A sample survey carried out by this newspaper in Marondera Central confirmed that aspiring women candidates for council and senatorial posts outnumbered men.
MDC-T Spokesperson Douglas Mwonzora described the unprecedented interest in political office by women as “exciting”.
“We are very much excited about the overwhelming numbers of women vying for political office as ward councillors, MPs and senators. Women have become brave and no longer want their fate to be decided by men. They want to prove that they have equal abilities with men, if not better,” said Mwonzora.
In Marondera Central seven female MDC-T members will be battling it out against male contenders for councillorship in the 12 wards at stake. They say nothing will stop them from dislodging sitting councillors who have failed to live up to expectations.
Aquinita Shavi and Marita Hukura are contesting in ward 2, Jane Chikwanda – ward 5, Elizabeth Chipato – ward 6, Stembile Nzvimbo Nyakonda – ward 8, Lorraine Mutizwa – ward 9 and Maidei Mahommed – ward 12.
Two senior party officials, Jane Chifamba and Marble Tenifara, will lock horns at the primaries for the senatorial office.
The winner will take on a Zanu (PF) candidate for the Marondera-Wedza senatorial constituency, where Sydney Sekeramai is the sitting senator.
In previous elections MDC could hardly field more than three women candidates for Marondera Central seats.
This was attributed to fear and “misplaced trust” in the ability of men to handle public affairs, while women were also driven away by widespread violence involving sexual abuse, intimidation, displacement, destruction of property and loss of livelihood among many others. Civil society organisations say more than 11,000 cases of politically motivated violence have been recorded since the 2008 elections. Thousands others go unreported. “We are simply exercising our democratic right to contest in polls. After all, men have proved that not all of them are able leaders. Women can perform much better than the majority of male candidates we voted into office in 2008,” said a woman candidate, who could not be identified for fear of reprisals ahead of party primaries.
Another female candidate pointed out that women were the ones mainly affected by poor service delivery and therefore better placed to take speedy corrective action.
“When water taps run dry, it is women who go the extra mile to fetch the invaluable liquid. The same applies when there are power outages. Even when children fall sick as a result of free flowing sewage, it is the mother who will lose sleep and walk several kilometres to the nearest clinic,” she added, vowing to put up a fierce fight in the battle for political office this time around.
Post published in: News