NEW: “Few women candidates a cause for concern”

Fatima Bulla-Musakwa

Women’s rights groups have expressed concern on the low number of women candidates contesting this year’s elections.

This comes as the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC)’s final list of candidates who have successfully submitted their papers through the Nomination Court for the August 23 harmonised elections indicates a drop in female candidates from the previous elections.

Official statistics show that women make up 11 percent of the candidates for this year’s harmonised elections, compared to 14 percent in the 2018 elections.

The only woman contesting for the presidency this year is the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA) leader Ms Elisabeth Valerio, who successfully appealed in the High Court the initial decision by the Nomination Court to reject her candidature ostensibly over late payment of nomination fees.

Among the 637 candidates contesting for National Assembly seats, only 70 are women.

Zimbabwe Gender Commission chairperson Commissioner Margaret Sangarwe-Mukahanana said they were very disappointed by the numbers.

“We are regressing instead of progressing, which is very unfortunate. As the Gender Commission, the only way to achieve the 50-50 prescribed in our Constitution is through either a proportional representation electoral system, like that used for the Senate, or reservation of seats for women – that is, 105 seats for women and 105 seats for men. This can be rotated every five or 10 years,” she said.

“With the current electoral system of first-past-the post, gender equality will remain a far cry. Going forward, this is the message the Gender Commission is going to preach for 2028.”

Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCOZ) vice president Ms Charity Mandishona said the development was worrisome, considering the advocacy for equal representation.

“As WCOZ, we really fought for Section 56 of the 2013 Constitution, which speaks on the rights of women and we thought we had achieved. But I think it is not being considered because we thought it was supposed to be 50-50, where, for instance, in the National Assembly women would get 105 out of the 110 seats, which they compete against each other.

“Now they are being thrown in the quotas, where they are treated as window dressers. We are worried about that,” Ms Mandishona said.

A number of factors are considered barriers for women in politics.

The US$20 000 – or equivalent in local currency – to participate as a presidential candidate was considered too be steep for prospective candidates.

Those who wanted to contest for National Assembly seats were similarly required to fork out US$1000 (or local currency equivalent).

Labour, Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) president Ms Linda Masarira had difficulties raising the nomination fees.

With most women working in the informal sector, raising nomination fees was always going to be a mammoth task, argues Ms Mandishona.

She also said political party policies should consider the plight of women, who, despite making up the bulk of registered voters, were overshadowed by male candidates.

The Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE) executive director Ms Sithabile Dehwa also believes that Statutory Instrument 114 of 2023 reduced the number of proportional representation seats available to women in provincial and metropolitan councils by 50 percent.

“This in itself is a clear violation of Sections 17, 56 and 80 of the Constitution, which call for gender equality in all sectors, including politics.

“It is also an indictment on the political unwillingness of both parties to afford women their right to equal and fair political participation and representation in leadership positions,” she said.

“WALPE unequivocally reminds political parties and all stakeholders that the proportional representation seats are not meant to replace women’s fair and equal rights for constituency seats, but are meant to deal with the historical marginalisation of women in politics and decision-making.”

Zimbabwe ratified the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development in 2009, which calls for at least 50 percent representation of women in public and private decision-making by 2015.

Political parties also reportedly ignored the Women’s Charter presented to them by women’s rights organisations on February 23 this year.

“Political parties’ lack of seriousness, as evidenced by the lists presented at the Nomination Court, therefore exposes that the signing of the Charter was tokenism and a piece-meal attempt to silence the many aspiring and women leaders who had worked hard to stand for publicly elected leadership positions,” added Ms Dehwa.

She recommended that women must rally behind all the successful female candidates who are vying for public office in the forthcoming elections.