Empowerment and Protection - Stories of Human Security Oct. 2014 | Página 86

ZIMBABWE

Community perspectives
on human security
Sources of insecurity

Interviews with a number of community representatives, including
political leaders, church leaders and traditional leaders provide
first-hand testimonies of the way that human security is perceived
at the community level.b These present perceptions of people
predominantly from the Nkayi District in Matabeleland in
Zimbabwe’s North province, but also from other regions across the
country.

The accounts shared here demonstrate that
human security encompasses a wide range of
factors linked to development, social cohesion and
peaceful coexistence. The concerns identified by
community leaders and members refer for instance
to the pace of development, issues of poverty,
access to water, food security, environmental
degradation and economic opportunities. They
also emphasise the importance of women’s
empowerment and women’s participation
in decision making at the community level.
Domestic violence and a history of violence within
communities are mentioned. Concerns are raised
when it comes to service delivery, health services
and education as well as shelter and housing.
Finally, some of the interviewees also mention the
issues of witchcraft and tribal tensions which affect
their community.

13 (WORLD BANK 2014A)

b Given the sensitive subject matter, the testimonials have been kept anonymous and the names
provided are pseudonyms

=10.000.000

GRAPHIC
n (2013)
The political leader

Nicholas Sibanda is a senior political leader of
ZANU PFc in the Nkayi District, Matabeleland North
Province, as well as a lay church leader, and Vice
Secretary of the Local Peace Committee.
The first, perhaps the most important, personal
human security concern I have is the slow pace of
development in the area, which almost everybody
in the district feels. I would have loved to see the
economy performing better and everyone rallying
around the plans and programmes that were set by
government after the elections.
I am an old man now and naturally fear that I may
pass on and not have done enough to secure the
future of my dependents. Lack of development poses
a threat to human security. Without development
there can be no peace. In Nkayi, we are disgruntled
because the necessary infrastructure for education,
health, transport, etc. is very inadequate especially
when compared with developments taking place in
other parts of the country. Children have to travel long
distances to go to school. The same applies to the
long distances people have to travel to ferry patients
to the nearest clinic or hospital. Some have died
on donkey or ox drawn carts before they got to the
nearest hospital.

HUMANOne of the biggest problems here is the water
DEVELOPMENT
INDEX 2013due to the sinking water table. People are
shortage
unable to have the standard of living enjoyed by

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others in other areas. Water is a human right. We rely
on a sand abstraction system and this means that
when there have been poor rains, which is usually the
case, water dries up quickly and we have nothing.
We can’t even embark on small income-generating
projects.

These responses came from various areas and
there is a growing view that their communities
are deliberately marginalised and segregated. The
feeling of social ostracism on development, access
to water, food security, environmental degradation
and livelihoods opportunities resulting in poverty
is taking on an ethnic and or regional slant. All
the threats to human security mentioned by
interviewees could potentially become causes of
serious conflicts given the economic challenges
faced by the nation.

When I was growing up there were a lot of rivers with
water flowing throughout the year, but today there are
hardly any such rivers. In the past if one dug a well
one did not need to dig very deep before reaching
the water table. But today one has to use a drilling
machine to find water and it will not be everywhere.

Resource management and livelihoods
Access to natural resources, and hence livelihood
and employment, is central to most interviewees’
concerns. These are linked to social tensions and
anti-social behaviour, but also to loss of dignity and
disempowerment.

“ ater is a
W
human right.”

For a senior Movement for Democratic Change
– Tsvangirai (MDC-T) political leader and ward
Councillor in Nkayi district, the issue of water is
very high on his list of human security concerns.
As a community leader he is aware and very
much concerned that: “Most people have no water
for domestic use and for subsistence agriculture
programmes like irrigation.” Food security is very
much connected with water. For him “water is life.”
This critical shortage of water “has weighed down
heavily on our personal dignity as people when we
compare ourselves to other people in other areas.

For me, the issue of climate change has become a
human security challenge as it is also responsible for
movements of people crowding in areas where they
can find water. It is also an environmental issue as
livestock also have to walk long distances in search of
water and green pastures, and in the process some die
and are left to rot in open spaces, polluting the air.
c Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front party

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It hurts when we read in the paper when some
political leaders describe us as lazy and failing to
take advantage of government programmes when
they are the ones who are failing to lift us up by
addressing our water challenge.” Water is not an
issue to be politicised. It has to do with human
dignity and is therefore a human security concern
for the people of Nkayi.

“Shortage of water
has weighed down
heavily on our
personal dignity.”
A traditional leader from the Nkayi district
underlines the same issue: “As a traditional leader,
my major concern is that of water and that is the
complaint I get from my subjects every other day.
We only