Christian Churches have played, and continue to play important roles in the histories of many African countries. In Southern Africa, the Catholic Church played an important role in the liberation struggles of many countries. This paper examines the contribution of the Catholic Church through the lens of the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in the democratisation of Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). It advances the proposition that the Church, through the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, played an important role in the internationalization of the Rhodesian crisis between 1972 and 1980. It argues first, that the Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace performed a sterling job of breaking the enormous silence about the horrifying things that were taking place in Rhodesia through the preparation, publication and dissemination of objective information; second that the Commission succeeded in countering Rhodesian government's propaganda and psychological warfare campaign; third and finally that the Commission brought enough internal and external pressure to bear on the Rhodesian government to hasten its collapse.
Spivak's (1988; 1995) famous question, "Can the Subaltern speak" holds important connotations about many people living on the margins of society. It has greater significance for the sexed subaltern subjects who cannot speak and who cannot be heard because they are doublyoppressed. In many post-liberation regimes on the African continent this is a troubling question. It is a troubling question because the end of colonialism and apartheid did not necessarily translate into major gains for most of society, and women in particular, who, like men, actively participated in, or supported the struggle against colonialism and apartheid. This article, based on the voices of rural and urban women from the former "homeland" of Qwaqwa, South Africa, brings to the fore their experiences, as well as perceptions of both the apartheid and post-apartheid eras. It has established that women were much more oppressed under apartheid than they are today. Thus, while the social status of women has changed for the better, gender discrimination and gender-based violence persist, reinforcing the motion that even in post-apartheid South Africa women have no voice. The extent to which social security grants are entrenching the culture of dependency and entitlement as claimed by our interviewees, calls for further academic scrutiny, and so does the perceived increase in the trafficking of women and children in postapartheid South Africa.
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