ESSET’s Response to the 2013 National Budget Speech

The Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation (ESSET), an independent ecumenical organization that works for social and economic justice, welcomes Minister of Finance, Pravin Gordhan’s unadventurous 2013 Budget speech which was presented yesterday amidst slow economic growth and huge budget deficit.

 As was the case with the President’s State of the Nation Address, the Minister had a gargantuan task of appeasing different stakeholders. Like President Zuma, the Minister used his speech as a platform to urge the South African public to work together. Thus, the Minister’s emphasis of the National Development Plan (NDP) as government’s point of departure allowed him to appeal to the agriculture, manufacturing, tourism and communications sectors to play a part in expanding trade, investment and job creation. He mentioned exactly what the ear would have wanted to hear: “This budget is intended to accelerate growth, expand investment, support economic development and confront poverty and inequality.”

ESSET noted with concern the news that the government spent R190 billion more than it received in the past financial year. It was neither surprising hearing Minister Gordhan conceding that the economic uncertainty will be with us for some time and calling for resilience as we front difficult economic times. It was only a matter of time before we could start to realise the consequence of the disruption of mining sector last year and its effects on export trade performance.

ESSET welcomes the allocation of infrastructure spend to the tune of R3.2 trillion over the three years to realise a strong network of economic infrastructure designed to support the country’s medium and long term economic and social objectives. It was encouraging hearing the Minister offering to do a breakdown of monthly expenditure and making the information available to the public. We are also glad that the Minister is aware that some parts of government struggle to spend their full infrastructure budgets; depriving communities a right to have their basic services. It would have been great to hear how government is capacitating the three tiers of government to spend the allocated amounts in various projects.

We welcome the introduction of policies to tackle youth unemployment, particularly youth employment tax incentives. Even such a small measure to boost the demand for youth employment can go a long way in helping them get experience and secure jobs eventually. However, we are concern of more resources being allocated to the existing expanded public-works programmes. The Minister announced that government intend increasing the budget from R1.7 billion in 2012/13 to R2.2 billion in 2015/16 for the programme. It’s a great concern if much budget is spent on temporary jobs instead of creating sustainable permanent jobs.

We also welcome Minister Gordhan’s call for us to unite as a nation and fight against corruption. Further, the report that National Treasury is currently scrutinising 76 business entities with contracts worth R8.4 billion and 216 cases being finalised is encouraging news on the war against corruption. However, it’s high time that the Minister becomes firmer on the clamping of corruption and ensuring that there is compliance by all in the government procurement and financial management systems. We need targets and timeframes on how we will effectively deal away with acts of corruption within the public sector.

ESSET strongly support interventions by government to support small and medium enterprises. We also agree that trade opportunities in the Asian and African continents needed to be explored. However, government need not give the trade opportunities only to big businesses and micro-businesses. It should consider extending the support and trade opportunities to even millions who live off the informal sector of our economy. Currently, many in the informal economy are doing cross-border trading and government can ensure that trade regulations are reviewed to permit trade friendly policies that enable regional integration.

We strongly oppose the proposal to use VAT to fund the National Health Insurance (NHI). We agree with NHI ideals which are noble, particularly the proposed plan to distribute financial and human resources equitably between the public and private health sectors because the current public healthcare system is largely ineffective and does not cater for the poorest of the poor communities. However, implementing NHI through increasing VAT is not the best route to take. Increased tax to fund NHI could be a severe blow in South Africa considering the rising fuel, wage and electricity prices pushing up inflation and negatively impacting on the poor.

Let's all stand up and put a stop to violence on women

As President Jacob Zuma lead the launch of the Stop Rape in Schools Campaign on Friday,  the Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation (ESSET), could like to call on all the people of faith and all sectors of society to stand up and put a stop to the senseless rapes and cold-hearted murder of women and girls. It is worth mentioning that this campaign championed by Dept of Basic Education and Lead SA should not only be limited to raising awareness about rape, murder, the rights of women and girls but ought to a nationwide campaign that provide practical measures on how to put a stop to the scourge of rape.

