News from Civil Society

News from Civil Society

Vendors Initiative for Social and Economic Transformation, in collaboration with the Combined Harare Residents Association and the Zimbabwe Chamber of Informal Economy Association, held its fourth community engagement meeting with the Vendors and the Residents in Harare CBD yesterday to map strategies to arrest the outbreak and spread of typhoid. Over 150 vendors and residents attended. There was consensus amongst the participants that there is no discernible nexus between the vending activities and the outbreak of typhoid. Participants took turns to lament the use of vendors by government as scapegoats for its failure to provide water, sanitation and hygiene services which has resulted in the outbreak of typhoid. The vendors bemoaned that the government and the Local Authorities have relegated the vendors to the periphery of public priorities and have become monsters who habitually trample on their livelihoods, flagrantly violating their constitutional right to decent work, dignity, food and life. / The Chitungwiza Residents Trust (Chitrest) expresses its utmost disgust over the manner in which the Health Services Board (HSB) and the Government of Zimbabwe are handling the ongoing strike by public health practitioners. Doctors and nurses at public health institutions are demanding a reconsideration of their working conditions. The strike by doctors from public hospitals citing poor working conditions and the government’s reluctance to fulfill its obligation on paying them their 13th cheque for 2016 started in Harare last month. The doctors and nurses from Chitungwiza’s public hospitals have since joined the striking doctors over related concerns. / The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition (CiZC) notes, with regret, escalating cases of violent attacks targeted at foreign nationals living in South Africa. We are particularly worried with the situation unfolding in the Pretoria and Johannesburg, where a number of foreign nationals, including Zimbabweans, have suffered physical and psychological harm. We are of the view that instability in many African countries, a direct consequence of weak democratic culture, is at the heart of the forced migration many Africans have to take in order to escape persecution, poverty and lack of opportunity. Hence, we continue to plead with African governments to be more democratic and responsive so that citizens can meaningfully contribute to their own development, in their own countries. Aspirations of regional and continental integration can only be met if we are all moving together in one direction. We urge South African authorities to shun issuing xenophobic sentiments. We urge them to urgently deploy adequate resources and put in place measures aimed at protecting human life, regardless of nationality. The Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition will continue to work with various stakeholders, including the South African government and civil society establishments in finding a lasting solution to threats of xenophobia. / As part of its efforts towards strengthening the capacity of communities to monitor, report and take action against corruption, maladministration and bad governance, theAnti-Corruption Trust of Southern Africa has set up additional Anti-Corruption Monitoring Voluntary Action in Bulawayo, Beitbridge, Victoria Falls, Mutare, Harare and Chinhoyi. / Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights reports that High Court Judge Justice Esther Muremba on Wednesday 22 February 2017 issued an ultimatum ordering a Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) officer to return a driver’s licence which he had confiscated from a motorist two years ago as inducement to coerce him to pay a spot fine. Andrew Makunura, a Harare motorist, who is employed as a registered general nurse by the National Blood Transfusion Services, had his driver’s licence confiscated by Constable Agrippa Chinyama, a ZRP officer, at a roadblock mounted by the police along High Glen road in Harare on 12 February 2015 as he was driving his children to school and taking his wife, Tafadzwa Kajasi to work. 

 

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Written by Umthunzi Mumvuri Trust

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