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The Herald, March 7, 1980
NINE women will sit in the House of Assembly when the first Parliament of Zimbabwe convenes. Six will be Zanu (PF) and the rest will be from the Patriotic Front.
The Zanu (PF) MPs will be Mrs Sheba Tavarwisa (Victoria); Mrs Julia Zvobgo (Midlands), who is also wife of the party’s elections director, Mr Eddison Zvobgo; Mrs J. Chivaura (Mashonaland West); Mrs Naomi Nhiwatiwa and Mrs Victoria Chitepo (Manicaland).
Mrs Teurai Ropa Nhongo, wife of Mr Rex Nhongo, the Zanu (PF) military commander, will be member for Mashonaland Central.
Three of the Patriotic Front members represent Matabeleland North and are Mrs Ruth Chinamano, wife of Mr Josiah Chinamano who failed to get a seat in Mashonaland East; Mrs Jane Ngwenya and Mrs Thenjiwe Lesabe. Mrs Zvobgo was delighted by the number of women in the new Parliament. She said: “It is an appreciation of the role women played in the struggle for independence”.
LESSONS FOR TODAY
Tomorrow is International Women’s Day, while March is the month of women. This year’s IWD theme is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.” We congratulate Zimbabwean women and their colleagues globally, on their special occasion.
Women deserve to be recognised alongside men because in they have are pivotal to the success of men, hence the adage, “behind every great man is a woman”
Women need to take the initiative especially in politics where the basis for their emancipation was set more than 42 years ago when the nine women made it to Parliament.
Women are not always defined by their husbands, but can chart their own destiny. The nine women became politicians in their own right and some are interred at the National Heroes Acre in recognition of the role they played before and after the independence of this country.
There is no limit to what women can do; they just need to keep working hard.
Online Reporter