By John Manzongo
The Government of Zimbabwe has launched HIV and AIDS policies for two areas of the Zimbabwean economy, the Energy and Textile sectors.
Addressing delegates who attended the launch in Harare, Zimbabwean Labour and Social Services Minister Paurina Mpariwa said her government had made strides in developing and adopting legislation to deal with HIV and AIDS.
“It is now mandatory for labour inspectors to check compliance with HIV and AIDS standards when inspecting workplaces. I believe these policies will foster behavioural change, motivate openness and build networks and collaborations against HIV and AIDS at workplaces.”
She described the impact of the pandemic at the workplace as complex and far reaching.
“Employees often travel long distances and spend long periods away from their families. The Energy sector workers are highly mobile and are quite vulnerable to infection,” she said.
Minister Mpariwa said the occupational diseases like tuberculosis from exposure to spinning mills and dye chemicals in the textile industry compounded the effects of HIV and AIDS.
She encouraged other sectors to follow the good example set by the two sectors in pioneering HIV and AIDS workplace policies.
International Labour Organisation Southern Africa sub regional director Mr Alphonse Tabi-Abodo said joint initiatives by workers and employers strengthened Zimbabwe’s interventions.
“The activities implemented under this partnership continue to contribute towards the reduction of high risk sexual behaviours, facilitate universal access to drugs and reduce the impact at the individual, family and enterprise levels,” he said.
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe representatives also attended the launch.
Hondo said: “Parents can give me a packet of sugar, a green soap bar, and two litres of cooking oil. But I need to secure the future of my children. What of health facilities? Will I carry that cooking oil to the hospital if I fall sick?”
He is not alone.
For more than a decade civil servants in Zimbabwe, including teachers and nurses, have occupied one of the lowest paid professions in the country, and government has not provided any better salary. They are told to be patient.
The poverty datum line stands at $500 but the minimum salary is $170.
Very few could stomach the ordeal of being abducted by security agents and accused of malicious crimes just because of the work they do in exposing rampant human rights abuses. But Jestina Mukoko, a single mother and former journalist, has.
As director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project NGO, Jestina has braved all kind of threats in the fight against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe.
Jestina’s life was put directly under threat after having produced a report that exposed the perpetrators of violence that took place during the run up to the June 2008 runoff presidential elections. She was abducted from her home and charged with terrorism and training youths in Botswana with the intention to overthrow President Mugabe and his government. While in detention she was tortured and denied access to her relatives, lawyers and medication.
Read more about this brave and dedicated woman who has inspired many people in Zimbabwe.
]]>Issues of major concern raised during World Aids Day in Zimbabwe were the worsening plight of children and women living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.
According to the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey women constitute 54% of people living with HIV/AIDS in the country and HIV prevalence is higher among females aged 15-49 years (21,1%) than males (14,5%).
A study by the University of Zimbabwe recently put HIV as the number one cause of maternal deaths.
100 children dying every day
A joint study by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Central Statistical Office (CSO) in a preliminary report titled "Multiple Indicator Monitoring Survey (MIMS) 2009" revealed that in the past five years 100 children less than five years of age are dying every day. This is a 20% increase from 1990, and HIV/AIDS tops the list as cause of death. Two thirds of children who are infected and urgently require ARVs are failing to access treatment.
There is negligible coverage of HIV treatment for children in the critical first two years of life. Over 75% of a million orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) in the country are not receiving any form of formal external support from government, private, religious, charity and community-based organisations.
Why are women more infected?
Gladys Chiwome-Mudondo, advocacy manager for the Woman and AIDS Support Network, said there were biological and social reasons for the higher prevalence of HIV/AIDS among women. Chiwone-Mudondo said: “The first reason could be the biological make up of a woman in relation to the way organs are positioned in a woman’s body. If a woman has unprotected sex with a man she is more likely to be in more contact with the fluids than the man.”
“There are reasons to do with sex and sexuality. Very few women can make their own decisions - for example, deciding to use a condom during intercourse. There are also very few prevention devices for women. The female condom has proved unpopular due to poor marketing. Other issues have to do with poverty, which makes women more vulnerable.”
Positive results
However, Zimbabwe is seeing a decline in the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate over the past five years. According to the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, HIV prevalence among adults (15-49 years) declined from 24.6% in 2003 to 20.1% in 2005, 18.6% in 2005/6, 15, 6% in 2007 and 13.7% in 2009 - the first such decline in Southern Africa.
