ONLY eight women councillors have been elected out of 29 council seats in Bulawayo, ironically at a time when political parties are pushing for gender equality in elected posts.
Report by Blondie Ndebele
All 29 councillors are from the MDC-T party and this will not enhance the party’s image. Promoting women’s rights and gender equality has not been attained. Sadc had called for a minimum quota of a third for women candidates, with this being pushed to 50-50. However, women’s activists say even if there were only eight elected women, this was an improvement from the three in the outgoing administration.
In separate interviews, gender activists said the increase in the number of female councillors in the city was a good step for development, as women understood issues of service delivery better than men. Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (Wild) director Samukeliso Khumalo commended the increase in the number of women councillors. “Women’s organisations did a great job in mobilising and educating women to participate in leadership and policy-making positions during the Government of National Unity,” she said.
“Issues of service delivery affect women more than men and when it comes to policy-making, we expect more women voices and we hope that in the next election the number would increase significantly.” Sithabile Mataka, Thabitha Ngwenya, Shilla Masonda and Gladys Masuku will be representing Wards 2, 6, 8 and 10, respectively. Lilian Mlilo, Cecelia Mlalazi, Thobani Ncube and Monica Lubimbi will be area councillors for Wards 12, 18, 23 and 29, respectively.
MDC-T Bulawayo spokesperson, Mandla Sibanda, said their party had been advocating for gender equality and they managed to influence women to participate in issues of governance. “We were encouraging women to apply and participate in matters that affect their lives and we can see an improvement as quite a number of women submitted their applications,” he said. “An increase in female councillors will ensure development in this city in terms of water and sanitation service delivery.” However, Women of Zimbabwe Arise leader Jennifer Williams said it was sad that women, who make the majority of the population, are fewer in decision-making platforms. “It’s so sad that we have fought so hard for gender equality and we still have unequal representation between men and women,” she said. “All that is left now is how we could demand affirmative action to push for implementation of issues that were recognised in the new Constitution.”
