Zibagwe RDC gets another female councillor

THE election of a female councillor in Zibagwe Rural District Council’s Ward 13 in the December 9 by-election was met with excitement as it translated to more women participation in leadership positions.

Cde Sipiwe Ntenezi of Zanu-PF beat Citizen Coalition for Change (CCC) candidate Mr Kilton Mpofu after garnering 1 134 votes against a paltry 219 votes by her opponent.

The by-election came as a result of the death of Clr Cafemol Moyo who passed on soon after being elected into office during the August 30 harmonised elections.

The late Clr Moyo could not be sworn in due to ill health.

The election of Cde Ntenezi comes at a time when the Government is pushing for more women participation in leadership positions including local authorities.

Government recently introduced the 30 percent women’s quota system in local authorities to ensure that women are well represented in councils.

Zibagwe RDC, which has 44 councillors, had only one duly elected female councillor and 10 who came in through the women’s quota system.

The election of Cde Ntenezi brings the total number of female councillors to 12.

Cde Ntenezi paid tribute to the ruling party for allowing her to take part in the election and promised to repay the confidence bestowed upon her.

“I want to thank the ruling party Zanu-PF for allowing me to represent the party in the by-election. I also want to thank the people from my ward who also united in electing me as their councillor,” she said.

Cde Ntenezi said her ward is lagging in terms of developmental projects.

“I’m inheriting a ward that is somewhat backward in terms of development. There are no projects largely due to a shortage of water. I will work hard with Government and council so that we solve the water challenges and that we will introduce several projects, especially targeting women and girls,” she said.

Cde Ntenezi said girls and women were being forced into early marriages and promiscuity because there were no empowerment projects.

“Girls are forced into selling their bodies due to poverty. I will therefore advocate that we get boreholes drilled so that we can start projects including nutrition gardens and others,” she said.

“I also want to push that we get a Vocational Training Centre so that our women and girls can fend for themselves.”

Clr Idirashe Dongo, the only duly elected female councillor, who is also the council’s vice chairperson said the election of Cde Ntenezi as councillor gives more women the platform to make decisions.

“This is a welcome development as it gives us women a platform to make decisions and contribute towards national development. This is what we have been advocating for all along to say we need more females in leadership positions because most of the challenges in the wards affect women and girls directly,” she said.

Clr Dongo also hailed the ruling party for fielding a female candidate.

“We beseeched the party that in every by-election in Zibagwe RDC, they should consider women and I am glad that they listened and we won. I am grateful to the party for heeding our call and hope that they will continue giving more women equal opportunities,” she said.