Themba Mliswa, the outspoken politician and current independent Member of Parliament for Norton Constituency, has blasted women in politics for failing to deliver tangible results and remaining bench warmers in the House of Assembly.
He said this at the recently held conference for the Coalition of Independent Parties in Zimbabwe ahead of this impending harmonised elections hailed by the Zimbabwean Election Support Network (ZESN) which was attended by various stakeholders.
He castigated women saying, “A total of 60 women are in parliament and most of them don’t do anything. The only thing we have seen coming from them is having nice make up and wigs.”
Mliswa also defended himself as an independent candidate.
“I enjoy representing people, speaking about justice and I want to depart from a weeping system where you spend most of your time attending party meetings which do not yield anything. I believe in people’s politics, people matters the most,” he said.
Mliswa’s words did not sit well with women in politics.
Jessie Majome, an independent candidate for Harare west, argued that women contribute a lot in politics only that they were few in the house of assembly.
“I encourage women in parliament to raise their voice and have confidence. The issue of proportion is denigrating the diversity of the young generation because some women in ZANU PF have been overstaying and they are still in the race for 2018 elections,” Majome said.
“If you vote for someone who has 20 years in parliament you have a problem,” she added.
Duduzile Nyirongo, a young lady who is also an aspiring independent candidate for Mt Pleasant in Harare ward 7, said that politics is not a game of numbers.
“Complaining that women are few in politics does not yield anything, what is needed are women with the capacity to deliver. We should groom young women so that they will be able to deliver appropriately,” she said.
Another female candidate for Bulawayo South who is an aspiring MP, Vimbainashe Musvaburi, refuted Mliswa’s remarks.
She said, “I was part of those who were waiting for 2000 jobs, money in banks which was promised by ZANU PF and I have seen that they have failed so I am there to deliver infrastructure development as well as empowering youth within my constituency.”
This conference was attended by the leader of Alliance for People’s Agenda, Dr Nkosana Moyo who highlighted that most MPs and councillors do not know their main responsibility of representing people and that lessons must be taken from the voices of the people represented.
