THE EFFECTIVENESS OF AGRICULTURAL INPUT SCHEME TO COMMUNAL FARMERS IN ZIMBABWE BY OSWALD CHISHANGA (D.PHIL CAND- DEVELOPMENT STUDIES)

Key words: effectiveness, input scheme, communal farmers, agricultural inputs, Zimbabwe, free distribution, dependency syndrome, corruption, market

Definitions

Effectiveness- he degree to which objectives are achieved and the extent to which targeted problems are solved. Effectiveness is determined without reference to costs. It is doing the right thing

Communal Farming- are various types of agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise. This type of collective is often an agricultural cooperative in which member-owners engage jointly in farming activities.

Mechanisation-is the process of changing from working largely or exclusively by hand or with animals to doing that work with machinery.

The Zimbabwean government has over the years strived to expand its agricultural production through agricultural mechanisation and the agricultural input scheme. The government has identified communal farmers as key towards reviving the agriculture sector which is on the road to recovery since the government embarked on the fast track land resettlement programme (FTLRP) in 2000. Therefore, through agriculture mechanisation and input schemes there has been acquisition of farming inputs and use of tractors by arable crop farmers in communal and resettlement state land delineated during the period following the launch of the FTLRP. The agricultural input scheme in particular has been seen by the government of Zimbabwe as the most effective way of empowering communal farmers over the years. The government has since independence put in implemented several input schemes namely the Winter Crop Input Scheme, Agriculture Sector Productivity Enhancement facility (ASPEF), the Crop and Livestock Credit Input scheme. These schemes there were put in place with a noble cause of empowering communal farmers and bridging the gap in agriculture production following the land redistribution programme in the year 2000. However the effectiveness of the input scheme has been over they have been marred by several setbacks that have hindered their full implementation. Some of these challenges include too much government control, corruption, lack of funding, politicisation, lack of skills among communal farmers, persistent droughts and floods and crop diseases among others. These have severely weakened the effectiveness of the agricultural input scheme to communal farmers in Zimbabwe.

Agricultural input schemes have been a common feature that have been used by the Zimbabwean government to assist communal farmers especially in the event of disasters and droughts. During these periods the government would distribute inputs like fertilisers and seeds for free or reduced costs to communal farmers.  In Zimbabwe, the Ministry of Agriculture is largely responsible for the administration of the Government Input Support Schemes since 2000 with its Economics and Marketing Department being responsible for the planning and procurement. The inputs are distributed through relevant parastatals such as the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), Tobacco Industry Marketing Board (TIMB), Agricultural and Rural Development Authority (ARDA), Pig Industry Board (PIB), District Development Fund (DDF), and National Oil Company of Zimbabwe (NOCZIM). Muchara (2009)

These institutions are also involved in the identification of beneficiaries and recovery of the loans. Initially the private sector used to distribute inputs to the farmers on behalf of the government (e.g. Reapers for groundnuts and COTTCO for cotton). The Ministry of Finance and the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe provided funds for the procurement of the inputs. The private sector was encouraged to get involved in the provision of inputs to farmers through contract farming. Over the years the number of institutions involved in the government input schemes was reduced and companies from the private sector ceased to distribute inputs on behalf of the Government.  Muchara (2009)

The practice of input schemes dates back to the colonial era where colonial governments rendered agricultural resource support to farmers though  this was less of direct input support and more of input price subsidies, viable product prices and general institutional support to relevant private and public enterprises. Chatizwa (1997). Intensification of the agricultural input scheme intensified from the year 2000 after the implementation of the FTLRP. From this period Govere etal (2009) highlights that there has been a deliberate government effort to support farmers through direct provision of inputs, necessitated by the need to prop up the new farmers created by the FTLRP. The FTLRP created a massive vacuum in agriculture production following the forced eviction of commercial white farmers. The   programme thus resulted in massive land transfers from the large-scale commercial farmers to the smallholder farmers under Model A1 (small-scale resettlement) and Model A2 (medium to large-scale resettlement) schemes. Govere (2009).

In the immediate aftermath of the FTLRP the Zimbabwean government in its quest to boost agricultural production and restore it to the glory years introduced the Crop and Livestock Credit Input Scheme to assist the new farmers in meeting production levels sufficient to enhance national food security and food self-sufficiency. The input scheme was put in place with the key objective of assisting communal farmers to establish themselves and to recover from the devastating effects of unfavourable economic and natural Environments like droughts and floods. Mushunje (2005). However, the input scheme proved to be not successful as it lacked adequate funding and government support to see it through. The government was already operating on a budget deficit thus the coming in of the input scheme put so much strain on government coffers. As a result very few communal farmers managed to benefit from the input scheme and those who managed to benefit were so few that they had no impact to the overall agriculture production and development. The limited government resources also resulted in failure to meet input demand while the inherent leakages in the distribution system have fuelled the black market thus exacerbating the plight of the smallholder farmers. The delays in input provision affected the production levels of most farmers, even those who are well endowed, because of the apparently widespread dependency syndrome among farmers. GoZ (2006).