 The 17 years old Anene Booysen’s murder on 02 February and Oscar Pistorius’s allege murder to his girlfriend (Reeva Steenkamp) on 14th February are the latest classic examples that reveal how serious the violence on women and girls has become in our nation. Anene Booysen from Bredasdorp outside Cape Town was gang raped and murdered; her throat slit and body mutilated by a broken bottle with parts of her intestines lying next to her in the dirt at a construction site whilst the recent publicised Olympian athlete’s murder case drew the whole world to marvel at our tolerance of violence on women.

Though, both cases are tragic, inhumane and shameful, perhaps it was what our country needed to realise the urgency with which sexual violence in our nation needs to be addressed and rid ourselves of a bad reputation tag as a hub of violent crime country. As a matter of fact, the level of violence on women in the country remains unacceptably high. The crime statistics for 2011/2012 released last September by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa reflected 57,000 of rape reported incidents. The stats further highlighted that rape is still generally under-reported by victims. Many chose not to report their cases because often they would be re-traumatized by those who are supposed to protect them. They are usually subjected to secondary victimisation through delays in court processes, unavailability of magistrates and police’s incompetence to deal with sexual offenses cases.

ESSET believes that the escalating sexual offenses against women are a reflection of gaps that exist in not only our current legislation but also an indication of lack of political will in fighting it. We do not have public office bearers with the vigour and committed to addressing rape and gender violence. The 16 Days of Activism against the Abuse of Women and Children Campaign has been toothless in eradicating gender violence. The Ministry for Women, Children and People with Disability is also still new to effectively make an impact in dealing with the sexual crime on women and girls. 

Though patriarchy features prominently amongst causes of sexual violence, it is not the solitary basis to rape. The way we socialise our boy child as society plays a role on how they treat girls and women even when they are grown up men. Erosion of moral fibre and abandonment of faith principles in our communities has led to disrespectful tendencies on women. Perhaps one of the scriptures that we ought to meditate on as we seek to deal with the many causes of the scourge of rape is: 2 Chronicles 7:14; (if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land). The sad reality is that sexual violence and abuse of women and girls is perpetrated by men in all class of society; from church ministers, teachers, public servants, thugs, miners, prominent sport personalities, celebrities etc.

ESSET views violence on women as sinful and therefore calls on the faith-based organisations and churches to make pronouncement against all forms of violence against women. Rape is evil and against God nature; therefore all of us should condemn it. As the church community who often press forgiveness upon survivors of violence, we should be careful not to subject them to secondary abuse. When we intervene in their cases, we need to handle them with extra sensitivity and objectivity and avoid contributing to their self-blame and putting more shame on them. Further, ESSET call on churches to take position with the survivors of violence and hold government accountable for its failures to deal decisively with violence against women. For we all know how the Lord has placed a distinct worth upon vulnerable groups of his time such as women.

ESSET’s response to the State of the Nation Address 2013

President Jacob Zuma’s fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) presented last Thursday (14 February 2013) simply lacked inspiration. President Zuma missed the opportunity to use the occasion as platform to inspire confidence by providing the solutions to the many challenges confronting the nation. Instead, all he gave us was a bland version of previous SONAs, which provides no hope for our country.

At the close of the 53rd National Conference of the African National Congress held last December, the President declared that over the next five years, the ANC led- government will take decisive and resolute action to overcome the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. Further, he had indicated that the year 2013 marked the beginning of the second phase transition, which will be focused on socio-economic transformation. However, in the SONA, the President mentioned nothing about the socio-economic transformation transition.

Having said this ESSET is also concerned that the President has based much focus of his solutions on the National Development Plan (NDP), which its effects could only be visible in the next 20 years. Something also confusing is the fact that the government introduced the New Growth Path last year but this season little is mentioned of it or how it would be paired with the NDP. He failed to clarify if the New Growth Path was still going to be pursued or it has been abandoned.

