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Focus
on Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) - 10 year anniversary
September 04, 2002
ZWLA celebrates its
tenth year anniversary this year in 2002. This year marks ten years since
ZWLA as an association was formed by a group of dedicated and enthusiastic
women lawyers. It however took a further four years before ZWLA was finally
registered as a trust in accordance with the laws of Zimbabwe, and was
able to be formally launched in a colourful and well attended ceremony
at the Harare Sheraton attended by members of the profession from all
over the country, the judiciary and government ministers as well as the
donor community. Only after the establishment of the trust was ZWLA able
to set up as a non-governmental organisation and operate.
History
ZWLA is
an association of women lawyers that was established in 1992 by a group
of women who were all lawyers in either private practice, government service
or the academia and non-governmental sector. This association was formally
launched in October 1995 and the association was registered as a trust
in December 1995, according to the laws of Zimbabwe. The founding members
were the honourable justice Elizabeth Gwaunza a judge of the High Court
of Zimbabwe, former director of Women in Law in Southern Africa and the
current director of the Law Development Commission. The other founder
of the trust was Mrs Virginia Mudimu a partner in a Harare law firm. The
first trustees of ZWLA were the afore-mentioned founders as well as Mrs
Sara Moyo and Mrs Catherine Chitiyo – Msipa, all partners with Harare
law firms. Other key members of ZWLA who helped to establish the association
and trust were Mrs Diana Mandaza, the late Ms Janet Shava, the honourable
justice Rita Makarau of the High Court of Zimbabwe, Dr Amy Tsanga and
Professor Julie Stewart, both of the Women’s Law Centre, Faculty of Law,
University of Zimbabwe.
ZWLA currently has
about fifty members all of whom are women and lawyers. The first patron
of the association was the honourable justice Vernanda Ziyambi, and the
present patron is now the honourable justice Elizabeth Gwaunza. ZWLA commenced
work as an organisation in Lezard Avenue, Milton Park, where it rented
offices from the now defunct Feminist Study Centre. In 1997 a needs assessment
was undertaken and as a result of this ZWLA decided that the needs of
poor women in high density and peri - urban areas were greater than those
in the low densities in Harare, and thus ZWLA shifted its offices to operate
in Highfield, a high density low income suburb in the south of Harare.
The main focus at this time was legal aid to women. This involved not
only giving of legal advice verbally or through correspondence, but also
drafting of court papers and representing clients in court in Harare.
In 1998, the organisation
employed its first full time director and hired an additional legal officer
and secretary. It also commenced the conducting of legal education workshops
with women in high density communities around Harare. By the end of 1998
more lawyers had been hired and this expansion continued in 1999 and 2000
in Harare. In 1999 ZWLA commenced to set up an advocacy department with
funding received for this purpose and initially focused its attention
on the need for Constitutional reform in particular of section 23 which
is very prejudicial to women’s legal status in Zimbabwe. ZWLA later enthused
other women’s organisations on this issue to such an extent that Zimbabwe’s
first Women Coalition was established to lobby for women’s equal participation
in the constitutional reform process and to educate women on the Constitution
of Zimbabwe.
In 2000 ZWLA underwent
further new developments – it set up in February 2000 the Bulawayo office
that during its first two years in existence was extremely under-funded
and under-resourced. The rapid growth of this office surprised not only
women lawyers in Bulawayo but also the Harare office. It was thought that
the process of establishing the office and creating a demand for ZWLA’s
services particularly in the arena of legal aid would take some time –
possibly a year. Yet because of the scarcity of such services in Matabeleland
and Bulawayo, besides the Bulawayo Legal Projects Centre, women responded
very enthusiastically and the office was soon overwhelmed by the demand.
The second development
was the introduction of the mobile legal aid clinics in the surrounding
peri-urban and rural areas around Harare. This was the first such service
offered by any organisation or government department in Zimbabwe to the
poor and marginalised. The clinic sites were initially Murombedzi, Murehwa,
Shamva, Mvurwi, Norton and Chitungwiza. Some of these areas were however
affected greatly by political violence around the parliamentary and presidential
elections in June 2000 and March 20002 respectively. In addition there
was also the violence attached to the land invasions from 2000 to 2002.
Activities were also seriously compromised by the critical shortage of
fuel during parts of the year 2000 and 2001. This mobile clinic was in
late 2001 extended to the rural community of Matshetsheni in Matabeleland
South province.
The third development
was the commencement of empowerment sessions in the offices in the year
2001 to try to empower women with simple magistrates’ court cases in both
Harare and Bulawayo to become self-actors and represent themselves in
court and in addition win their cases. This would reduce the need to try
and provide legal representation in individual cases in the magistrates’
court, and intensify representation in complex legal cases in the High
court and Supreme Court as well as enable the initiation of test cases
and class action suits for the extension of legal rights to whole classes
of women.
Vision
The vision
for ZWLA is - "Justice and equity for all".
Mission
ZWLA’s mission
statement is – "To initiate, facilitate and support the creation
of a constructive, equitable justice system that treats men and women
as equal citizens and actively addresses the rights of children".
Goal
The goal
of ZWLA is – "A Zimbabwean society where women are empowered and
assert their rights within a justice system that treats men and women
equally and that is sensitive to the needs of children."
Purpose
The purpose
of ZWLA is – "To enable women and children to access the law and
assert their rights through the provisions and utilisation of relevant
and available legal resources."
Beneficiaries
- The primary beneficiaries
of ZWLA’s work are both women in general and women lawyers in Zimbabwe.
- The secondary beneficiaries
are the children of Zimbabwe.
- The third beneficiary
is the justice system and all the actors therein.
- The fourth beneficiaries
are the communities who benefit from the services provided by ZWLA.
Stakeholders
The stakeholders with whom ZWLA consults and cooperates with in its
work are as follows:
- Women lawyers both
in the private and public sector as well as those in the judiciary,
academia and non-governmental organisations.
- Women in the communities
where ZWLA works.
- The social services
departments around the country.
- The judiciary particularly
in the magistrates and high courts, as well as the clerks of court,
and public prosecutors.
- The police particularly
in the communities ZWLA conducts its activities.
- The leaders both
local government and traditional of the communities in which ZWLA works.
- The Ministry of
Justice particularly in areas of provision of legal assistance to women
and children and in advocating for law and institutional reform.
- Parliament as it
is the target of our advocacy for law reform but also collaborates with
ZWLA in this work.
- The communities
in which ZWLA undertakes its activities.
- The Women’s Coalition
and women’s NGOs as well as those working in legal rights issues.
Other
Players
Social, Economic and Legal
Environment Prevailing in Zimbabwe and Impact on Lives of Women and Children
Visit the ZWLA fact
sheet
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