In addition, the 2005/2006 summer season saw the launch of Operation Food Security/Maguta/Inala input scheme programme. The programs objective was to ensure food security by mainly focusing on production of maize, wheat and small grains. The input scheme was not that effective since it streamlined the targeting of crops and it resulted in a narrower-range of crop inputs being distributed. Only a few communal farmers managed to benefit from the input scheme since gave top priority to those farmers that were close to water sources or had access to an irrigation scheme. During that year another input scheme known as the Agriculture Sector Productivity Enhancement facility (ASPEF) was introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) following the announcement of the May 2005 Post- Elections and Drought Mitigating Monetary Policy Framework to provide capital finance for agriculture and related activities at concessionary rates. This was in recognition of the critical role played by agriculture in the Zimbabwean economy, with the sector then contributing about a fifth of the country’s Gross Domestic Product.

ASPEF aimed at establishing linkages between agriculture and other key sectors of the economy that are critical in enhancing economic growth and to enhance food security, boost foreign currency generation through exports and foreign currency savings through import substitution on food and related products (RBZ, 2006).however, this input scheme for the communal farmer was not effective as it mostly targeted A2 farmers who had been lefty behind in previous input scheme. However as compared to the previous input schemes this was better funded thus communal farmers missed out on a valuable input scheme. This same scenario resonated in the implementation of the The Winter Crops Inputs Loan Scheme which mainly encompassed wheat production, had limited scope targeting only those farmers with capacity to irrigate although the implementation modalities were the same with the summer programmes.

Moreover, as earlier highlighted agricultural input scheme in Zimbabwe is not only done by the government alone. NGO’s and private companies are actively involved in the input scheme system. Over the years development aid agencies have been playing a significant role in the provision of agricultural inputs and support services in Zimbabwe and other developing countries. On the NGO side the main aim of agricultural input scheme relief and recovery programmes is to ensure food security and self- sufficiency of vulnerable households and to strengthen their capacity to handle future disasters. According to Rohrbach et al. (2004), several reasons have been commonly cited to justify the need for embarking on agricultural input assistance in Zimbabwe. These reasons are key indicators of showing how effectiveness the agricultural input scheme has been to communal farmers in Zimbabwe. Some of these reasons include poor rainfall leading to widespread shortfalls in food production relative to household and community needs, Shortages of basic foodstuffs on the retail market, increasing the probability that farmers will consume some of their seed supplies, The sharp decline in economic growth, reducing remittance income and off-farm employment, Shortages and consequent high prices of agricultural inputs on the retail market, The high incidence of HIV/AIDS resulting in labour shortages, capital losses and a larger proportion of child headed households.

Against this background it can therefore be said that the agricultural input scheme in Zimbabwe has been effective in addressing short term goals. For example a number of donor agencies have assisted farmers to recover from seasons of natural disasters and many communal farmers have benefited from new technologies. However, generally the input scheme has created donor dependency whether it is conducted by the government or NGO’s. Donor dependency has created more problems as people have become over reliant on the government for support every farming season. The government itself has done little to capacitate or empower communal farmers to be self-sufficient. Resultantly the agricultural input scheme has not been effective since year in year out there is continuous repetition of the same thing without any progress. Therefore in light of this input distribution is gradually being replaced by more market-friendly relief distribution approaches such as input credit schemes, vouchers redeemable at rural retail shops or voucher-based seed fairs.

Furthermore, it can be said that the input scheme in Zimbabwe has not been effective for communal farmers because The implementation of the government input support programmes has been occurring in an environment characterized by declining macro-economic fundamentals and has thus faced many challenges. Some the challenges that have emanated include hyperinflation and shortages of foreign currency resulted in acute input shortages. For instance, the fertilizer industry operated at between 30 and 60% of capacity during most of 2006. These shortages of essential inputs like fertilizer, chemicals and fuel have impacted negatively on agricultural production during the post-2000 period, thus, slowing down the recovery of the agricultural sector. Rusike (2006)

In the same vein of argument in factoring the costs of production, input suppliers were compelled to use the overvalued official exchange rate for the determination of the input prices yet some of the foreign currency would have been obtained at parallel market rates. The controlled prices in an environment characterized by hyperinflation and foreign currency shortages resulted in severe input shortages which expectedly gave birth to a thriving parallel market for most of the agricultural inputs thus defeating the purpose of assisting the vulnerable new farmers who were sometimes crowded-out by powerful individuals who took advantage of the inherent loopholes in the distribution system. This happened in this way because the government input programme took advantage of the geographical spread of GMB depots to distribute inputs (Govere et al. 475) whose prices were pegged at the same price throughout the country. Consequently, this reduced the marketing margins that could have obtained by private firms had the traditional marketing systems been allowed to prevail.