According to the President, the NDP is the focal solution to all the needs of our people from water provision, electricity, sanitation, jobs, housing, public transport, adequate nutrition, education, social protection, quality healthcare, recreation and a clean environment. Nevertheless, the President failed to use the SONA to sell the NDP and provide details of the strategy to implement it. The President further emphasised the need for all social actors, including business, labour and civil society, to work together to achieve the country’s objectives, especially the imperative to grow the economy in order to create 11-million jobs by 2030. This noble thought might be just one of the rhetoric’s as the President did not share light as to when and how this partnership would be facilitated.

 In relation to job creation, it is obvious that the government is not winning. Statistics South Africa’s (Stats SA) Quarterly Labour Force Survey revealed that employment figures fell sharply in January 2013 with about 68,000 jobs lost in the last three months of 2012. More job losses will mean more poverty and dependence on state grants. The President failed to announce progress on Youth Wage Subsidy, which has been a subject of discussion for years now. He desisted from providing details on the youth subsidy, only indicating that discussions in the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) has been concluded and that agreement has been reached on key principles.

 As much as we support the job creation strategy for youth employment, the Youth Wage Subsidy concept was flawed. ESSET’s concern about the implementation of the youth subsidy was that it would subsidize employers that lower the cost of hiring inexperienced and unskilled young people and lead businesses not only abandoning their social responsibility towards society but also giving them power to exploit labour practices.

 

In the centenary year of the racist 1913 Natives Land Act, we are glad that the President admitted that government have only distributed 8% of the 30% target of land redistribution for 2014 and conceded, “the willing buyer- willing seller principle has not been the best model to address the emotive subject of land reform. However, the President failed to provide a convincing model for faster land distribution as well as fresh ideas on how rural development programmes will be used to build social and economic infrastructure, skills development and the promotion of co-operatives, especially owned by rural women and youth empowerment for their sustainable livelihood.

Besides being reliant on infrastructure projects, big business and the Expanded Public Works Programmes for job creation, ESSET is also of the view that President Zuma should inspire government to look at promoting the productivity and growth of informal enterprises because their contributions to economic growth can be increased with the kinds of incentives that currently only formal enterprises get. Labour-intensive growth of informal enterprises is likely to create more jobs than capital-intensive growth of formal enterprises. It also costs much less to create jobs in the informal economy than in the formal economy.

ESSET welcome the President’s announcement that “education would be made an essential service”. Additionally, as much as we agree with him that decent salaries and conditions of service will play an important role in attracting, motivating and retaining skilled teachers, we believe that children have the right to education and should not be held ransom by teachers. We are also of the view that the President should hold the education ministers accountable; not only to ensure delivery of text books, building of schools, feeding schemes for poor schools etc. but also on addressing broader challenges experienced within the education system.

We welcome the President’s report that the capacity of the Special Investigating Unit has grown from 70 staff members to more than 600. Nonetheless, ESSET is disappointed at government’s sluggish measures to deal harshly with corruption within its institutions. Media reports regular covers corruption and financial irregularities by public servants; from those at lower level, senior managers and even public office bearers. For instance, the Auditor General earlier this year released a report, which revealed that eight of the national departments had spent at least R24.6 billion on consultants in the past three-year period. The President would have at least condemned this extravagant wasteful expenditure which had no value for money.

The current state of the economy, the ever-increasing job losses in various sectors, protests for services and better life for all should be indication to President Zuma to speed up services in his second term. At the ANC’s 53rd Conference, the President pronounced the key aspects of economic policy that would help deepen socio-economic transformation. It is high time that we begin to see these noble promises made at SONA translated into action.

