The personal is political!Hon. Thokozani Khupe, MDC T and Com. Alice Mutindori, Zanu PF: UNW-ACTIL, Kenyatta University, Kenya

Honourable Thokozani Khupe, MP, MDC –T was born in 1963 in Bulawayo. Thokozani is a single parent with three children, and passionately says, “I have spent my adult life walking the gender equality journey; walking as a member of parliament and a leader of an opposition political party; walking as Deputy Prime Minister in the Zimbabwe Government of National Unity; walking as President of the Global Power Africa Initiative, and now as Board Chairperson of the African Centre for Transformative and Inclusive Leadership (ACTIL). I am still walking as board chair of ACTIL.

I started politics when I was in the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions and that motivated me to be a politician negotiating with government for worker’s rights. I realised that government was not willing to do what we envisioned and so together with others we initiated formation of the MDC. In 2000 I stood up and campaigned for a parliamentary in own right and won to fight for women’s issues. I have learnt that women should not die from hunger and poverty; In my journey women should not die from Hiv/Aids; In my journey women should not die while giving birth; and in my journey women should not watch their children die from malnutrition caused by economic deprivation. My major goal is to see to it that every woman in Zimbabwe and in Africa has full enjoyment of their rights and freedoms. It is now almost 20 years since Beijing, 23 years since CEDAW and 14 since the MDGs, yet women still lack in rights and freedoms and this is the war we want.

As president of Global Power I started a programme where we wanted women ministers in the executive and members of parliament to defend women’s positions at their different levels where budgets and policies are formulated so that when issues come to parliament we already know what women’s issues are. When budgets are debated and laws are passed female MPs must see to it that women’s needs are included in every law that is passed. If women are not catered for then no law should be passed. As board chair of ACTIL we are saying our focus is women and the youths because women hold half the sky and for any country to leave out half of humanity is as good as saying there is no development. I want to see development and enhancement of women’s rights. Women in the villages need irrigation drips and the advantage is that they can utilise very small land, little water getting high yields. Drip irrigation will also remove the burden from women who wake up as early as 3-4 am to till the land, carry children on their backs and have to come back and fetch buckets of water for household use. This is not good for women’s bodies. This is women’s daily life experiences. Women cannot go for antenatal care and maternal mortality is high. Most of them only get to see hospital when the complication is beyond control. There is also need to care for cancer and cervical cancer even before women get infected. Women need programmes that can give them that extra dollar. Life can only be good if women have money in their pockets. I want to see every girl child with an opportunity to go to school. Once the girls are educated they will take care of both male and girl child getting education and empowerment to negotiate for safe sex. Women as it stands are powerless and cannot negotiate for safe sex. When educated women and girls can stand up and say no.”

Comrade Alice Mutindori of Zanu PF is a former fighter in the liberation struggle that brought independence to Zimbabwe from colonial rule. She joined the war at 14, and in the war she was known as Melody Zvichapera Mabhunu.
“I crossed into Mozambique via Mary Mount in Manicaland with a friend of mine, also a girl of my age. We were not afraid because we crossed with the spirit of fighting to win back the gains of our country. People were being told that it was not possible to cross into Mozambique through propaganda radio but that spirit to fight for our country, to redeem our people from oppression pushed us on. Oppression was too much, especially for women. We had no access to education because foreigners told us that women were inferior. Now I feel free because girls can go to school and women are in parliament. Although we still need increased numbers in key decision making positions but being here talking for myself in a foreign country and being supported by UN Women an organisation that works for women’s rights is a huge achievement. It was not possible for women to own farms but now we can own farms and the country is slowly but surely responding to women’s needs. We need to keep on pushing for our recognition.”

In 1983 Alice was the first female member of the Organisation of Collective Cooperatives in Zimbabwe, and went to UK and France for learning exchange to bring back the knowledge which she ploughed into women’s projects for economic empowerment in Manicaland. This is part of the initiative that led to the creation of the Ministry of Cooperatives. She currently works at Mutare Polytechnic, and is Political Commissar in the Manicaland Zanu PF Women’s League. She works with female widows of war veterans, helping them to claim their benefits for school fees and food for their children from government as needed. Alice would like to see more progress in the area of women’s economic empowerment because she believes this is key for women to be confident.

“We are still lagging behind as women, few women own huge businesses. It is not enough for a small cross section of women to own wealth because all women take care of families regardless of who they are and where they come from. If women take care of families and the nation the state must give them the larger quotas in education and wealth. I thank UN Women. It has changed my life. As a war veteran I have benefited. Before going through the UN Women training I was harbouring too much anger but now I know I must be passionate and not angry because of lessons learnt from UN women. UN Women has built peace, and has brought us together especially the three political parties. When I look back I used to despise myself for having joined a painful war because people were always fighting each other and causing more pain but now I am happy because I see us talking to each other happily. When I joined the workshop I saw people angry with each other but as a fighter I always wanted to see unity and friendship so I was never part of that dynamic.”