BULAWAYO MDC Alliance women’s assembly members on Sunday staged a demonstration against the party’s leadership, stalling the holding of primary elections to replace the late ward 8 councillor, Ronia Mudara.
The women were protesting against the party’s directorate
of national elections (DNE)’s decision to include male candidates in the
primaries or the municipal seat when the province had reserved it for female
candidates.
The protest came after the province last week expressed
concerns over the removal of one of the female candidates Thandekile Moyo’s
name from the list of prospective candidants it sent to the party’s DNE.
The women accused the DNE of trying to impose a male
candidate in the ward, thereby forcing a team comprising national youth
secretary-general Ostallos Siziba, deputy national secretary for elections
Ellen Shiriyedenga, among others, to postpone the primaries, as the Bulawayo
province insisted that all male candidates be removed from the contest and only
female candidates should battle it out for the ward.
Bulawayo MDC Alliance spokesperson Swithern Chirowodza
confirmed the incident. “Women protested yesterday (Sunday) that they did not
want male candidates. The primary election had to be called off and the
province resolved that only female candidates should contest ward 8
primaries,”he said.
Initially the Bulawayo provincial executive (PEC) had
submitted the names of Thandekile Moyo, Lezina Mohammed and Thandazani Mhlanga,
all females along with the male candidates — Edwin Ndlovu, Wesley Moyo, Newman
Ndlovu, Mqoqi Ncube and Thulani Ncube.
The executive had agreed that ward 8 should be reserved for
a female candidate in accordance with article 5.9 of the party’s policy on
women’s rights. The policy obliges the party to be sensitive to the status of
women.
However, MDC Alliance secretary-general Chalton Hwende in
an internal memorandum dated October 2 only listed six candidates who
qualified.
The list excluded Moyo and Ndlovu, leading the PEC to accuse NED of not adhering to the party constitution in the selection of candidates. Newsday
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