OPPOSITION MDC legislators this week unsuccessfully tried to bring the case of incarcerated Harare West legislator Joana Mamombe up for discussion in bid to get the youngest MP in the National Assembly out of prison.
Mamombe was thrown into Chikurubi prison last week on
Thursday on the instigation of Harare magistrate Bianca Makwande pending a
psychiatric examination to determine her suitability to stand trial in a
treason case.
This was after she failed to attend a court hearing where
she and two other female MDC Alliance (MDC-A) supporters, Cecilia Chimbiri and
Netsai Marova, are accused by the state of faking their alleged abductions and
torture.
After she failed to attend court, a warrant of arrest was
issued despite that a clinician had certified that she was unfit to stand trial
due to her mental state after she suffered depression. Mamombe is the youngest
MP in the country after she became Harare West MP in 2018 at the age of 25
years.
MDC-A vice-president Lynette Karenyi (proportional
representative MP) then made desperate attempts to get Mamombe’s issue into the
National Assembly agenda by stating to the Speaker of the National Assembly
Jacob Mudenda that her continued incarceration will discourage young women from
participating in political activity as they will perceive it as very violent.
“My point of privilege comes out of the issue of 50/50
gender representation in parliament as stipulated by Section 17 of the
constitution which stipulates gender parity in parliament, state enterprises
and parastatals and other economic activities — and it is an issue pertaining
to victimisation and torture of female politicians whereby, as a result, young
women will not be encouraged to contest to become MPs,” Karenyi Kore said.
“This is an issue whereby one of our youngest MPs Mamombe has been imprisoned
…”
Before Karenyi Kore could finish her sentence, Mudenda
stopped her saying that she was out of order.
“May you second a motion to be tabled by Goodlucky Kwaramba
(Zanu PF MP and chairperson of the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus),” Mudenda
said.
Kwaramba had said she will move a motion for implementation
of the 50/50 gender representation at a later date.
MDC-A vice-chairperson Job Sikhala challenged the manner in
which Mudenda had dismissed the Mamombe issue.
“I want to raise my concerns over the manner in which you
dismissed an important issue raised by Karenyi Kore. The person that was
arrested is an MP,” Sikhala said, but Mudenda also dismissed his pleas.
MDC-A MPs then resorted to tactfully debating the issue by
raising questions of human rights and Mamombe’s arrest during any motion that
was discussed in parliament, including issues of trade and investment.
Mbizo MP Settlement Chikwinya said: “No one will invest in
a country where there is no respect of human rights. We have an MP who was sent
to jail instead of being sent to a medical institution. Why not let the law
take its course?”
But Mudenda said the matter was sub judice and cannot be
debated in parliament. “Why not come up with a motion on the Treaty on Torture
and Inhuman Treatment so that you have ample time to debate those issues? At
the moment, the matter of Mamombe is before the courts,” Mudenda said.
This comes at a time when the Research and Advocacy Unit
(RAU), the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ) and the Gender Media Connect
(GMC), supported by the Swedish Embassy, this week released a report on
violence against women and politically motivated rape.
The report said there is need for the state to come up with
a comprehensive violence prevention strategy to safeguard the well- being of
women in Zimbabwe.
“Violence against women in Zimbabwe is condoned to the
extent that it is now political culture to use women as a means to an end for
political gain, especially during electoral processes. Therefore there are
serious risks of women getting involved in politics, and the risks increase the
more involved they become, especially if they assume leadership roles.”
The report said such violence on women in politics is a
strategy to send threatening messages as well as provoke a response to the
opposing side to instil fear and quell resistance.
The RAU report alleged there was also politically motivated
rape on women, which was in three forms: extreme violence, gang rape and
insertion of objects such as sticks and bottles into women’s private parts.
In 2009, RAU conducted a national study where out of a
sample of 2 149 women, 2% indicated that they had experienced politically
motivated rape, 3% reported that it had happened to a family member, and 16%
knew of someone in the community that experienced it. Zimbabwe Independent
0 comments:
Post a Comment