FIREBRAND Norton legislator, Temba Mliswa, on Wednesday
tore into the Zimbabwe Gender Commission, accusing it of being hypocritical
after it failed to come to the defence of former Vice-President Joice Mujuru
when she was publicly crucified by former First Lady Grace Mugabe.
Grace accused Mujuru of laziness that did not befit a
Vice-President in a vicious character assassination campaign at Phelandaba
Stadium in Gwanda in the run up to the Zanu PF congress in December 2014.
She also accused her of witchcraft and prostitution. Speaking
at the Zimbabwe Gender Commission meeting in Bulawayo yesterday, Mliswa said
the commission slept on the job at a time Mujuru needed their support.
“I am asking the Gender Commission and you civil society;
what did women do when the former First Lady (Grace Mugabe) was insulting other
women? What did women do to defend Amai Mujuru when she was attacked by the
former First Lady and why were you quiet?” Mliswa queried.
“When the former First Lady insulted the current President,
Emmerson Mnangagwa, what did you do about it?”
In response, Zimbabwe Gender Commissioner Margaret
Mukahanana-Sangarwe admitted that while the commission was not yet established
when Mujuru was victimised, they were caught napping when Mnangagwa was dragged
over live coals “because of the situation”.
“When the current President was insulted, what did the
commission do? We deal with both men and women. We just don’t deal with women.
But what I would want to say is that in the first instance,
it was before the Gender Commission was established,” she said.
“But I am not making any excuses.
The other issue that happened and I think that you
acknowledged [it] when you spoke, that at some point it was very difficult for
the gender commission to do anything because of the situation.”
Mukahanana-Sangarwe, however, said the commission lacked
financial backing.
“I think now that we have been challenged about these
issues as a Gender Commission, particularly of taking the government to court,
we should also note that to take the government or anyone to court costs money
and the budget of the Gender Commission is very limited and the budget comes
from government,” she said.
The commissioner said it was something that could be
further discussed and they needed every woman to throw their weight behind the
campaign.
“It’s an issue for all women. It’s not just for the Gender
Commission and if a woman is insulted, our expectation is that all the women,
in the civil society and the gender commission and all the women should be
marching against some of these issues and protest against other women being
harassed,” she said.
The meeting was held under the theme “Women Experiences and
Perspectives on 2018 Elections and Recommendations for 2023”.
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