SEVERAL women’s groups yesterday reacted angrily to President Robert Mugabe’s appointment of only three women into Cabinet and his statement justifying his actions claiming that very few women were educated enough to become ministers.
WONAI MASVINGISE
The only women appointed to Cabinet are Oppah Muchinguri, Olivia Muchena and Sithembiso Nyoni. The other six were appointed ministers of State or deputy ministers. Speaking during a Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCOZ)’s “national alliance building and strategy” workshop yesterday, the organisation’s national co-ordinator Netsai Mushonga said the low representation of women in Cabinet was against Sadc and the African Union (AU) gender protocols.
“We are disappointed at the low number of women appointed to Cabinet. The level of women representation is low. Women just have 9% representation and it is really inadequate. It goes against the Sadc protocol on Gender and Development which calls for 50/50 representation in governance by 2015. The African Union protocol talks of the same and our Constitution says the same,” she said.
“We wonder what criteria the President used to select the Cabinet. It is such a bad start for women to this new political dispensation. There are a lot of women politicians who are educated. Capacity and potential is there,” Mushonga said.
The organisation’s Mashonaland West chairperson Kay Ncube said there were plenty of educated women in Parliament from whom Mugabe could have appointed ministers. “We have very educated women in Zimbabwe and some of our politicians are educated as well,” Ncube said.
Ncube added: “Some of the men appointed to Cabinet are technocrats with no parliamentary seats. We also have women technocrats; they should have taken those and included them in Cabinet as well.”
Women in Politics Support Unit (WIPSU) programmes manager Patricia Muwandi said: “Our concern is that there are some women parliamentarians with adequate qualifications whom the President could have appointed because we believe that as the Constitution rightly puts it, we need to ensure that there is gender parity in these decision-making positions,” Muwandi said.
- Chamisa under fire over US$120K donation
- Mavhunga puts DeMbare into Chibuku quarterfinals
- Pension funds bet on Cabora Bassa oilfields
- Councils defy govt fire tender directive
Keep Reading
Tag a Life International director Nyaradzo Mashayamombe told NewsDay in an earlier interview that the low representation of women in key decision-making bodies like Cabinet was worrisome.
“The number of women that have been appointed to Cabinet is a cause for concern. When we pushed for the Constitution some of the issues included adequate women representation in such institutions. We expected more than this and this really is a disappointment considering all the work that was put into pushing for the 50/50 campaigns. This feels like we are so far away from achieving equality in this country. Three out of 26, what percentage is that?” queried Mashayamombe.
Ntombizodwa Mazhandu from the University of Zimbabwe’s Women’s Law Centre, however, said women were wrong in assuming that the Constitution demanded a 50/50 gender representation in institutions of governance. She said such interpretation of the Constitution exposed the poor understanding of the supreme law by women.
“Interpretation of the law itself is the biggest problem that we have as women. The 50/50 (representation) that we seek is not in the actual Constitution.
“It is just in the objectives of the Constitution. Section 17 of the Constitution provides for gender balance, but it is not specific. Balance can be a very relative term,” Mazhandu said.