ESSET HOLD MATERIALS DEVELOPMENT CONSULTATION WITH SADC INFORMAL TRADERS

The Ecumenical Service for Socio Economic Transformation (ESSET) is holding a five days Materials Development Consultation with Informal traders from the SADC countries such as Lesotho, Swaziland, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The objective of the consultation is to pilot the training materials by training 30 leaders of informal traders from the selected countries in the region. The Consultation is being held at Stay City Hotel, 46 High Street, Berea (Johannesburg) South Africa) from the 29^th to 02 November 2012.

The Materials Development Consultation follows a recently completed consultative process, where ESSET facilitated consultations in five different countries in the region between April and June 2012. The consultations took place in a form of public meetings to introduce the project to street and market traders in order to solicit their views on and endorsement of the scope and process. They were followed by focus group discussions to dissect the problems and issues raised in the public meetings. The consultations were part of the participatory research project that seeks to enhance the collective knowledge of traders regarding the policy, organizational and political challenges impeding street and market trade.  

Following the consultations with the traders in the SADC region, critical issues were identified. Amongst these are;

• The prevailing lack of policy aimed at supporting the informal economy is fuelling the exploitation and marginalization of informal workers, especially women, in African countries. For example, it enables big retailers to drop their prices willy-nilly in order to unfairly compete with informal traders in the sale of cheap goods, threatening their income and livelihood.

 

• Government provided enterprise development and business support for the informal trading sector is being undermined by patronage and nepotism, in some countries, and by a lack of financial assistance, in others.  The main beneficiaries are often well established SMMEs, as a result, the needs of very small informal enterprises that lack physical and financial capital are being largely ignored. 

 

• Women informal cross-border traders are often forced to have sexual relations with strange men in order to meet their transport, food and accommodation needs, which put them at risk of HIV infection. Many governments, however, lack HIV and AIDS services for women informal cross-border traders.

 

• In addition, high import duties compromise the earnings of informal cross-border traders, as it force them to sell their goods at higher prices, thus, reducing the number of sales.

• The requirements for accessing finance from private banks are generally exclusionary and insensitive to the economic and cultural conditions of street and market traders, especially women traders.

• Economic and political structural problems within countries have a knock-on effect on organization and mobilization in the informal trading sector. In some countries, street and market traders fear that they will lose their trading spaces, if they embark on collective action to engage their governments on issues such as rental, maintenance, shelter, storage, etc. Municipalities often use divide and rule tactics to demobilize street and market traders.

• Finally, informal traders are often excluded from policy formulation processes, especially at the level of local authorities. And in countries where systems for participatory governance do exist, public participation is often treated merely as a bureaucratic requirement, which promotes tokenistic participation. Meanwhile, informal trading policies generally fail to accommodate the needs of women informal traders.   

The Materials Development Consultation that is attended by representatives of informal traders from various SADC countries that participated in the consultation, ESSET staff and materials developer seeks to address capacity gaps identified in the consultative process. The expected materials to be developed in the consultation include the Facilitator & Learner Guides and Participatory Action Research tool that will be used as part of the learning process and monitoring tools. After the training the, participants will report to their associations and allow them to also reflect on how to use the tools introduced in the training to address their critical issues. The training will be followed up with visits by ESSET to assist associations in different countries to develop country implementation plans.

 

 

RESPONSE TO THE POLICE ATTACKS ON INFORMAL TRADERS IN PRETORIA

The Ecumenical Service for Socio-Economic Transformation (ESSET), an independent ecumenical organisation that works for social and economic justice and transformation against the systematic exclusion and exploitation of the poor condemns in the strongest words possible the continued police attacks on informal traders as witnessed in various areas in Tshwane last week and over the weekend.

As an organisation that has been accompanying informal traders for years now, ESSET was deeply disturbed to see on the news informal traders being chased around and shot with tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons. This was taking place at the backdrop of the brutal killings of the Lonmin miners in Marikana at the hands of police. We would not want to see the repeat of the horrific images of such unnecessary killings, especially whilst still fresh on our memories. On the 27 August 2012, ESSET went with a delegation consisting of church ministers and representatives of informal traders associations to Tshwane to show solidarity with traders and seek to understand what was going on. As we arrived in Tshwane, the informal traders had embarked on yet another march and camped outside the Mayor of the City of Tshwane’s offices, where police contingent monitored the situation.

