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Load shedding will affect women's participation
Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association (BPRA)
May 28, 2010

Women from Makokoba and Mzilikazi (ward 7 and 8, respectively) have indicated that load shedding by ZESA currently poses as the biggest threat to women participation in the constitution making process. At a meeting to discuss women's involvement in the constitution making process organized by Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association in Makokoba Constituency, women indicated that faced with a situation where they have to make a choice between cooking for their families and participating in the constitution making process, women would rather have men representing their interests. The meeting indicated that the load shedding timetable has meant that they would be busy looking for firewood to cook for their families when they should be engaged in nation building.

Wrong process of appointing judges

Residents in Bulawayo have said that the appointment of judges by President Mugabe is fraught with irregularities and makes a mockery of the principle of the separation of powers and the inclusive government. Recently President Mugabe appointed Justice Nicholas Mathonsi, Justice Andrew Mutema and Justice Garaunesu Mawadze to the high court and elevated George Chiweshe, the "electoral fraud" to the office of the Judge President. In other African countries the parliament has a role to play in the appointment of top civil servants and yet in Zimbabwe the old is refusing to die despite the inclusive government.

SADC ministers of water meeting in Bulawayo

Bulawayo residents have welcomed the hosting of this year's Southern African Development Committee (SADC) Sectoral Ministers of Water Committee which seeks to harmonise access to and utilization of the water resources of the Zambezi Basin by riparian states in Bulawayo. The residents take it as a commitment and recognition of the perennial water problems that have engulfed the provinces of Matabeleland since time immemorial. However residents have indicated that there is need for practical action towards the resolution of the water crisis in Matabeleland. Since 1912, the residents of Matabeleland formed the Matabeleland Zambezi Water Trust to come up with ways of ameliorating the crisis but government has not shown any commitment towards funding the programme. The inclusive government has brought hope to the resuscitation of the project.

The Africa Residents want

As the world is slowly transforming into a global village, African citizens still find themselves in a quandary as a result of the deferment of democracy and conflicts such as those experienced in Somali and the DRC. Recent upsurges in Kenya have also laid bare the prospects of peace in Africa. Marking the commemorations of the Africa Day, residents in Bulawayo have lamented the continued imbalances in the administration of justice and that peace has not been allowed to take its place within the African setting. While countries such as Ghana and South Africa have been viewed as icons in the championing of democratic ideals, other countries like Zimbabwe and Kenya have experienced a violent miscarriage of democracy. As most African countries tread on the path to democracy residents said that they urge Zimbabwean leaders to also focus on the same.

BPRA will host a clean-up campaign, in collaboration with other organisations to commemorate World Environment Day. The campaign will run under the theme Many People, One Future, One Bulawayo. Keep Bulawayo Clean! Theclean-up will be on Saturday 5 June 2010 at the Basch Street terminus.

Bulawayo Progressive Residents Association June 2010 Consultative Meetings Programme

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