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Andrew Muvishi  Herald Reporter

The Zimbabwe Gender Commission (ZGC) has expressed concern over concerted attacks on female politicians and election managers in the country, which has manifested in many forms, including psychological violence.

The commission cited Mr Nelson Chamisa and his MDC-Alliance’s abuse of female commissioners of the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC), especially the chairperson Justice Priscilla Chigumba.

ZEC commissioners have been victims of consistent abuse by the MDC-Alliance, which has accused them of working with Zanu-PF to rig the elections on Monday.

The attacks have intensified in the past few weeks, with Mr Chamisa making demands that have been described by leader of the Elders and former United Nations secretary-general Mr Kofi Annan as unreasonable .

Speaking during the launch of Gender Observatory Mechanisms in Harare on Wednesday, ZGC chairperson Commissioner Margaret Mukahanana-Sangarwe said the attack on women had escalated despite the peaceful environment prevailing in the country.

“While we welcome the reduction in physical violence in this election, compared to previous years and unprecedented freedom of expression across political parties, by activists and the public at large, we note with increasing concern the conscious targeting of women in hate speech, inflammatory language and cyber bullying,” she said.

“Although election campaigns in their essence include the strategy to trivialise and ridicule opponents, there appears to be convergence when it comes to lampooning women.

“We have noted that age-old stereotypes that blame women, including for men’s choices, have been revived, stoked and given currency in a manner that has taken us as a country, many decades back.

“The psychological warfare has been mutually reinforced by the decrease in representation of women in political parties, based on nominations for direct election on July 30, in stark contrast to the goodwill and progress that was witnessed in the last election.”

Comm Mukahanana-Sangarwe said violence against women in elections was a form of gender-based violence intended to curtail the realisation of women political rights in an electoral context and hence the need for the Gender Observatory Mechanism.

“Gender Observatory Mechanism is a way of gathering evidence and documenting women’s experiences throughout the electoral cycles,” she said.

“It also responds to electoral violence against women before, during and after elections.

“We, therefore, call upon all political parties, supporters and the public to desist from inflicting psychological violence on any member of society, least of all women, either as voters, candidates or in election management bodies.

“We believe it is also necessary for nation building that we interrogate unconstitutional treatment of women in leadership, among other groups.

“If there is consensus that our country needs to heal, the media has a considerable role to play in highlighting cases of violence, in all its forms.”

Section 51 of the Constitution states that “every person has inherent dignity in their private and public life and the right to have dignity respected and protected”.

Section 52 on personal security guarantees every person the right to bodily and psychological integrity which in (a) includes, “the right to freedom from all forms of violence from public or private sources.”