We learnt that the informal traders had been seeking audience with the City of Tshwane Executive Mayor Sputla Ramokgopa in an endeavour to engage him about unilateral decisions taken to evict them from their trading sites. Despite not being able to meet the Executive Mayor, the traders are giving the Municipal Steering Committee appointed to deal with their demands a chance. Yesterday (31/08/2012), the Tshwane informal traders’ leadership will meet the committee to engage further. In our interaction with informal traders, we found out that most of them were frustrated at their relocation. They are aware that once they are evicted from their trading sites, their income would not be guaranteed anymore. Recently, we have learnt how widows of killed miners whom most are from poverty-stricken provinces like Eastern Cape have to fend for themselves and raise children alone.

The Informal traders in Tshwane have informed us of how the police started impounding their stock and told them to leave their trading sites. Neli Shabangu one of the traders in Tshwane explained: “we had planned a march to the Office of the Executive Mayor where we were to hand over our memorandum of demands. Our march was necessitated by the police attacks on us earlier in the week. They forced us to vacate our trading sites, especially those of us who were trading in Van der Walt street in the Central Business District and in Marabastad. The police said they were following the orders of the Executive Mayor who wanted us off the streets to make way for the Tshwane beautification project. We do not think that it is fair to just evict us from where we have been trading without providing alternative trading sites for us”.

The unjustified attacks on informal traders in Tshwane are not an isolated incident, they reprise in various other cities across the country. As Neli rightly suggests, these attacks are part of the beautification project undertaken by city councils aimed at boosting tourism and attracting investors. These are done, we are told to attract investments to the cities whilst at the same time promoting and protecting the interests of big businesses. In the process, there is very little care about the effects on the livelihoods of the poor. It is outrageous the extent to which our governments are willing to go to fulfil the dream of World Class cities associated with these beautification campaigns. In Lesotho, the informal traders are exasperated with their government for allocating huge tracts of public land to big businesses-owned private shopping malls, whilst failing to build linear markets for street and market traders.  Whilst big businesses complain about competition from informal traders, we find it rather disturbing that big businesses are allowed to compete directly with informal trades. In Lesotho and Swaziland, these businesses go to an extent of employing informal traders and erect trading stalls outside their business premises to compete with street traders. This is unfair trading that force informal traders out of business. The tendency to prohibit informal trade affects women greatly because they are in the majority in the sector and most of them thought they had escaped poverty by joining informal trade to feed their families.

The recent police attacks on informal traders in Tshwane can only tell us one thing; that we have not learnt our lessons from the tragedy in Marikana. Instead of seeking to resolve issues peacefully and amicably where there are disagreements, police are used as a ploy to shut down those with less power, especially the poor. Section 12 of the Bill of rights in the Constitution states that everyone has the right to freedom and security, which includes the right to be free from all forms of violence, not to be tortured; and not to be treated or punished in a cruel, in human or degrading way.  However, it is clear that the poor do not enjoy the benefits of this clause and those who are perpetuating the brutality on the poor is those who are supposed to protect them. We are however not surprised at the actions of the City of Tshwane and his refusal to engage with the informal traders. Executive Mayor Sputla Ramokgopa was previously the CEO of Johannesburg Metro Trading Company, which is known for its ill –treatment on informal traders. This company, which is supposed to manage informal trading in some cities in the country, is often surrounded by allegations of corruption through demands for bribes by its staff. Fed up imperturbability calm

The fact that the informal traders and miners confronted death by standing up against the police should tell us about irascibility because of sustained injustice, inequality and abject poverty meted at them. The protests and marches we are witnessing lately indicate the anger and frustration of the poor workers at the attack of their rights and dignity. These workers refuse to be seen as vulnerable victims of the unjust system that continues to undermine them. They have in themselves the ability to bring about the change they want to see in their lives. The determination of the informal traders in Tshwane to withstand the police attacks on them and evictions bears testimony to this. To avoid more of these kinds of protests in future, it would seem that it is no longer a choice for our government but to prioritise the systematic nature of our economy which breeds poverty and inequality to ensure economic liberation to all.

