Politics all about bootlicking: Dongo

Zimbabwe has 11 women in cabinet, including one vice president, one deputy prime minister, seven ministers and two deputy ministers.

Margaret Dongo, former leader of the Zimbabwe United Democratic party, said women parliamentarians were failing to influence government to mainstream gender issues.

“There is always talk about women’s participation, the issue of gender, the issue of equality – but that’s only said and hardly done. If effective policies were to be put into action through proactive lobbying by women, gender inequality would be history in Zimbabwe,” she said.

Dongo there was need for women in Parliament to find opportunities to build consensus on advocacy issues and provide a platform for members to build alliances. “Female parliamentarians are emerging with policies that appealed to the grassroots, but they are not being implemented,” she said.

She pointed out that while the inheritance law allows a woman to inherit the estate of her husband, most rural widows have suffered the ordeal of being chased away from their marital homes.

“No one is there to rescue the vulnerable rural women and even if the law protects her, she may not be aware that there is a law that speaks about that,” she said.

Dongo castigated the country’s customary laws, which she said were being used by men to abuse women, with female parliamentarians keeping mum on the issue.

While the Domestic Violence Act was a noble piece of legislation, she said women were failing to take advantage of it, mostly because of cultural factors.

“Women, especially at the grassroots, are not able to report cases of this nature for the fear of destroying their marriages and embarrassing the family,” said Dongo. “This shows that women’s representatives in government are not playing their role to empower women. Honestly the laws alone are not adequate as they have to be backed by action and lobby.

“If you look at the Maternity Act, it allows women to be granted paid leave, but the question is, are female farm labourers enjoying the provisions of the law? Obviously not – yet what are women leaders doing about?” she said.

She attributed the failure by current female parliamentarians to Zimbabwean politics, which she said was all about bootlicking.

“Most women don’t speak out in Parliament because the moment they do that, they become unpopular. For one to be safe one needs to show allegiance to a certain leader,” said Dongo, a former freedom fighter, adding that she had created the path for democracy and was interested in passing on the baton to young women.

“I went to war at the age of 15 and I was fighting for what you call democracy today. After Independence, I challenged Mugabe in Parliament and I was booted out of the party. Zanu (PF) hated the fact that I did not entertain nonsense. In 1998, I formed my own party and campaigned as an independent candidate. I have a learnt a lot in politics and the legacy that I want to leave for other women is to mentor them,” she said.

Her political activism is centred on improving the lives of Zimbabwean women so that they do not remain a “yes people”.

Dongo urged women to be fearless in moving forward the agenda of implementing gender sensitive laws, saying no amount of harassment would ever deter her from fighting for the cause of women.

“When l decided to go independent in 1998, l escaped a petrol bomb attack and was subject to harassment together with my family. We lived in a fearful environment, but that did not deter me. What has always been important is the legacy that I wanted to leave for the women,” she said.