‘This signals a new chapter’
Mzati Mbeko is the new face of Women and Law in Southern Africa-Malawi (WLSA), replacing Seodi White who headed the organisation since its inception 1998. Mbeko says as a legal practitioner and social researcher, he is ready to face the challenge. Exerpts:
Q:
Firstly, congratulations on your new role as WLSA Malawi national coordinator.
A:
Thanks so much Suzgo, you are so kind.
Q:
You have taken over from Seodi White who was at the helm of the organisation since its formulation in 1998 and your appointment signals a new chapter for WLSA Malawi. Will the shoes be too big to fill for you?
A:
You are so right. I have taken over from someone who has been at WLSA for 16 years; a very brave and fearless woman with unwavering passion for women empowerment. One cannot talk of the women movement in Malawi and at the regional level without mentioning the name Seodi White. During her time at WLSA, Seodi spearheaded five grounded action-research studies which have since been published. For instance, In Search of Justice: Women and the Administration of Justice Delivery in Malawi (2000); Dispossessing the Widow: Gender Based Violence In Malawi (2002) interrogates inheritance and property rights in Malawi and examines the constriction of why and how widows get dispossessed after the death of their spouses. The findings of this publication have been widely popularized: Unicef has utilised the findings as a resource base in popularising this issue and WLSA Malawi has disseminated the research results on CNN and BBC; the second study was Feminisation of HIV/AIDS in Malawi: Women’s Right to Life and Factors That Create Vulnerability to HIV Transmission. This research discussed the myriad ways in which women are vulnerable to HIV transmission.
The research goes beyond socio-cultural and issues as it also discusses structural violence, masculinity and femininity issues as well perceptions of sex and sexuality. Another study was Women And HIV/AIDS In Six Districts In Malawi: Balancing The Equation Between Grounded Realities and the Appropriateness of the Response.
This research takes the woman beyond vulnerabilities and engages on how the national response to HIV/AIDS has incorporated a gender and human rights paradigm to HIV prevention and impact mitigation.) Poor, Invisible and Excluded: Women in State Custody Malawi is another study that uncovers the realities of women in state custody in Malawi. The research uncovers the journey to prison, how women find themselves in state custody and also uncover the realities of prison life for women in Malawi.
So when you consider these achievements, you realise that the shoes she has left at WLSA are indeed too big for me to fill so much so that I just have to find my own. While the core business of WLSA shall remain intact, my administration will adopt a different approach regarding our public relations with both local and international partners. So you are right, this indeed signals a new chapter for WLSA Malawi.
Q:
WLSA Malawi has been known as an organisation that has seamlessly championed for women’s rights, gender and the law. But what does the future hold now?
A:
WLSA-Malawi is indeed the only organisation in Malawi that champions an approach to law reform, which considers the intersection between women’s rights, gender equality and the law, and applies a gender and human rights approach to HIV prevention and management as well as women’s property rights. The future is so bright, our plan is to scale up our presence in all the districts in the country but we are also delving into new areas such as gender responsive budgeting, climate change, early child development, so for sure there are exciting times ahead of us.
Q:
When people talk about the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, Deceased Estates, Wills and Inheritance Act, the role that WLSA Malawi played has time and again been emphasised. Do you believe you have done enough to ensure these rights are realised across the scope of Malawi’s population?
A:
You are so right; we played a pivotal role in the enactment of these pieces of legislation. For instance, it took us 13 years advocating for the enactment of the Deceased Estates (Wills, Inheritance and Protection) Act, six years for the Prevention of Domestic Violence Act. However, we now realise that much as we won the battle, the war rages on. It gives us a heavy heart when we see that despite having these laws in place women continue to suffer.
Q:
Lack of awareness of relevant legislation relating to gender and women’s rights has been a challenge since laws such as Gender Equality Act and Prevention of Domestic Violence Act were passed. What has been the role of WLSA Malawi to ensure that the woman in the rural Malawi knows there are such laws to protect her?
A:
What we have discovered is that the people intended to benefit from these laws are not aware and do not access these laws because of spatial, linguistic, economic constraints. Our next step now is to design programmes that will see us and other stakeholders taking the law to the people.
Q:
Lastly, what should your stakeholders, women and Malawians, expect from the leadership of Mzati Mbeko?
A:
My first duty as the national coordinator will be to help my members of staff and the organisation as a whole to face our toughest challenges during this transition period. I believe that a true task of a leader is to get people to face the reality of any situation themselves and develop strategies to deal with the problems or to take advantage of opportunities. I will help my colleagues to make the necessary adjustments in our values, habits, practices and priorities to ensure that WLSA-Malawi is given the best chance to succeed. I am also aware that being a man, I will meet some resistance from the women movement, but my appeal is that let’s desist from looking at issues of gender as a women’s issue because if the truth be told, gender is a development issue as such it should matter less as to who is peddling it.
