Chronicle Editor
Sukulwenkosi Dube-Matutu, [email protected]
MS SIMELELE Ngulube, a community rights advocate from Zhokwe Village in Gwanda District, plays a vital role in educating her community about their legal rights.
She not only educates people about their rights, but also identifies cases of human rights violations that require intervention.
Additionally, she provides literature on human rights issues to the community. Ms Ngulube has been working as a community rights advocate since 2022, after receiving training from the Legal Resource Foundation.
In her role, Ms Ngulube focuses on educating individuals about their right to education, food, health, shelter and other rights.
She also assists community members in obtaining necessary documentation such as birth certificates and national identity cards. To achieve this, Ms Ngulube works closely with volunteers based in various villages.
“As community rights cadres, we also assist people who need documentation such as birth certificates and national identity documents. Sometimes the process will require us to go through traditional leadership, while sometimes we assist people to go to the Civil Registry offices. I work closely with schools to identify children that do not have birth certificates,” she said.
Ms Grace Vumani, a volunteer, explains that the community rights advocates cannot be present in all villages at once; therefore, volunteers help to ensure visibility within communities.
They identify cases of abuse, which are then referred to the police, and use meetings to educate the community about their rights. However, some community members still resist their services.
She said they also identify cases of abuse of women and children.
“We refer these cases to the police and people now know of our existence and some act as whistle-blowers and report cases of abuse to us,” she said.
Mr Alenry Ncube, the village head of Zhokwe, emphasised the importance of these advocates’ work in fighting cases of abuse and human rights violations, and urged communities to support their efforts and spread their message.
“It’s unfortunate that for a long time, violation of women and children’s rights have been taken lightly. When a woman stands up for her rights, it is viewed as an act of radicalism and disrespect. We shouldn’t mistake abuse of rights for culture and tradition,” he said.
“The work being done by these cadres is important and my wish is that communities could support them and also spread the message.” — @DubeMatutu
Online Reporter