ESSET is calling on all South Africans, Churches and social justice practitioners to stand in solidarity with the informal traders other formations of the poor and condemn injustice imposed on them. For the church, this is a scriptural mandate that calls for the affirmation of the fullness of life for all (John 10:10) and to seek and announce the reign and kingdom of God on earth. We are also appealing for the implementation of the call made by the Archbishop of Cape Town for all church leaders to visit informal traders in their sites of struggle across the country. This call led to pastoral visits that took place in June 2012 around Gauteng to selected sites of informal traders. However, other decisions that were made to this effect are yet to be implemented. Amongst these, is the engagement of political leaders who impose on municipalities to implement their unjust and heartless by-laws and policies.  

Reflecting on the gist of Women’s month

ESSET certainly support and agree with the original intent of Women’s Month that seeks to honour women from all walks of life in our country. Off course tribute goes to the famous Women's march against the pass laws of 9^th August 1956 which challenged the Apartheid era policies and altered how women are perceived in society today. This famous march organized by the Federation of South African Women challenged the idea that 'a woman's place is in the kitchen’. We should always be inspired by the valiant feats of women of 1956 because they rose to fight for their emancipation though they were in the margins of society and naturally considered feeble.

In order to appreciate and better advance the contribution of women, our society needs to understand that women are fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image. Thus we should utilise Women’s Month as a time to thank women for being the gifts God has placed on the earth and the many hats they wear; from raising children, helping with household chores, providing for their families etc. The story of the creation of Adam and Eve is the first place where we would trace the worth of women. Genesis 1: 27-28 tells us that when God created human beings, he made them to be like himself. He created them male and female. In fact before God created human beings, as He was creating animals and objects He pronounced different aspects of it as "good." The first "not good" ensued on the sixth day after God had created Adam and then said it was "not good for the man to be alone" (Genesis 2:18). After this, God caused Adam to fall into deep sleep, then He took a rib from him and created Eve (Genesis 2:21). The exclamation: “At last! This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.” made by Adam when he first saw Eve is telling how very good God had made her (Genesis 2: 23).

However, it is interesting that though God has created women in His image the society that we leave in today, still look down on women. Some people seem to have traditionally justified giving women a subservient and oppressive role in society based on the fact that God made Eve from Adam's rib. They remain ignorant that Eve was taken from Adam's rib because she was his equal and God intended for her to stand beside him, not below him, not behind him and not above him. In South Africa, despite efforts to dedicate the month of August to celebrate and honour women as well as putting in place legislations and policies to recognise and protect them, many of them are still prejudiced by some men and the system of the day. Therefore, a pertinent question we need to ask ourselves as we commemorate Women’s Month is whether there has been any significant shifts made since we declared 9th August a public holiday and dedicated the whole month to show respect to women. Has the many encouraging speeches made during Women’s Month by government leaders and glamorous events often organised to celebrate women ever helped to better their lives?

Women traders, the community partners that ESSET works with have on numerous occasions complained about how some men hides behind religion and culture to abuse them. They told us how spiritual healers often accuse them for practising witchcraft when they are in contact with them during their menstrual periods. Sometimes they could tell them that they are possessed by an evil spirit whilst not knowing that it’s because they are only on their periods. Women traders also complained of traditionalist male customers who refuse to buy food that is cooked and served by a woman trader who is on her menstrual period. These men argue that women traders must stay at home when having their periods. Meanwhile, the recent findings of the Participatory Research conducted amongst the informal and cross border traders within the Southern African Development Community shows that there are also unequal gender power relations between the men and women traders. Men traders exclude women traders from organizational discussions and decision-making processes. On the other hand, women traders also silence each other’s voices and contribute to their own subordination.

