investments
moved in.
Land has been taken with no compensation,
boundaries have been pegged, trenches dug to
bar villagers from encroaching into Macdom
Investments farming area and villagers have been
given small pieces of land of 0,5 hectares per
family with no grazing area for livestock.
The villagers said arrests and assaults by police
officers were intensifying while some kraal heads
were no longer siding with the people but with
the company.

The lawyers group has been holding frequent

meetings with the villagers and is representing
some of them in court after they were arrested
by police for questioning the loss of their land to
Green Fuel.
ZLHR is assisting some of the villagers to sue the
police and Green Fuel for human rights abuses.
Green Fuel, partly owned by government, is under
parent company Macdom Investments.
At a recent mobile legal clinic, Nyamaropa and
Tavagadza appealed for calm, urging the villagers
to use legal channels to express their dissatisfaction
and fight for their rights.
The law is there to protect you and ZLHR is here
to ensure that your rights are protected so please
dont take the law into your own hands, said
Nyamaropa as he pleaded with the villagers at a
meeting held in Chinyamukwakwa village.
At the meeting, villagers said those in authority

ZLHR lawyers consulting with an elderly villager in Chisumbanje

There is no respect for the elders and the dead,

graves are being removed and there is political
manipulation. There are no jobs hence we face
hunger in the community, said one villager,
adding that school fees were hard to come by as a
result of loss of economic activity.
In 2008, Green Fuel, represented by Macdom
Investments, acquired the right to lease land
measuring 5 112 hectares from State agricultural
agency ARDA where it built an ethanol plant.
The land has since increased to 9 375 hectares
as the company encroaches into the surrounding
communal land in Chisumbanje, Chinyamukwakwa
and Matikwa villages without adequate consultation
with the community that used the land for farming;
crop production, livestock grazing and other
cultural uses.

Legal Monitor
The

13 July 2015

For feedback please email ZLHR on: info@zlhr.org.zw or visit: www.zlhr.org.zw

Fostering a culture
of human rights

Cde Freedom Nyamubaya: We

will meet 'On the Road Again'
By Takura Zhangazha

HARARE-I first encountered

the
late
Cde
Freedom
Nyamubaya (Cde Freedom as
we affectionately called her)
via the poetry section of the
Waterfalls District library. It
was her collection of poems
and short stories, On the Road
Again, that won me over to her
clarity of thought and particular
ability to explain her anguish Takura Zhangazha
through the pen. At that time,
I was naively keen on writing poetry and needed a Zimbabwean
writer to learn from. And learn I did, though I never took my passion
for poetry and prose to the sky high levels that Cde Freedom did.
I was to encounter Cde Freedom again at the turn of the millennium
in Marondera, and this time in person, where an organization she
helped found, Management Outreach Training Services for Rural
and Urban Development (MOTSRUD) was part of broader civil
society activities on the campaign for a new constitution.
While we never actually conversed, seeing her at meetings and
explaining her passion for rural development and farming was
inspiring. Moreso because it was my first time to have seen her, a
famous Zimbabwean writer and also activist (a side to her character
I had thought was confined to her role in our liberation struggle)
in person.
It would be a while before I talked to her directly, much to my
delight, at the Quill Club in Harare. And it is there that we talked
about her writing, including her published 1995 collection of poems
and short stories, The Dusk of Dawn. I was also fortunate to get
signed copies of both her English books! In our conversations, she
was always consistent in narrating that the liberation struggle was
not only tough but its ideals were increasingly betrayed in the post
independence era. And that in part, she found solace in expressing
her views through her writings.

And these views were most ably expressed in some of her poems
including one of her most stellar ones, A Mysterious Marriage in
which she laments,

Independence Came
But Freedom was not there
An old woman saw Freedoms passing shadow
Walking through the crowd, Freedom to the gate
All the same, they celebrated for Independence
(From On the Road Again by Freedom Nyamubaya, 1986,
Zimbabwe Publishing House)

These sentiments that she expressed were however not left to her
writing alone. She was involved as far as she thought practically
possible with the Zimbabwe National Liberation War Veterans
Association and the Zimbabwe Liberators Platform. She said she
got involved in order to at least ensure that her comrades from the
struggle days were not forgotten. And that her fear was that most of
the political leaders had forgotten those that were at the frontlines of
the struggle. After also taking a brief political role in the Mavambo/
Kusile/Dawn movement she confided in 2010 kubatana.net Inside/
Out Interview that.
I've decided to concentrate on things that I can achieve. Politics is
no longer about any ideologies, or policies, it's not about building
the country. I would like to be remembered as somebody who
contributed to the development of the youth, or the development of
Zimbabwe. Or even as someone who contributed to the literature
on the war.
Her assertions, to me at least, continue to ring true when one
examines the political parties that our country is saddled with.
She however had a keen interest in pursuing her own activism and
two weeks before her passing had gone on a training programme
to Switzerland under the auspices of the Zimbabwe Peace and
Security Trust (she was also a trustee of the same organization).
In her narration to me of the visit, she joked about how once they
were on an electric tram ride through one of the hills, a fellow
Zimbabwean delegate had said ominously, if this was in Zimbabwe

Yali Profile: Human rights defender

wants universal access to justice
HARARE-Award winning lawyer and human rights
activist Kennedy Masiye is best remembered as the
attorney that was assaulted by police in his attempt
to protect the rights of journalist cum activist, Itai
Dzamara barely six months ago.

Schools have holidays,

Workers days off,
Dogs rest too,
But struggles to go on, go on.
Still on the road,
One endless journey.
Thank you for the consciousness Cde Freedom.