The unavailability of heifers on the market and shortage of foreign currency to import breeding stock severely constrained the livestock component of the input programme. Furthermore, government price controls affected the supply of most of the critical agricultural inputs such as fertilizers, seeds and fuel. These controls reduced the profitability of private sector involvement in the supply of inputs especially at a time when they had to source most of their foreign currency requirements at parallel market rates. Inadequate fuel supplies hampered the distribution of inputs to farmers and there were major delays that seriously affected crop production input schemes was never planted due to the low levels of mechanization in the smallholder sector. For instance, the 2002/2003 season saw the sale of 45,000 tonnes of maize but some of it was not planted (Matondi and Munyuki-Hungwe, 2006).

The issue of lack of land tenure security has hampered the access of commercial loans by new communal farmers. The Ministry of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement has started the process of issuing 99-year leases for the A2 farmers who were allocated land. However, there are still major concerns on whether the 99-year leases offer sufficient tenure security to be used as collateral against commercial loans. There were some dishonest farmers and non-farmers who exaggerated their financial requirements and successfully acquired government assistance but later diverted the money to other investments such as the money market (RBZ, 2006). Some non-deserving farmers with own resources also applied for inputs and funds, thus crowding-out other farmers who genuinely needed assistance.

In light of the central role that was played by the government in funding input supply, it should be noted that the combination of controlled input prices and credit funds availed at concessionary rates resulted in farmers enjoying an implicit subsidy at a huge cost to the economy, especially considering the macroeconomic destabilization effect of the budget deficit. Furthermore, some of the inputs were not used at all (Matondi and Munyuki-Hungwe, 2006) or unproductively used while some funds were diverted to non-agricultural uses (RBZ, 2006). Widespread evidence in the press over the years indicates massive leakages from the government input support programmes. Some of the inputs were disposed off on the parallel market where they fetched higher prices while other inputs were directed to non-agricultural activities, particularly fuel which would have been distributed to farmers at highly subsidized prices by NOCZIM thus severely compromising the effectiveness of the input scheme to communal farmers.

Moreover, the severely limited transport and administrative capacity of the GMB has resulted in serious delays in the distribution of inputs to farmers despite the existence of a wide network of GMB depots throughout the country. Most commercial transporters are reluctant to service remote rural areas because there are insufficient incentives to ply the off-tarred routes. The administration of the Government Input Scheme has been so capacity demanding that GMB has been stretched to the extent of diverting from its core business of crop marketing and relief food distribution. Some farmers have voiced their concerns about their perceived “dumping” of inputs by GMB, which is usually unaccompanied by important information such as the prices of the inputs and crop management instructions. (Matondi and Munyuki-Hungwe, 2006)

One of the major policy shortfalls of the Government Input Scheme has been the failure by the relevant government ministries to clearly distinguish between commercial agricultural input credit schemes and the free relief handouts. This has confounded the targeting of beneficiaries under each of the input schemes with some well-endowed farmers also receiving inputs under the free scheme. This poor targeting has created two major problems.  Firstly, most recipients under the government input schemes do not feel obliged to repay the input or cash loans. They assume that government support is always a benevolent act meant to bring its citizens out of poverty. This has worsened the burden on the fescues. Secondly, it has also created a deep-rooted dependency syndrome among Zimbabwean farmers. The concomitant problem is that when government distribution is late in the season, even the well-off farmers are also affected because they have become so used to receiving and not buying agricultural inputs.

In conclusion it can be said that the Government Input Support Programme was essentially a response to the needs of the new farmers under the FTLRP including the communal and old re-settlement farmers. While the objective of the programme has primarily focused on ensuring household food security, the 2006/2007 season has witnessed a renewed focus on building national strategic grain reserves. The government input support schemes have immensely benefited the smallholder farmers who would otherwise have languished in a vicious trap of low improved input utilization and poor agricultural productivity. These input programmes have ensured agricultural recovery of farmers operating under periods of harsh economic and natural environments. However, a number of things went wrong. The massive government involvement as an input price controller, purchaser of inputs and input distributor created a conflict of interests due to the direct competition with the private sector in the provision of inputs.