It is a sad reality that for many years’ women were socially treated as an inferior gender and often put under the guidance of either their husbands or fathers. For instance, the Customary law gave black women the status of minors and excluded them from rights regarding children and property whilst the common law deprived white women of guardianship and various economic rights. It was only after the introduction of the Bill of Rights that women were considered equal citizens as men. However, the fact that women are recognized did not mean that they are instantaneous saved from the shame of working in lowly paid jobs. According to the survey by Women24, South African women earn 65% less than their male counterparts, sometimes even when they are employed to do the same jobs. This put more burdens on women, especially single parents who have to make ends meet with less money. The fact that women tend to live longer than men and often with less income in retirement make their economic distresses even agonizing.

ESSET is of the view that Women’s Month is also an opportune time to reflect on the progress made to advance the struggle of women. A time to challenge stereotypes that a woman’s role is only limited to the kitchen, child rearing or being a helper to her husband? Interestingly, the Bible is not limiting of the roles women can play, instead it affirms women in many positions, including business. In Acts 16:13-15, we are told of Lydia from the city of Thyatira (Asia Minor) who was a prudent dealer of purple cloth. Her city was also known for its commerce and abundant crops. Purple cloth was expensive and valuable as a sign of nobility or royalty so as a dealer of the cloth she would have probably been a wealthy businesswoman herself. The famous Proverbs 31 woman story is an archetypal of what would happen in our society if we help to support and advance women in their many endeavours of life. The Proverbs 31 woman was a successful businesswoman who not only was able to take care of her family, but also made her husband to be respected within his community.

As we dialogue and reflect on women issues, challenges and advancement during Women’s month we should not be selectively. We must also cater for the needs and issues of women who are put to the margins of our society either by birth or their deeds. We should not feel ashamed to even talk about sensitive and moral issues such as that of prostitution. It is common knowledge that there is marginalisation and stigma of women prostitutes in our communities and many of them are often deprived of basic rights and remain victims of hate crimes. The encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman in John 4: 3-42 demonstrate that Jesus also came for the outcasts. Jesus did something that was a Jewish culturally forbidden at Jacob’s well: he spoke to a woman in public. Jesus asked her for a drink of water. She was justifiably shocked: a Jewish man was speaking to her, a Samaritan woman? He also should not have wanted to share a vessel with her for drinking water since it would be considered unclean.

As their conversation continued Jesus eventually told her that she has had five husbands, and was now living with a man who was not her husband. After Jesus told the woman about her life, she knew that he was a prophet. It would be possible that the reason she was on the sixth men was because men had married her, then found out that she couldn’t have children and divorced her. The other possibility would be that her only other choice after husband number five died or divorced her was prostitution. Therefore, it could also be possible that this woman was an outcast and looked down by her community hence she even can to the well alone. Jesus was probably sensitive to her needs, to be restored of her dignity and reconciled with those who used to laugh at her. After their conversation with Jesus she went and told her people about Jesus and brought them to him, so they could see and hear for themselves. This demonstrates the restoration and transformation that has taken place in her life and her community.

Whilst passing through sadness, trials and tribulations women have inner strength to withstand pain. The story about Ruth in the first chapter of Ruth in the Bible helps to capture the fortitude, sacrifice, integrity and loyalty of women during trying times. Unlike her sister in law, Ruth, a gentile from the country of Moab refused to return to her parent’s home and remarry after the death of her husband. She told her mother-in-law, Naomi: “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, and there will I be buried. The Lord do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me” (Ruth 1:16–17). At the end we see Ruth’s commitment and character paying off (Ruth 4:9-10); she was married by Boaz, a rich farmer and one of Naomi’s relatives. With Ruth married to Boaz, Naomi knew that she would not have to worry about lacking food any more. She is also named as one of four females named in the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning of the Gospel of Matthew.