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The following provinces have reported cases: Manicaland, Harare, Mashonaland East and Midlands. The affected eight districts are: Harare Urban, Chivhu, Marondera, Goromonzi Seke, Mutasa, Nyanga and Chirumhanzu. The government has promised the situation is under control and that Zimbabweans should not panic.
As H1N1, also known as Swine Flu, is detected in Zimbabwe, it is important for people to be aware of the disease and how to avoid catching it. The workplace is often an area where many different people come together - both colleagues and clients - and it can be an environment where the flu is passed on, if one is not careful.
In a damning report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, Mildred Chiri, for the first quarter of the 2009 financial year, irregularities and inadequacies in the payroll administration in several ministries were revealed.
The Ministry of Youth Development was singled out as the worst case of abusing government recruitment procedures when it employed 10 277 youths between May and June 2008 without the existence of posts within the ministry’s establishment.
The youths were deployed throughout the country as ward officers in what Chiri said was a violation of a treasury instruction that stated “no officer shall be appointed unless an appropriate vacancy exists and no unestablished officer shall be appointed for specific work unless adequate provision has been made for the purpose”.
“In terms of the authorised establishment supporting the 2008 Budget estimates, the ministry had an establishment of 144 youth officers,” reads the report. “This was based on the criteria that there would be two youth officers in each of the country’s 72 districts.”
In a clear violation of Treasury Instruction 1101, in May and June 2008 a further 10 277 names were added to the ministry’s payroll. Although no provision had been made in the estimates, a decision had been taken to the effect that the additional appointees would be deployed up to ward level throughout the country and designated as ward youth officers.
Between May and June 27 — the day of the presidential run-off — there was widespread political violence in the country. The Morgan Tsvangirai-led MDC alleged that close to 200 of its supporters were killed and thousands tortured and injured by Zanu PF youths, war veterans and state security agents.
The audit said public service appointment procedures were flouted as there were no public advertisements for vacant posts, no offers of appointment and no letters of engagement issued.
“The appointment process was unprocedural as evidenced by the following irregularities: duplicated names and surnames with the same ID, individuals appearing in two ministries, no appointment documents, same date of birth for most employees and same bank account used for paying employees-imprests accounts,” reads the report.
Minister of Youth Saviour Kasukuwere confirmed seeing the report but said it had a lot of inaccuracies. “I saw the report by the Comptroller and Auditor-General which is based on her own findings,” Kasukuwere said. “We are still studying the report as we feel that there are a lot of inaccuracies. The ministry’s accounting officer is looking at all the issues raised and carrying out our own investigations. Once we have completed this, we will make an official response.”
Abigail Munikwa, who has been the club’s physiotherapist, was ordered to leave her post by leadership as she was blamed of the club's failure in the past weeks which resulted in them losing pole position in the Premiership race. The club’s leadership and representatives of their fans in Harare held a meeting recently and resolved that Munikwa’s services be terminated immediately because her presence on the bench was affecting the club’s “magical powers”. They believe such magical powers do not work if a woman is involved.
Munikwa is reported to have been dismissed upon arrival at a local hotel in Harare as she was checking into camp. She said she was given a draft contract, for three years, which she had not yet signed and would demand every cent from that contract.
Munikwa said: “It was embarrassing, being told at the hotel that my services were no longer required. I felt betrayed and abused and I am definitely going to take legal action against Dynamos so that they give me what belongs to me.”
Her dismissal has been condemned by a Social Development Consultant George Zimbizi, who described her dismissal as criminal and immoral, and at tangent with Zimbabwe’s National Gender Policy.
Zimbizi said: “Dynamos have been winning and losing games for the past three years with the same medic, so what makes their current predicament so peculiar to warrant the discrimination of an innocent woman?”
Eight South-African websites of the WageIndicator were officially launched on Thursday 17 September. Simultaneously the South Africa WageIndicator got an upgraded salary check, making it much more attractive for visitors to check their wages. Target is to reach half a million visitors in one year time. Local teams make sure that the content of the sites is fit for the audiences in each specific country. Known as Mywage in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi, and Meusalario in Angola and Mocambique, the websites feature unique content about wages, working conditions, labour standards and other work-related topics. There is a strong gender emphasis in much of the content. Significantly, each site also hosts various web tools which provide information on occupation-specific wages, as well as checks relating to work/partner balance, minimum wages and the current economic crisis. “There is a definite need for this sort of information in my country. We look at what people want to know, in relation to the workplace, and we supply it,” says Sanday Chongo Kabange, Web Manager of Mywage Zambia. “We go out and speak to people, and we follow what is happening in the labour market.”
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