Women eye PG’s post

Fidelis Munyoro Chief Court Reporter
Women are appealing to President Mnangagwa to consider appointing a woman to head the office of the Prosecutor-General as part of efforts to empower them and enhance gender equality.

Government has started hunting for a substantive Prosecutor-General following the publication of the resignation of Prosecutor-General Advocate Ray Goba in the Government Gazette last month.

Mr Kumbirai Hodzi is the acting Prosecutor-General.

The publication of Mr Goba’s resignation paved way for the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to start advertising the post ahead of public interviews.

PROWEB, a prominent organisation for women in Zimbabwe with over 1 500 members, has implored the President Mnangagwa to enforce gender equality principles enshrined in the Constitution to consider a woman for the esteemed office.

Presenting a paper titled, “Creating an Enabling Environment” during a breakfast meeting with President Mnangagwa in Harare on Monday, PROWEB member Ms Phillipa Philips saluted the Government for efforts to address some of the gender inequalities women face.

She bemoaned the marginalisation of women across economic, social and political spheres.

“In these decision-making roles, the implementation of gender balancing is still not taking place,” said Ms Phillips.

“We still do not see gender balancing numbers in Cabinet, parastatals boards and ambassadorial assignments. Even in the prosecuting authority, the substantive Prosecutor-General should be a woman since the Attorney–General, Chief Justice, Minister of Justice and Judge President are all male.”

President Mnangagwa said Government ratified the Convention on Elimination of all forms Discrimination Against Women and signed the Sadc Declaration on Gender and Development, as well as the Sadc Protocol on Gender Equality.

“This demonstrates Government’s unwavering support to the protection of women’s rights and access to equal opportunities in political, economic and social spheres of life as envisaged in sections 20, 56 and 80 of our national Constitution,” Ms Phillips said.

“Furthermore, my administration stands ready to uphold the UN Women’s aspiration to promote real empowerment through a structural shift to reduce inequalities as a result of vulnerability, social standing, race, marital status, religion ethnicity or type of work, among other aspects.”

The women implored the President to use his influence to enforce gender equality principles in the execution of the Command Agriculture Programme to ensure women get equal access to resources and farming inputs.

Ms Phillips said women wanted the Government to ensure women access land.