2023 Elections: WLSA wants women candidates allocated campaign money
Women and Law in Southern Africa (WILSA) has petitioned Parliament seeking the amendment of the Political Parties Finance Act to create a provision where female candidates will be given campaign funds.
Currently, only political parties that have at least 5% of seats in Parliament are entitled to the funds under the Act.
Since the 2018 general elections, only Zanu PF and MDC Alliance have benefitted from the allocation.
Several other political parties have complained that this gives the two political parties an unfair advantage over others.
Zimbabwe has seen the sprouting of political parties in the last two years, with others concluding that people are doing it in anticipation of money.
Reading the petition in the National Assembly, Deputy Speaker Tsitsi Gezi said the petition is seeking that women be provided with money for training and campaigning.
‘’I also have to inform the House that on Monday 3rd October 2022, the Parliament of Zimbabwe received a petition from the Women and Law in Southern Africa beseeching Parliament to amend the electoral law and Political Parties Finance Act to provide for the allocation of funds for campaigning and provision of training for women candidates for election.
‘’The petition has since been referred to the Portfolio Committee on Justice, Legal and Parliamentary Affairs,’’ she said.
Women are said to be failing to compete with males due to a lack of resources owing to historical developments. According to statistics women constitute the majority in Zimbabwe but have not been able to scale to high positions in politics.
Currently, there is no woman in the country’s Presidium. The last a woman was in the Presidium, was when Joice Mujuru was Vice President.
The WLSA petition comes at a time when the Cabinet has approved principles for Electoral Act Amendment Bill, which will make some changes to how people register to vote among others.
It remains to be seen if Parliament will incorporate the petition and the Bill when they eventually go out to hear citizens views.
2023 Elections: WLSA wants women candidates allocated campaign money
