MUTARE—Elections brought about excitement in communities as people were running around in preparation for the day. We had the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) moving around sensitising communities about the elections encouraging citizens to exercise their constitutional right and preaching the gospel of upholding unity and peace during the election period. Rallies peacefully took place in Sakubva, Gombakomba and other places with most young women attending these rallies.
Peace reigned during the voting period. A lot of polling stations were put in place and this maintained order as citizens didn’t have to wait long queues to cast their votes. However in some areas like Dangamvura and Bocha, people had to wait until very late hours due to a lack of Ballot papers and some people vowed to sleep at the polling stations until they cast their votes. Another challenge faced by people was that of missing their names in polling stations and this caused a lot of frustration in people. Youths came in their numbers to exercise their rights to choose their President, Councillors and MPs. I loved the fact that most young women came to vote and this showed that women in my community know that they have a right to vote. However, there is still a need to empower them to know their rights fully. In line with that, I observed a very disturbing number in the percentage of women participating in the race. There were very few women contesting for the positions of councillors and MPs, in some areas there were zero women contesting for any of the positions which was heart breaking.
This is really a cause of concern because women constitute a greater percentage of the Zimbabwean population and they are victims of all forms of vulnerabilities a person may think of. Therefore there is a great need for women to stand up and take leadership positions in politics so that most of our issues may be addressed effectively and be better advocated for by women who understand and also experience what most of the women in Zimbabwe experience. However, for women to participate in politics, there is a need to end violence against women in politics and fellow women should support each other and eradicate societal ignorance that women are only limited to domestic roles and lower ineffective positions.