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Naledi Lindarose–Maunganidze-Madzara
As the August 23 harmonised elections are fast approaching, I would like to draw the attention of fellow women to the vast work by President Mnangagwa to uplift women politically.
Since President Mnangagwa assumed the country’s leadership in 2017, he has made sure that women have meaningful participation in national, local and community political leadership.
The President has shown that it really does matter to give women a voice politically, and this has seen many women assuming political posts in various layers of governance.
As the Secretary for Gender and Culture in the Zanu PF Youth League and the candidate for the National Assembly youth quota in Masvingo, I can safely say I am one of those who have benefited immensely from the effective political empowerment policies enunciated by President Mnangagwa.
By voting for President Mnangagwa on August 23, women will be safeguarding their future participation in politics.
The fact that President Mnangagwa has demonstrated his full commitment not only in words, but in backing those words with action, is enough to motivate any women eager for gender equality and gender equity to cast a vote for him.
He is a tried and tested leader who has addressed the plight of women when it seemed political doors were about to close on them.
This has largely contributed to the democratisation of the Zimbabwean society. Democracy envisages a society in which all people participate in the governance of a country without discrimination against them based on issues like gender.
The more President Mnangagwa has been closing the gender gap in politics, the more Zimbabwe’s democracy has been attaining maturity.
Women’s representation in politics in Zimbabwe has seen inclusive development as the New Dispensation ensures “no one and no place is left behind”.
As women, we have witnessed President Mnangagwa encouraging us to be courageous and put ourselves forward for political positions.
The President has also been encouraging young girls to take their education seriously as a way of preparing themselves for future political positions.
Addressing a virtual high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the 25th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women in 2020, President Mnangagwa clearly enunciated his standing on empowering women politically.
“Under my leadership my administration is facilitating the participation of women in politics, leadership and decision making processes,” he said.
“More women have been appointed into Cabinet and other senior positions in the public sector.
“Zimbabwe remains committed to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls and looks forward to greater synergies with partners to achieve this noble objective.”
It is then clear that the hope for women to change the political gender dynamics for the better lies on President Mnangagwa.
He is the only leader who has demonstrated the desire to make sure women participate in politics without any barriers.
This is why President Mnangagwa deserves our votes as women ahead of the other contestants who have remained rooted in the past.
These are candidates rooted in the past because we have not heard of any of them pronouncing their stance on political empowerment of women.
They have remained quiet, which means they have no plan when it comes to programmes to politically empower women. In contrast, President Mnangagwa has been vocal about women participation in politics and went further to institute policies and constitutional amendments to make it easy for women to participate in politics.
This should motivate women to overwhelmingly vote for President Mnangagwa on August 23 – for they have been given a huge political voice.
On many occasions, President Mnangagwa has intervened on the side of women when it seemed avenues in politics were about to be closed on them. Let us take the constitutional provision of proportional representation enacted in 2013 to allow an additional 60 women members of the National Assembly to join the 210 members elected in constituencies.
It was supposed to be live for the life of only two Parliaments – that is 10 years – and was to be scrapped for the election on August 23.
The time limit was set on the assumption that over a decade parties would be nominating more women for constituency seats and that something close to gender parity would be obtained without the extra seats. Upon realising that this was still work in progress, President Mnangagwa ensured that the provision was extended by a further 10 years, which means the arrangement will be effective until 2033.
What is exciting for us as youths and women is that the provision now requires political parties to ensure that at least 10 of the nominated women for proportional representation are under 35.
The law also specifically mentions that women with disabilities, including young women in that category, should be included on the list. If it was not for the visionary leadership of President Mnangagwa, women would have lost this politically empowering constitutional provision.
President Mnangagwa thoroughly deserves our vote as women for this milestone.
Then let us not forget the famous youth quota which adds an extra 10 seats to the National Assembly for people aged between 21 and 35, one from each province, but elected by proportional representation using the national constituency vote for each party.
To safeguard women and ensure they benefit from this constitutional provision, each party’s list must have men and women alternating in the list.
This gives young women an equal chance of being elected to occupy the 10 extra seats in the National Assembly.
I was extremely elated on Friday when I got hold of the Government Gazette which published results of Nomination Courts for local authority elections on August 23.
The notice contained a historical achievement by President Mnangagwa and the New Dispensation – the publication of party list candidates for the 30 percent women’s quota as specified in section 277 (4) of the Constitution.
This political empowerment of women is extraordinary and something we had never imagined, but thanks to our progressive President it is now a reality.
It is a known fact that local government issues are very close to women – provision of water, collection of garbage, operations of markets, transport, housing and many others, these affect women directly.
Now, President Mnangagwa has given women a say on these matters through the 30 percent quota and it is expected that the running of councils will drastically improve through the contribution of women. Then there are the metropolitan councils and provincial councils to be set up under the devolution developmental concept.
President Mnangagwa ensured women are not left out at this level of governance. Apart from other members of these councils, there will be 10 women members elected from party lists on the basis of how their parties performed in the parliamentary election.
Women with disabilities should be included on those lists.
It is also a fact that women now occupy more posts in Cabinet and in the Zanu PF structures such as the Politburo, the Central Committee, the Youth League, the Women’s League and the National Consultative Assembly than before. The status quo is the same for the ruling party’s cells, branches, district coordination committees and provinces – women are now taking up positions in these structures.
In Parliament’s administration, women also occupy top positions, with Cde Mabel Chinomona being the President of the Senate and Cde Tsitsi Gezi the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly.
All this is because of President Mnangagwa’s endeavour to ensure women are not left out in politics and address past mismatches where women were rarely considered for political office.
For all these efforts, President Mnangagwa deserves our votes as women come August 23.
Naledi Lindarose Maunganidze-Madzara is the Secretary for Gender and Culture in the Zanu PF Youth League and a Zanu PF candidate for the National Assembly youth quota in Masvingo.
Online Reporter