In addition, the government failed to separate the commercial agricultural input credit schemes from the agricultural free handout scheme which led to significant leakages at a huge cost to the economy. The private sector is also to blame for the failed input distribution policies during the FTLRP period. The private sector failed to respond adequately to the input demands of the new farmers, not only because of the unfavourable economic climate, government controls and the high costs and risks of serving the new smallholder farmers, but also due to lack of innovation to meet the new challenges. Finally, if the government has to supply agricultural inputs to farmers, the use of alternative input distribution approaches such as vouchers and seed fairs which involve the private sector, offers an opportunity to effectively and efficiently distribute inputs to farmers without necessarily undermining or disrupting private inputs markets

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"Democracy in intensive care" by Mabanda Mayibongwe

Democracy in the African Continents can be said to be in the intensive care.  Various reasons such as that there is abuse of power, rule by law instead of rule of law, amendment of constitutions to suit personal interests, existence of constitutions but without constitutionalism, no freedom of expression and one party states point to this view point. This paper will demonstrate how democracy is in the intensive care unit by looking at the systems and methods of governance of African states. However, it will be naive to generalise that democracy is in the intensive care unit in Africa as a whole because in other countries within Africa, democracy is thriving. Therefore this essay seeks to show how some parts of Africa are in the intensive care unit. This paper will give a working definition of democracy and scrutinise the tenets of democracy and use these parameters as a yardstick to measure the extent African states comply with it.

Democracy has been defined by different scholars throughout history and among the many definitions some of them are these, Dahl, (2000) has outlined several procedural minimal conditions that enable modern representative democratic government. These are the following “elected officials, free, fair, and frequent elections, freedom of expression, alternative sources of information, associational autonomy and inclusive citizenship” (Dahl, 2000:85, Schmitter and Karl, 1996:55). Sorensen (1993) defined democracy as rule by the people through periodic elections of their highest leaders in which nearly all adults can participate for which offices they are eligible and under the rule of law. He also posits that for democracy to exist newspapers and other communication media are free to criticise government policies and leaders and also open competition is allowed for political office. ‘The government of the people, by the people and for the people by Lincoln (nd.) thus democracy in simpler terms is inclusivity, participation, respect of human rights and putting people’s interest first. The working definition for this essay will be democracy is a form of government in which all people have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal (and more or less direct) participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law (William, 2011).

Lack of constitutionalism in Africa is another reason why democracy has been said to be in the intensive care unit. One of the mistakes generally made by some politicians, and even by some intellectuals, has been to indulge in the confusion between constitutionalism and written constitutions. Many African leaders were eager to adopt new “constitutions”, to amend, abrogate or replace the old ones with the new ones in order to consolidate their personal powers, with countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) beating the world-record of one “constitution per year” in its 46 years of independence, the actual situation has been painted by Okoth-Ogendo (1996) as one of “constitutions without constitutionalism”. Instead of limiting the powers of the government, establishing the rule of law, protecting human and people’s rights and fostering democracy, most constitutions were enacted to rather remove any checks on governmental power, to limit the power of the sovereign people, to subject them to the will of the president and adopted in such a way. Thus democracy is said to be in the intensive care unit.

The way elections are carried out in other African countries has contributed to democracy being in the intensive care unit. To borrow from Okoth-Ogendo’s (1996) metaphor of “constitutions without constitutionalism”, there have been elections without democracy in many African countries and confusing the two is rather a fallacy, the electoralist one. The anti-thesis of the electoralist fallacy is what Seligson and Booth (1995) have termed the “anti-electoralist fallacy”. The latter assumes that elections never matter for democratisation. There is no democracy in our modern times without elections. Nevertheless, for elections to be democratic, some criteria should be met before, during and after the proclamation of the results. Democracy is a competitive system with free, fair and regular elections and universal suffrage where citizens are guaranteed their main freedom rights (Bobbio, 2008). Thus democracy is in the intensive care unit. In democratic elections, there must be no way of knowing for which political party or for which particular candidate a citizen has voted. They are then secrete, when each citizen can put his ballot in an envelope, without having been either watched over or influenced, in the secrecy of the polling booth. An example of a country without elections which is against the tenets of democracy is Somalia. Elections in Somalia were last held during the tenure of Somalia's socialist administration in the 1980s. Popular elections were planned for the parliament in 2012, but were not held. The provisional constitution of the country however does provides for an electoral system, (CIA Factbook, 2009). The Kingdom of Egypt was granted nominal independence by the United Kingdom on 28 February 1922. Between the Declaration of 1922 and the Revolution of 1952, ten general elections were held in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1929, 1931, 1936, 1938, 1942, 1945 and 1950, (Caldwell, 1966).