In the 21^st century women ought not to shy away from displaying their God given talents and leadership capabilities. Like the women 1956 today’s women must challenge the current status quo which asserts men as superior gender whilst disregarding their capabilities and worth. Judges 4: 4 shows that women also have leadership abilities. The chapter narrates how Deborah, a prophetess and a female judge in Israel devised a battle strategy that gave the out-numbered and badly-equipped Israelite troops victory over their Canaanite enemy. As a prophetess and a judge, Deborah was a tribal leader, who settles disputes and problems of her people and in times of war acted as a rallying point to gather the tribes and organize resistance. She had authority rather than power, and people respected her for the qualities she had, rather than for her military might or physical strength. Unlike her predecessors who were mostly male judges, Deborah stands out from them for her wisdom, courage and faith in God.

We must not sit on our laurels as the country and say that we have Women’s month to celebrate and dialogue around pertinent issues affecting women. Certainly, more need to be done to address the gender prejudice that still exists in our society today. We must do more to afford women equal opportunities that are often given to men and ensure that the role of women in society is enhanced. For God created a woman in His image not lesser than a man. Liberia and Malawi have set good examples for Africa and the entire world by having women Presidents and thus demonstrating the abilities of women. The recent election of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, the first woman to Chair the African Union is also a welcomed move in allowing women to take greater responsibilities and to display their God given talents. Let us not seek to demean women in leadership in our churches and ecumenical organisations but instead be supportive and celebrate their ascendency to positions of power as the feat for gender justice.

 

REST IN PEACE, MS OTTILIA CHIKOSHA!!!

It is with great The former President described Prime Minister Zenawi as “an outstanding and committed African patriot and leader” who did his best to address Ethiopia’s and Africa’s developmental challenges.”

“Those of us who have had the privilege to spend time with our brother and leader will sorely miss his razor-sharp intellect which he deployed for the advancement of Ethiopia, the East African region and the continent as a whole.”

Former President Mbeki recalled the readiness with which Prime Minister Zenawi contributed a 4,200 Ethiopian peace-keeping force to Abyei, Sudan, under the auspecies of the United Nations Interim Security Force for Abyei (UNISFA). This was at the request of the African Union High Level Implementation Panel on Sudan (AUHIP) which former President Mbeki chairs.

Said Mr. Mbeki: “Throughout the life of the AUHIP, Ethiopia, through Prime Minister Zenawi, has been a critical component to the Panel’s success.

“He often found time in his busy schedule to think together with members of the Panel on how to realise the Panel’s mandate and to overcome various obstacles and challenges.

“We join millions of Africans from across the continent as we convey our deepest condolences to Prime Minister Zenawi’s family, the Government and people of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia.”sadness to inform you about the passing away of Ms Ottilia Chikosha who was buried on the 18 August 2012 in Zimbabwe. We learnt this week that Ms Chikosha passed away after a short illness. Ms Chikosha served as an Executive Director for Regional Export Promotion Women's Trust, an organisation based in Zimbabwe that amongst others; do independent research on trade markets to provide Zimbabwean women with expertise and training on business expansion in emerging regional markets.

The partnership between ESSET and Regional Export Promotion Women's Trust started after Ms Chikosha attended the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Churches Dialogue on Justice and Informal Trade hosted by ESSET in October 2010. Our partnership with her organization after this event was very critical as they work with women, informal and cross border traders in Zimbabwe. Ms Chikosha played a leading role last year partnered by the Zimbabwe Council of Churches in co-ordinating Economic and Sexual Violence campaign in Zimbabwe. The same campaign was concurrently run in other SADC countries like South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia.

Those who interacted with Ms Chikosha appreciated her assertiveness, lively personality, her commitment to women empowerment and advancing their socio-economic rights. ESSET would like to convey a message of condolences to the Chikosha family, the Regional Export Promotion Women's Trust staff and all her friends and partners in struggle.

May her soul Rest in Peace!!!