Freedom gone
source: takura-zhangazha.blogspot.com

By Stanley Kwenda

her to sleep in Mbare. With

my fuel tank slowly emptying
I reluctantly drove to Mbare
where I was rewarded with 2
kgs of goat meat. With that I
got to know she was a farmer
in Mhangura.

Probably I am the least

qualified person to write about
her but I am doing so simply
because of who she was.
My musings are simply based
on chance interactions I had
with Freedom Tichaona
Nyamubaya.

It is in recognition of his courage and leadership

abilities that Kennedy took the decision to
participate in a program that connects Africans as
well as look beyond the continent for solutions. He
is one of the 30 participants from Zimbabwe to take
part in the second year of the Mandela Washington
Fellowship where he sees himself benefiting a lot
and learning best practices from the best minds in
the world.
Kennedys efforts have seen him excelling in
litigating and winning several cases in which he
fearlessly defended human rights defenders who
would have been arbitrarily arrested and detained.

Kennedy has been making significant strides in his

legal and advocacy work tackling issues of social
change and service delivery in a bid to improve the
humane conditions of the country.

His hard work and commitment has earned him

the 2014 Law Society of Zimbabwe Young Human
rights lawyer of the year award after having been
nominated in two consecutive years from the year
2012. He has also been recognized and conferred
with the Giraffe Hero award by the Giraffe Heroes
Zimbabwe, for standing tall on behalf of the silent
majority despite the threats that were directed at
their persons in the struggle for democracy and a
just society.

Kennedy has also been working on the internal

displacements issue of the Tokwe Mukosi
community that was moved to Chingwizi camp
and having being severely assaulted by armed
forces while defending the rights of his client,
Itai Dzamara.

Upon his return from the fellowship Kennedy

hopes to implement my acquired knowledge and
skills and increasing access to justice to more
communities. He graduated from the University
of Zimbabwe in the year 2010 with a Bachelor of
Laws degree. Source: www.newsday.co.zw

The efforts to protect the rights of Dzamara is just

but one of many cases the young legal expert has
been exposed to in his five year career with the
Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights.

She was however very

excited about her role
with ZPST and the peace
building
initiatives
she was involved in.
She however had not
negated her passion for
writing and farming.
This
despite
the
hectic pressure she The late Freedom Nyamubaya...
always expressed to be pic credit: www.poetryinternationalweb.net
undergoing in ensuring
that her son would begin his university education. She would still
show me poems that she wrote and was to recite a great one at the
funeral of one of her dear departed commanders the late Wilfred
Mhanda, aka, Dzinashe Machingura. The one thing I will however
cherish the most in my limited personal interaction with her is the
realistic optimism she always exhibited. And the seriousness with
which she took the task of talking to and building the consciousness
of the younger generations that never went to war. It is this
realistic optimism and continuing political consciousness that I will
remember Cde Freedom by. And I know that her struggle to go on,
goes on through her contribution to the liberation of Zimbabwe, her
conscientious writing and her work in agriculture. As she says in
her poem, On the Road Again,

LONDON-I cant claim to

have known her.

Since Dzamaras abduction and disappearance on

March 9, Kennedy and other human rights defenders
have been searching for clues on his whereabouts
but also working on available legal instruments to
compel the government of Zimbabwe to act.

During his six-week fellowship Kennedy will

be stationed at Rutgers University in New Jersey
where he expects to network with colleagues from
other countries and universities through exchanging
ideas and experiences.

and there was a power

outage they would all
be in serious trouble
due the inefficiency
of ZESA!

Stanley Kwenda

For those of us who were born on the other

side of independence, the Quill Club became
an oasis of consciousness. We met various
personalities there yearning to learn more about
our country and its politics. They all came
through in different shapes, sizes and hues.
Over a drink (s) lots of lessons were shared.
Most of those lessons were about politics and
life in general. Cde Freedom was a master at
giving those lessons. I was lucky to have met
her at the Quill Club.
She was quite a jolly fellow. One of the very
few female colleagues who were at home at
the Quill Club. With her high pitched voice she
would stand out in any crowd at the Quill.
From her contributions be it during a beer talk or
the many functions that were held at the Quill,
she came across as a fine thinker. A doyen of
Zimbabwean liberation politics.
Its a subject that she was comfortable with and
could entertain an audience at the Quill Club
until the witching hour. One of those days, I
remember I had the privilege, though at the time
I took it as a misfortune, of driving her home. She
asked me to take her to Mabvuku but half way
into our journey, she decided her spirit wanted

While other people are paid

to talk, teach and impart
knowledge hers was for free.
All she needed was your time
and willingness to learn. When I first met her at
the Quill Club, I was surprised that she knew
my name and where I worked. But that was
Freedom. She had her pulse on the ground on
virtually everything that was happening in the
country, particularly in politics.
On one encounter she took me to task over a
land invasions story I wrote for a local weekly
newspaper. In our discussions she simply asked
me why we never write stories about Mhangura
and other parts of the country. Are you a Harare
and Bulawayo newspaper she asked? I had no
answer but I know it still remains an indictment
on our media. I promised to visit her farm but I
regret that she has gone before I could do that.
I hope she has forgiven me for instead visiting
Kindness Paradzas Wamambo farm.
Despite that, most of us who regard the Quill
Club as a social place of choice would remember
how we used to enjoy chimukuyu (biltong) and
other niceties courtesy of her industry. I hope
we all paid our dues for the goodies that came
on favourable credit terms. Thank you Cde
Freedom and may your soul rest in eternal peace.
Stanley Kwenda is a Zimbabwean journalist working for BBC
World Service in London