The availability of one party states has contributed to Africa’s democracy being in the intensive care unit. Heywood (2002: 259–60) has made the point that ‘one-party system’ is a contradiction in terms, since ‘system’ implies interaction among a number of entities.Some countries became de jure single-party states,that is, they changed their constitutions so that only one political party was allowed in the country. Such parties are subject to strict ideological discipline, in accordance with the tenets of Marxism-Leninism, and they have highly structured internal organizations in line with the principles of democratic centralism’ (Heywood 2002: 258–66). These are cadre parties in the sense that membership is restricted on political and ideological grounds. Examples of de jure one-party states were Ethiopia with the Ethiopian Workers Party (WPE) and Somalia between 1976 to 1991 with Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party (SRSP). Since there is only one party in this system, there is no freedom of expression and democracy is eroded and dictatorship emerges. There is no regard for the views of different classes and interests. Government becomes absolute and the administration becomes irresponsible. The dictators make enormous military preparations for maintaining their honour and position and they adopt the policy of war and victory which is quite harmful for the country.Thus putting democracy in the intensive care unit.

African leaders amend constitutions to suit personal interests thus putting democracy in the intensive care unit. Those in power tend to amend constitutions so they suit their personal interests. In Burundi, President Pierre Nkurunziza announced in April 2015 that he would seek a third term in office, they amended the constitution to allow for a third term and he won the next election which results were announced on the 24 of July 2015 and he went back for a third term, (Reuters, 2015). Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, according to their constitution could only serve two seven year terms but he went to referendum to change the constitution, he will run for president in the 2017 elections. Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni had presidential term limits removed in 2005, Reuters, (2005) so he could run for office in 2006. Thus clearly pointing out that democracy is in the intensive care unit.

Africa’s democracy has been said to be in the intensive care unit because ordinary citizens have been denied freedom of expression. Resorting to military force to maintain power by suppressing political opponents and disgruntled civilians impinges on the effective upholding of human rights. Bingu WaMutharika (1995) argues that even in a democracy, “…the masses can still be oppressed by the system or excluded from the decision-making processes by the same system that they will have installed and that human rights abuses can still take place even under plural democracy. Political harassment can be initiated by an elected government so as to protect its interests though at the expense of the masses. According to Makuni (2008) a political leader in power might see the violation of human rights as a necessary evil which enables that leader to stay in power. For example Ken Saro-Wiwa, an activist from Nigeria was executed by a former military regime in Nigeria for fighting for the rights of the Ogoni, (Adiama, nd.). Thus one can argue that greed and hunger for power by African leaders which leads them to violating human rights is a factor impinging the effective upholding of human rights and democracy in Africa. Thus democracy is in the intensive care unit.

The era of the colonial rule contributed to Africa’s democracy being in the intensive care unit. The lingering effects of colonialism undermined efforts to build stable, democratic economies and states and this could be seen throughout Africa during the colonial period and post-colonial years, (Kodyo, 1976). When the Europeans established colonial boundaries, they ignored existing ethnic or cultural divisions. New borders divided peoples of the same background or threw different—often rival—groups together. Because of this, a sense of national identity was difficult to develop. After independence, the old colonial boundaries became the borders of the newly independent states. As a result, ethnic and cultural conflicts remained and African nations with unbalanced economies and a small middle class. Such economic problems lessened chances of creating democratic stability. During that time there was no majority rule which is against democracy tenets. They only served the minority, thus putting democracy on life support machines.

The liberal notion of democracy has put democracy in Africa, in the intensive care unit. This liberal notion of democracy has been criticised in certain circles as being too elitist, stressing that aspects of participation are neglected (Pateman 1970; Chambers 1996). These other debates about more substantive democracy therefore put much more emphasis on inclusionary, deliberative, and participatory processes. As John Gaventa (2006) has put it, the ‘deepening democracy’ strand of the democracy debate ‘focuses on the political project of developing and sustaining more substantive and empowered citizen  participation in the political process than what is normally found in liberal representative  democracy alone. Though far from perfect, the constitutions of both post-authoritarian Brazil and post-apartheid South Africa offer examples of deliberate attempts at more substantive and participatory democratic governance (including provisions for participatory budgeting, for instance).

