Thanks to the encouragement of her husband, Tamuka, Mollen is on her way to realising her dream of becoming a political leader. In an interview, Tamuka, who is also a senior MDC-T activist and Ward 3 Secretary, said his wife had a dream to become a successful politician.
“The opportunity came when my party approached me in 2008 to stand as councillor for my ward,” he said. During that period, the majority of people opposed to Zanu (PF) lived in fear because of militia terror campaigns.
“I turned it down as I wanted a parliamentary seat and gave the chance to my wife since she is very articulate and enjoys working with the people,” said Tamuka, an economist with a degree from Wolverhampton University in the UK.
When asked why he would let his wife venture into politics while other men would actually impede them, Tamuka said his exposure to modern life helped him.
“From my own experience of living in England, I saw many women participating in politics. That encouraged me to support women to realise their potential. As Africans we misunderstand our culture and men tend to exaggerate and discriminate against women,” he said.
In 2008, Mollen, who is a teacher by profession, won the Norton Ward 3 seat as councillor and she currently chairs the ward audit and sports committees.
“I fully support my wife in her work as councillor,” he said. Tamuka said the community and family have been indifferent over his wife becoming a politician.
“We have no regrets and nobody commented negatively or positively about it,” he said. Mollen has resolved to contest in the 2013 elections for another term as councillor.
“She has the potential to be a leader of the people,” Tamuka said. Mollen wants to further her studies in community development in order to become a real servant of the Norton community.
“I have people at heart and enjoy working in the community. I get frustrated when fellow male politicians at council try to discriminate women politicians just because they are men,” she added.
Through Mollen’s initiatives, Norton Council was allocated a piece of land where they can build a stadium. ZIMPLATS, which agreed to sponsor the construction of the stadium, later said they only engage councils through the district administrator who seems to be stalling the project.
“Council on paper agreed to give us the land and a directive was given to survey and peg the land but jealousy has stalled the project as we are still waiting for the stand to be pegged,” she said.
Post published in: News