Calvin Manika
WOMEN in the resort city of Victoria Falls are facing various challenges brought by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The ‘New normal’ has changed ways people used to live pre-Covid-19 era resulting in women bearing the brunt of a tightened space exacerbated by the economic depression in the country.
Various projects coordinated by women which include craft and curio artifacts are failing to sustain them, with those in retail business lamenting high operational costs and shortened working hours.
Most of these projects are trying to help widows, the aged, disabled women and the girl mothers in the city.
With a discouraging economic environment and the high cost of living in the resort city, daily woes of these women are becoming unbearable. Simomo Sibanda, the chairperson of Hands Together Victoria Falls Women’s Organisation (HTVDWO) points new challenges to the Covid-19 pandemic. “Victoria Falls is a tourist city, though the tourism industry is resuscitating, it will take a while for our projects and business as women to operate as before. Right now, there is lack of business funding as all our sources of capital were purged by the pandemic,” says Sibanda. Sibanda laments that low business returns characterise the business trend in the resort town. However, HTVDWO is fighting for the involvement of women in sustainable business ventures by advocating for women’s rights and establishing ways to mitigate the challenges. “As an organisation we are coordinating capacity building groups which we established for collective bargains on business cash flow. Capacity building for members helps them in policy education.
“We also have groups consulting government departments on main government development goals and community involvement. Girl mothers (from child marriages) are being involved and we are also networking with other women organizations,” explains Sibanda. Speaking to The Zambezi Times Mary Ncube, a mother of two who owns a flea-market stall gave an account of their daily challenges. “Victoria falls economy is hinged on tourism, so most of our clients are people employed in the tourism industry. Since the advent of Covid-19 business has been low. Our challenges starts from re-stocking, borders are not yet fully open, the protocols of testing and regulations to curb the pandemic are many to effectively conduct business. Also some of our clients were retrenched. Business is no longer usual,” says Mary.
Another woman in Chinotimba high residential suburb complains of high costs of rentals in operating business in the resort town. “The government and the city fathers should consider us as women in terms of land allocation. We are entrepreneurs, but the challenges is we don’t own properties such as business premises compared to our male counterparts. Right now most of the business are struggling to pay rentals in the face of the pandemic,” said Mufaro Ngwenya. In a similar plea, the HTVDWO chairperson Sibanda told this publication that lack of places to work from is affecting women doing projects in the newly born city. “Our organisation’s main project is mushroom growing, but we are stuck, we don’t have working space or can’t pay rent even if we happen to get space now. Women need support,” she said. In its National Development Strategy 1 (NDS 1) launched on 16 November 2020 by the government of Zimbabwe and expected to run from January 2021 – December 2025 the issue of women and gender mainstreaming is highlighted as a priority. The government acknowledges that the current situation is largely characterised by pronounced youth exclusion and limited gender mainstreaming.
“Women still face hurdles in respect of opportunities to ascend to commanding heights in the national economy, including; limited access to finance; limited access to land and freehold property; limited opportunities to influence policy; and legal, cultural and patriarchal barriers,” noted the national guidelines. Challenges facing women in Victoria Falls are attest to the government’s pledge to prioritise gender equality in order to enhance women’s participation in the development process, in line with the Constitution, the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 5, which seeks to “Achieve Gender Equality and Empower all Women and Girls. Sibanda further noted that to sustain women projects her organisation is working on empowerment strategies “We create platforms for brain storming, sharing ideas and skills for sustainable projects from both Mkhosana and Chinotimba Chapters. Training and development is part of our program. Lastly, as we try by all means to empower our members we don’t forget the (have-nots), widows, old age and the disabled women and the girl mother.