However, it will be naïve to rule out African democracy as that it is in the intensive care unit entirely because in some parts of the African continent it has had its successes. When evaluated by democracy’s minimum definition and procedural conditions (as outlined by Bobbio, 2008; Dahl, 2000,Schmitter and Karl, 1996) - as a system with free, fair and frequent elections, universal suffrage and that guarantees certain freedoms and rights to its citizens –Botswana and South Africa democracy is striving. Given South Africa’s particular context as a country with many languages, cultures, religions and social structures with tensions between them, an evaluation of democracy as an instrument for conflict prevention and resolution is a must. In this respect, democracy, as a system of rights that protects, incorporates and respects minorities, allows expression and is responsive to citizen’s demands, is effectively instrumental, and thus successful, for the peaceful resolution of conflicts. Zuma was recently brought before the High Court, News24, (2016) (rule of law) in that country for the Nkandla Security Structures case where he used state funds and he had to answer for that. There has not been any mention of violence or harassment during elections and people can demonstrate whichever way they please and opposition parties can directly attack the President in Parliament. Thus democracy is not only in the intensive care unit but is striving in other countries.

In a nutshell, it is valid to conclude basing on the evidence above that democracy in the African continent is in the intensive care unit to a greater extent. Some scholars however, argue that although it is in the intensive care unit democracy is striving in other countries in the same continent. With this it is crucial to note that democracy is not an event, it is a process.

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http://www.news24.com/Tags/People/jacob_zuma

Gender and the Legislation in Zimbabwe (By Trevor Banda)

The 21^st century global world is suffering from a syndrome which is rapidly spreading among different states of different ideologies, that of playing lip service to democracy. Evidence from around the world by any standards is showing an ever growing gap between legislation and practice. Women who constitute a majority are theoretically empowered on paper yet practically very little progress has been recorded. Male domination can be overwhelmingly viewed in the economic, social, and political spheres. It is important to note that lack of adequate women involvement and representation especially in the decision making and policy formulation is chief among the reasons which explain such a sad development. This however does not imply that there are no cases in which women have been elevated both theoretically and practically. Such cases are there though to an insignificant extent. Examples to substantiate the arguments will be drawn from around the world.

Despite ratifying various International and Regional legislation which foster equality between women and men in all aspects of life be they economic, social and political, women in Zimbabwe are still being undermined. An analysis on the ground is very disheartening. Women despite their majority are finding themselves being discriminated. According to the Zimbabwe National Gender Policy (2013-2017) since 2004 strides have been made to provide legislative planning and implementation frameworks for gender equality programming which resulted in gender mainstreaming in most programs. The legislation came in the form of the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination on Against Women (CEDAW) and the SADC Protocol among others. However, though these achievements have been made, Zimbabwe still has a very long way to go in as far as achieving gender equality is concerned.

To clearly illustrate how women are being dominated by men is to analyse the composition of those in the political arena in Zimbabwe. Women are still being found underrepresented in the country. According to Sachikonye et Al (2006) women in Zimbabwean Local Authorities constituted less than 33% of those occupying administrative and decision making positions despite them constituting about 52% of the population. The statistics are reflective not only of the sub national level of governance but even National level politics. This was despite Zimbabwe having been a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. The year 2004 even saw Zimbabwe ratifying the SADC Protocol which required 30% of the political offices to be occupied by women. Surely one thing is certain from the evidence, that various pieces of legislation have been put in place to ensure that the equality of women to men is realized.

However, as has been already alluded to, a thorough examination on what is and what ought to be shows Zimbabwe still lagging behind in as far as practically elevating women’s role in decision making is concerned. Women advanced participation in governance structures should be viewed as the key to redressing the gender inequalities in societies. If this is the case then what it means therefore is that women still remain dominated in almost all aspects of their lives due to the lack of them occupying political top positions in the Southern African country.

Sachikonye et al (2006) argued that if Zimbabwe is to embrace a democratic path, then gender issues have to be mainstreamed in the Local Government process. To them the process should begin at such a sub national level since Local Authorities are the ‘closest and accessible government to the people’ and therefore resolutions passed at this level directly have an impact on the private lives of the women. So in order to fully democratize the political space, interests of women desire equal representation in Zimbabwean Local Authorities. The Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe (2006) provided the following statistics. By 2006 there were 48 female urban councilors consisting 13.5% of the total number of urban councilors throughout Zimbabwe.  

