PRESIDENT Robert Mugabe has appointed an all-male presidium and a politburo packed with men, a possible indicator the Zanu PF veteran politician’s pays lip-service to gender equality in his political machinations.
Mugabe has cherry-picked long-time confidant Emmerson Mnangagwa and former diplomat Phelekezela Mphoko as his first and second deputies respectively, dumping former VP Joice Mujuru using a litany of allegations.
When Mugabe appointed Mujuru VP ten years ago amid pomp and ceremony, he claimed it was part of a strategy to empower the female folk in Zanu PF.
But fast forward ten years Mugabe is singing a different tune, asking women not to cry-foul after their demotion from the presidium, saying Mujuru betrayed the struggle and their trust.
“We shall recognise you in the not so far future,” he said.
But Mujuru’s appointment into the presidium ten years ago is now viewed as a window-dressing strategy by Mugabe as he sought the female vote to deflect a stiff challenge from the then united MDC led by former Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai.
A perusal of the list of new Zanu PF 40-member politburo indicates there are only ten women in the party’s decision-making body outside congress yet women started this process, namely Edna Madzongwe, Grace Mugabe and Oppah Muchinguri.
Mugabe, a willy politician in his own right could, by the way, be paving the path for his wife Grace to be the VP at his departure by destroying any other woman who appears strong currently.
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He has decimated the political career of Mujuru and reduced Muchinguri to a less influential position in the new politburo.
Women have become the greatest losers from this episode with Mugabe clearly confirming his distaste for female leadership.
The latest composition of both the presidium and politburo gives credence to claims Mugabe has always been a non-believer in the prominence of women both in word and in deed. He is seen as the epitome for a patriarchal society.
In the run-up to the Zanu PF sixth congress, he showed his distaste of female leadership when attacking Mujuru, saying she was a mere woman who had plotted to oust him from power.
