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First Lady Amai Mugabe

Ruth Butaumocho Gender Forum

Being a woman, the First Lady, knows the pangs of a hungry child, the despair of a poor, hopeless woman and challenges of putting food on the table, against a background of meagre or no resources.

The zanu-pf 6th National People’s Congress that was held in Harare last week ended on a high note with the 12 000-strong delegates agreeing to put economic recovery top of the party’s agenda.

During the congress, different committees gave their recommendations, which will naturally guide Government as it goes about its business until the next elections in 2018.

Going through the proceedings on Saturday, I could not help but marvel at the energy that characterised the event, particularly the appointment of the First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe as zanu-pf’s Secretary for Women’s Affairs.

In her inaugural speech, Amai Mugabe made it clear that the gender agenda would feature prominently on her itinerary following the numerous complaints she received during her “Meet the People” tours held throughout the country prior to the congress.

She conceded that women across the social strata continued to face various problems, which she said could be attributed to economic challenges and unequal distribution of resources, with the female populace only getting a small portion of the cake.

Earlier on, speaking at the Mashonaland East rally at Rudhaka Stadium in Marondera, during the last leg of the “Meet the People” provincial tour in October, the First Lady called on provincial leaders to give women land, saying they had as much right as men to get land.

She even expressed concern in the manner some widows were being treated, after the death of their husbands, saying the anomaly needed to be corrected to ensure women were not disadvantaged.

There could have been some sections of the society that dismissed her concern for women as rhetoric and cheap politicking.

However, her concern for the plight of women did not just end there, but she took her concerns to the high table during the congress, where she reiterated that there was need to address the plight of women right across.

Some of the issues that Amai Mugabe raised included domestic violence, high levels of poverty among women, unemployment, abuse of women at different levels and lack of economic opportunities.

Even the congress delegates were horrified by the escalating cases of sexual abuse against women, including the rape of innocent baby girls, a situation which all delegates agreed was being exacerbated by poor prosecution or seemingly lenient sentences being meted out by the courts.

The beauty about it is that the concerns of women that she and her predecessor, Cde Oppah Muchinguri, had earlier on made during the deliberations were part of the draft resolutions that would be presented to the party’s Central Committee this week.

Millions of women across Zimbabwe should take comfort in the fact that the gender agenda, and ultimately women’s cause would be pushed by the First Lady, a women’s and child rights’ advocate, stemming from her setting up of the orphanage and her agitation for women’s empowerment through the provision of land and funding.

The First Lady’s decision to start an orphanage — from own resources — was naturally inspired by her motherly instincts and the realisation that the greatly disadvantaged children still deserved a roof above their heads despite their varying but worrying circumstances.

From where she stands, Amai Grace Mugabe is in a better position to push for women’s empowerment and bring a positive change to repetition, lack of change; tokenism and lip services Zimbabwean women had grown accustomed to.

For long, women have been demanding their rights and a stake in the economy, but their causes have been postponed and systematically excluded in sustainable development, something that could change following Amai Mugabe’s appointment to take over such an important position in the ruling party’s Women’s League — the numerical backbone of zanu-pf.

She also has a competitive edge to push for the empowerment of women, because she has got the ear of the President and will naturally influence change in their favour.

Those in politics can attest that politics is all about who gets what, when and how. At this juncture in the history of Zimbabwe, women are rest assured that entry of Amai Mugabe in politics, should be a game changer in their fortunes, aspirations, hopes and dreams, considering that she is a tried and tested businesswoman, a philanthropist, who revered as “The Mother of Revelations” in politics after having being a mere bystander to a major political actor.

Women should not dismiss such achievements, but should actually embrace it because, it will in the long run, work in their favour.

For now, women should momentarily forget about the hypocrisy demonstrated by existing structures and individuals that supposedly stand for gender equality, justice and the empowerment of women, but rally behind their benefactor, who will not watch women sink deeper into poverty, but will naturally come to their rescue.

Being a woman, the First Lady, knows the pangs of a hungry child, the despair of a poor, hopeless woman and challenges of putting food on the table, against a background of meagre or no resources.

Hopes of millions of women across Zimbabwe lie with the mother of the nation, who has since promised to change the waning fortunes of the country’s largest population.