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Cde Flora Buka

Lovemore Chikova News Editor
THE Zanu-PF Women’s League has urged the party leadership to decisively deal with factionalism by exposing and punishing members who perpetrated electoral fraud in the just-ended Youths and Women’s conferences.
The call was part of the resolutions read out by outgoing Women’s League secretary for administration Cde Flora Buka at the 6th Women’s League national conference which ended in Harare last night.

‘’To urge the party to decisively deal with factionalism and expose and punish those who perpetrate electoral fraud.’’
Some Politburo and Central committee members were implicated in manipulating votes at the Youths Conference, a development President Mugabe rapped as unbecoming, criminal and filthy.

The women urged the senior party leadership to resolve their differences amicably and be discouraged from using the media to settle scores.
“To call upon the party to direct men to stop interfering in women’s affairs and allow women to mobilise new party members without hindrance,” the women resolved. “To call on the party to ensure transparency and accountability in the allocation and distribution of resources meant to benefit the ordinary membership.”

The women reiterated their support for President Mugabe as the sole candidate for presidency at the party’s forthcoming 6th National People Congress to be held in December.

They also resolved that President Mugabe should subsequently be the party’s sole presidential candidate in the 2018 harmonised elections.
The Women’s League resolved that First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe should be appointed to lead the wing at the National People’s Congress in December.
While closing the conference, President Mugabe thanked the women for supporting him and the First Lady.

Amai Mugabe was given an opportunity to speak after President Mugabe’s speech and thanked the Women’s League for endorsing her to be appointed to lead the wing.
“Thank you for selecting me as the sole candidate for women,” she said. “I want to express my most profound gratitude to you. Although it is yet to be confirmed, this is one step that the women have taken, being supported by the youths.

“I have been watching with keen interest all the proceedings (of the conference), I realised there is a lot of work to be done. But I know that the women of Zimbabwe are very capable, you work hard against all odds.”

Amai Mugabe said if she is eventually confirmed as the party secretary for women’s affairs, she would ensure that she continues from where her predecessors left.
“I am not well versed in the field of politics, I am here to learn,” she said. “Thank you for giving me an opportunity to learn what it means to lead the Women’s League.”

The Women’s League condemned all forms of corruption within the party and Government and called for stiffer penalties against perpetrators.
The women also resolved that the party should constantly support women’s empowerment and emancipation as well as imparting revolutionary values, ideals and ethos to all women and called for the capacitation of women elected into leadership positions so that they are better able to executive their duties.

The other resolution was on the party to increase its streams of revenue to ensure that party projects were adequately funded.
The women called for the party constitution to be aligned with the new Constitution and ensure that constitutional provisions regarding equal representation were fully implemented.

“That duty and VAT be removed on all sanitary ware and sanitary ware manufacturing equipment and that sanitary ware should be accessible to all women,” the women resolved.

They called for successful implementation of Zim-Asset and the provision of social services and said the Government should implement pledges made in the party’s 2013 election manifesto.

The women also called for more support for the agricultural sector and the concentration on value addition and beneficiation in line with Zim-Asset.