Quite a number of reasons can be forwarded to account for the small number of women active in politics, in particular reference to the Local Authorities. Chief among the reasons is the fact that some of the party policies are silent on gender mainstreaming. As such women were and are still being found at the bottom of party ranks. Another fact is that of cultural factors chief among them being entrenched patriarchy. This can be viewed in the simple fact that men dominated the most powerful decision making positions in the main political  parties particularly ZANU-PF and the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) among others. Another factor responsible was that of the low education levels which constantly haunted women and in a way caused them to feel inferior to men. Economic dependence of women on men, confinement of women to the domestic arena as mothers and wives, lack of societal role models and limited access to support networks are some of the reasons which explain the inequality which exists between men and women in political spheres in Zimbabwe. It would be unjustified to discuss the lack of adequate political representation without taking things to the latest political developments. The recent cabinet ministers appointed by President Mugabe surely leaves everything plain to see that Zimbabwe still has a very long way to go to ensure a 50- 50 representation of men and women in politics. From the evidence what can be deduced is the fact that legislation is there and by and large the legislation seeks to elevate women to the same status with that of men. However, what is important to note is the fact that implementing it on the ground is the problem. If Zimbabwe like many other global states which are going to be studied later, seek to fully embrace a democratic path, it begins with the enforcing the legislation which seeks to emancipate women from the shackles of discrimination which they have been tied with by their male counterparts since time immemorial.

To further understand the inequalities between men and women, it is imperative to note that they can be really understood in relation to the ‘polarizing tendencies of the capitalist mode of production’ Leacock (1977). Due to the exploitative nature of relationship between the core and the periphery, gender disparities develop. Women find themselves having to suffer the consequences of this relationship of a horse and a rider. Due to their labeling as second class citizens they usually get meager salaries for doing the same job with men get higher remuneration. Worse still women also have to fulfill their domestic duties, which shows how women are usually in this relationship.    

It would be gross misrepresentation of facts to discuss the discrimination of women in society and end the discussion without thoroughly examining the situation prevalent in the ‘liberal democracies of the 21^st century. It is sad to note that even these so called gods of development are suffering from the same syndrome which has gripped most parts of the world if not all, that of discriminating against women. Phillips (1998) and Rai (2000) argued that the nature of modern day democracy is placed on a public-private dichotomy. The private set up is considered apolitical and hence women are placed under such a group. This means that theoretically and practically their concerns are sidelined. Politically they are left out due to their suitability in caring roles as mothers and wives. Reasons which explain why women are finding it extremely difficult to assume positions of command in the politics of the Northern and Southern countries is due to persistent patriarchy in which women  continue to be grouped as private. The nature of the politics also is worth it to be mentioned. Women continue to be accommodated in a patriarchal structure and hence at the end of the day, it defeats the purpose of them being ‘elevated’.

Just to prove that men are very unfaithful partners in collective action in achieving gender equality politically is the issue which was raised by Bari (2005). Council meetings are held at very odd hours, thereby conflicting with women’s domestic responsibilities (that is in both the productive and reproductive spheres). This proves how much the National Gender Policies in most countries of the world are just paper tigers and yet practically women are being left helpless at the mercy of men who in most cases are showing utter disrespect for the pieces of legislation.

Moving away from participation in the political aspects of women’s lives, it is important to look at the education sector in general and the Higher and Tertiary education in particular. This is another area which determines whether a democratic society is being fully realized. A study which was carried out at a United Kingdom university. It was deduced that though policies to ensure equal opportunities for both women and men and gender monitoring mechanisms are in place, a very insignificant number of women progressed to assuming the role of Senior academic. This was due to women being handicapped by ‘well ingrained structural and cultural barriers’. Foster (2001) then quoted other respondents saying that they opted to resign or to put their careers on hold.

The same study was carried out in Australia and South Africa by Butler (2005). Women felt that their ideas were being neglected or ignored. After ascending to senior levels in any organization, women encounter the ‘power of the male hegemony that is prepared to accommodate but not to have their dominance challenged’ White (2000). Certainly, the evidence proves beyond any reasonable doubt that even those nations of the First world like Australia who boast about their ‘democracy’ are being found wanting when it comes to practicing what they claim to stand for. This justifies the argument that there is still a wide gap between what the Gender Policies agitate for and what really transpires on the ground.   

Moreover, despite years of anti-discrimination legislation against women in Nigeria, the state itself failed to practice what it preaches with regards to the rise in the academic hierarchy for women. The national Gender policy sought ‘to achieve minimum threshold of representation for women in order to promote equal opportunity in all areas ‘. As has been the case mostly it is not the policy with problem but the situation on the ground.  A survey by UNESCO of women occupying positions of higher education management, the ratio was that of 20:1.

