Zim govt bemoans reducing women’s participation in politics

By Staff Writer
JUSTICE Minister Ziyambi Ziyambi has bemoaned the continued decline in the numbers of female politicians vying for the Presidential job amid revelations that so far there is only woman among the 11 candidates.
Speaking to diplomats and foreign observer missions accredited to cover the August 23 polls Ziyambi said the numbers of contesting women have consistently dwindled since 2013.
“We have always wanted women involvement in our politics and we introduced the women’s quota so that more women can take part in our politics, but since 2013 and 2018 thenumbers have dropped significantly affecting women’s involvement in our politics,” Ziyambi said.
“We will continue to encourage more and more women to take part in our politics.”
United Zimbabwe Alliance president, Elisabeth Valerio, is the only female presidential candidate after winning an appeal against the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (Zec)’s rejection of her nomination papers.
Another female presidential aspirant and leader of the Labour, Economists and African Democrats, Linda Masarira is also challenging Zec at the courts after she failed to submit her nomination papers following a payment dispute.
Masarira wanted to pay using real time gross settlement, but the presiding officers insisted on cash or payment through the ZimSwitch Instant Payment Interchange Technology system.
Four women took part in the 2018 presidential elections.