Women From Zimbabwe

"We may have good laws on paper but as long as those laws are not enforced we have a problem. For example we have the Domestic Violence"

"We might have the best constitution in the world but if our leaders still abuse it, what good is it"

"We cannot move forward if you still have a situation where being members of different political views can lead to violence. Zimbabweans only thrive when we are united and that is what we need. We need our leaders to help unite us"

"When I arrived at the polling station for the first time I felt comfortable. People were smiling and talking to each other about a better country. We are only hopeful that the positivity that we now have will help to turn things around for us"

"Sow a thought, and you reap an action, sow an act and you reap a habit, sow a habit and you reap a character, sow a character and you reap a destiny."

"What you vividly imagine, ardently desire, sincerely believe and enthusiastically act upon must inevitably come to pass."

"I will go and talk to the experts and we will teach you how to make oil on radio."

"I have been appointed to this position, obviously by a gentleman who understands the importance of equal opportunities for women… having been picked for this position I in turn have a responsibility to open doors and opportunities and mentor those who come behind us and as it is I personally stand on the shoulders of giant African women who went before me and created opportunities and opened doors for me"

"I always feel that my calling is to my continent so in everything I have done, my focus has always been on moving Africa forward"

"I’m extremely excited about the work the new president of the bank is envisioning for the bank and the continent and for the bank and it’s such a great honor that he should ask me to come and work with him and really help to help implement this vision for Africa"

"I have no doubt I was being bartered, being offered for sex,’ she said. ‘I know about these things, I am a married woman"

"I was afraid to say anything – and I have never been afraid of a boss before. I was an object. And the person doing this to me was another woman"

"I was not there to be beautiful but to work"

"As the Executive Director for Africa, I was a firm and principled administrator and I struggled against the organisational tide throughout my tenure, knowing fully well that I had a personal desire and drive to create value for Africa"

"None of the former employees including me have been accorded a fair hearing. ONE’s global leadership team chose rather to embark on a campaign of calumny against me, as a scapegoat for its own larger inequities, with the organization playing the accuser, judge and jury, in utter disregard for the principles of fairness and probity. In my own case, I have handed over the matter to my lawyers. They all know the game is up as we are speaking up to protect our integrity and precious culture as true Africans. It is time for NGOs everywhere – not just the ONE Campaign – to accept and realise that every country, every people, every culture is capable of producing thought leaders who can and do deliver real change in their own and other contexts. Like always, expect blanket denial from ONE. That is how they operate"

"the international development community, including African finance and development experts, particularly those that have worked in similar charity organizations view my appraisal of ONE Campaign’s corrosive corporate culture, disdain for gender parity and disregard of meritocracy within its ranks as being symptomatic of many international NGOs ostensibly waging wars against Africa’s varied development challenges but in reality seeking to perpetuate the status quo"

"They must apologize to Africans for their patronizing attitude and organisational disregard for Africa’s peculiar development priorities whilst covertly promoting an unhealthy neo-colonial, quasi-imperialist agenda. This is nothing short of utter disrespect for ONE’s over three million African members, who have warmly embraced its campaigns, projects and promises. The top echelons at ONE Campaign have never really tolerated open debate, especially with regards to its operatives in Africa. They may pander to the global ethos and ideals of ONE’s more famous co-founder but mostly white managers have essentially hijacked the essence of the organisation and replaced it with their myopic agenda"

"Unproven and unsubstantiated allegations against me or any former employee in Africa are essentially part of a much larger crusade being sponsored by racist, anti-Africa elements within the ONE Campaign"

"Chronic underfunding was just one of ONE’s deliberate tactics to undermine the diligence and expertise of its Africa staff, many of whom were competent and suitably qualified women."

"They must apologize to Africans for their patronizing attitude and organisational disregard for Africa’s peculiar development priorities whilst covertly promoting an unhealthy neo-colonial, quasi-imperialist agenda."

"Something needs to be done to put an end to all forms of gender injustice."

"Media's role goes beyond entertainment or information sharing, they constitute a tool that has the power "to educate, to empower, and to inspire young girls to dare to break the mould."

"Marrying off a girl at age 11 is not marriage at all, it is rape, often people ask me how it felt. Honestly how am I supposed to feel? It is horrible having four children by the age of 18. Honestly what am I supposed to say? However, I maintain that I am not a victim; I am part of the solution."

"Beatrice Mtetwa is a regionally and internationally recognised lawyer and woman human rights defender who is known for her fearlessness and dedication to tenaciously use the law to protect the rights of others while placing herself in the firing line"

"The system is afraid of her. She is steadfast, determined & resolute. Don't omit her when names of heroes of this generation are called"

"What should be important is the fact that you are the best man or woman for the job and if you are you should be appointed."

""If anyone wants change,they have the obligation to do something to attain that change." The only weapon I developed as a form of protest was to surreptitiously take out the air from the bicycle tyres every morning, which almost always delayed the cyclists. From then on, I questioned virtually everything I did not agree with."