To add further weight to the above line of argument is the Lithuanian example where the law recognizes the equality of both men and women. As is generally the case men were found to be earning a fifth more than women for the same job. Women’s participation in the labour market, according to Husu et al (2010) amounts to 60% and their rate of unemployment is lower than that of men. As such women’s chances of being the Poverty Datum Line is 21% for women and 16.7% for women. A logical explanation to explain this sad development is the failure of women to influence political decisions practically.

Among the several types of discrimination faced by women in the workplace is that associated with pregnancy, motherhood and potential motherhood. During the pregnancy period, women face quite a significant amount of discrimination. It comes in different shapes and sizes. Usually it come in a very tangible and direct way as noted by Makela(2010) Other forms of discrimination come in the form of cruel comments and negative reaction after announcement of the pregnancy. Usually this discrimination would be coming directly from their supervisors Gregory (2001) In Lithuania laws protect women who take maternity leave. A position has to be secured for her until she comes to work. However, it is well known across the general public that when a woman returns to work after maternity leave, she will be happy with getting a job since her original higher position would have been taken up usually by her male counterpart.

Another striking example of gender discrimination in Bolivia is shown in the illiteracy of more than two thirds of adults being women. According to the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the right to education was classified as an economic right. It is also a social and political since it is central to the realization of both. The problem lies with policy and practice which need to be re oriented to ensure the deconstruction of gender stereotypes.  Global Campaign for Education( February 2012)

However, though there are cases where legislation is there to ensure equality between men and women and women are still found being discriminated against, one ought to note that to a lesser extent women have achieved equality with men under such conditions. An example to clarify this point of view is that of female academics who were interviewed at the Ankara University in Turkey. They responded that there was no form of discrimination in both academic promotion and management in the university. 63.7 % argued that being a woman was far from being an advantage. This suggested equality between men and women thereby justifying the view that to a lesser extent legislation has really helped elevate women to equal status with men. Husu et al (2010)

Moreover, if one is to analyse the SADC Protocol which stipulates that women should get at least 30% of political offices, then it will be realized that the problem in most cases might be too far-fetched if one would blame different signatories for failing to fully practice it in an attempt to democratize the political space in their respective countries. The protocol itself can be argued to be undemocratic since women constitute a larger fraction as compared to men. In order for equality to be achieved then it has to be a 50- 50 situation. With this in mind therefore it would be logical to deduce that to a less extent the problem of gender inequality is not a product of lack of proper enforcement mechanisms but rather that of misguided policies which by their very nature are not geared towards achieving gender equality  National Gender Policy Zimababwe (2013- 2017).

In conclusion, it is accurate to a significant extent to argue that the 21^st century is indeed ironic, since it has policies to achieve democracy through ensuring the equality of men and women yet practically women are still under the dominion of their male counterparts. Evidence from across the globe has been overwhelmingly given to reinforce the argument. The gap between policy and implementation is ever growing. By any standards this is undemocratic since women constitute a large number more than men. Gender disparities can be witnessed in the economic social and political arena. Women lack the adequate political representation as they are usually confined to the domestic sphere. This cripples their economic and social lives as the nexus between the two has been discussed before. It is important to note however that there are cases in which women have been elevated to equal status with men as enunciated in the respective Gender Policies. Another problem was also noted that it really does not emanate from the lack of enforcing legislation but rather is with the Gender Policies themselves which are misguided as they are not democratic.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ann, P (1998) Feminisms and politics, Oxford University Press, Britain

Bari, F (2005) ‘Women’s political participation’ issues and challenges (draft), United Nations, Thailand

Butler, C (2005) Women academics’ views of their professional advancement at a higher education institution, Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Education, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

Foster, N (2001) A case study of women academics’ views in equal opportunities, career prospects and work- family conflicts in a UK University, Development International

Gregory, R.F (2001) Women and work place discrimination: overcoming barriers to gender equality, Rutgers University Press

Leacock, E (1977) ‘Reflection on Conference of women and development’ in Women and National development: The complexity of change, Wesley editorial committee, Chicago University Press, Chicago

Makela, L, ‘Stories of pregnancy related discrimination and returning to work after maternity leave’ in Husu, L, Hearn, J, Maija, A and Vanhala, S (Eds) (2010) ‘Leadership through gender lens, women and men in organisations’ , Heles school of economics, Helenski

National Gender policy (2013-2017), The Republic of Zimbabwe, Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development

Rai, M (2000) International Perspective on Gender and governance, MacMillan Press Great Britain

Sachikonye L et al, (2007) Consolidating democratic governance in Southern Africa: Zimbabwe, EISA, South Africa

Urban Councils Association of Zimbabwe, (2006) Report on the best practices in participatory budget process for five cities study, Harare

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