"I have, even as a child, always been a firm believer in fairness and always strive to be even-handed in my dealings with everyone."

"I am not an activist because there is any glory or cash to it and not because I'm trying to antagonize the government... I'm doing it because it's a job that's got to be done."

"And though he beat the boy, it wasn’t really the boy he wanted to beat, but, it seemed to me, himself…"

"Discipline is needed, they need to listen to their coaches, follow the programmes that they are given by their coaches"

"I am still young, my mother has to look after me, before you have a kid you are still a child yourself, I have never been married, to have children in two years time, maybe. Even when you are a runner, you plan when you want to have kids, I will have obviously one day, that one I know"

"My knees cannot go up much higher than they used to so, sometimes doing track more helps keep them fresh. I haven’t pulled out of a race because of my knees, when I feel they are so painful I slow down, I know somehow they are going to heat up and I am to follow up. I don’t have a diet, I eat anything as long as I am hungry"

"I don’t intend to stop running because there are people who are older than me who are still at it. There is this guy, I don’t know where he is from, he was 83 by then, he could run the marathon in three hours at 83, they always call him the fastest guy according to his age. When we run, we run according to ages, I run as a veteran, but when I beat the seniors and get into the top 10 I am considered both ways. Besides there are ladies who have been running before I even got into running, Catherine Ndereba is older than me, she can still run as fast. The issue is about the right training, if you master what you want to do"

"There are quite a number of races I want to compete in this year, they are saying there is a race on 25 May in Harare then another on 29 July on the same course, same route where quite a number of international athletes are going to run there. I really want to try my best, I have run the Comrades Marathon without the intention to finish, I never ran to finish but I ran it, I can’t remember because I ran it twice then after that I discovered that when you run this race you really need to put the proper endurance. Comrades, you can run without speed but if you put the right endurance and the right distance in your knees you will be home and dry but if you start by speeding then you won’t have the proper strength in the knees, you won’t do anything there. I really want to finish it at 45, the Russian guy Kotov won it at that age"

"It’s a long time since I last ran the cross country, I can’t remember the exact year but it was in Portugal. That route that we did the other day we ran it once some time ago. I wasn’t training for the cross country, I was training for the Old Mutual marathon in Harare where I finished third"

"The race was challenging and it was tough on its own besides those three girls who were running so fast, the race was tough and the course itself, we were climbing the steps, getting into water, coming back again, repeatedly five times, I really knew that if I stayed there, I was going to keep my pace and maintain it, not to chase anybody because in running you don’t copy somebody but you run according to how you trained. If the pace is too high you need to go back to your own pace, you really need to keep shuffling the cards where you are calculating, after that you feel how tough the course, if they are too fast you let them go, if they are too slow you carry on"

"I train every day, twice a day, it honestly depends on what are you doing, it’s not about covering more kilometres everyday, it’s about what you are doing per day because yesterday we did track, the day before we did track we are going to have the jogging almost one hour thirty, almost two hours, so for one hour thirty at times you would have covered 20 kilometres, then plus or minus the track that you did in the morning"

"It’s about training and discipline, right now I am from training, I went around five o’clock, I did two hours 17 minutes, almost closer to 30 kilometres, it’s pretty slow, at two hours I should have covered 30km, I haven’t got a lot of speed but a combination of speed and endurance, it will make things work"

"I am the vice-chairperson of the Athletics Commission. We are representing athletes the wrong or right way, we are their ambassadors. We want to see the sport grow in Zimbabwe"

"I have a small project of mine I’m doing. I’m building a big house somewhere, the completion of which will see me end up as being a sponsor of a marathon. We don’t know what God has for us in front there, one day I might wake up and say here is a race I am sponsoring"

"I am training plus you know am ageing, am getting old, so am doing something that I will fall on when I retire. And you know you don’t eat everything, even uprooting the tree, you have to eat the fruits, then leave the tree so that when you grow old, you will be just getting something from what you have been doing rather than just become redundant"

"Tabitha is turning 46 but you will amazed at how she is still doing it on the road. Remember this is the lady who ran 2 hours 29 minute in the 42km distance some time back and represented Zimbabwe at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. To me, Tabitha is the best ever"

"Most of the times I train with Tabitha Tsatsa, a veteran I regard as the best ever female long distance runner in the country"

"You won’t believe it, I know, but that has been my routine ever since I turned professional. I do not have any spare time. When I am not running I am sleeping or I am at church"

"I train in Bulawayo but I have my own house in Gweru, I have a number of cars but I don’t prefer to call them property (with a chuckle) and I also do not want to drive. I prefer to be driven by others"

"It’s difficult to achieve what you really want to achieve in terms of properties because of the economy but I have tried"

"Of course, in any profession there are ups and downs but I am grateful I have done my part"

"When I look back at my career, the 1998 Commonwealth Games are one of the high points"

"To me running is about healing my body, it’s a process that keeps me fit. I have got no plans to retire anytime soon, I can even hit 50 years"