Harare, Zimbabwe – On March 16, Thokozile Dube was attacked by a gang of assailants who stormed her yard at twilight in Mawabeni community in Matabeleland South province, 480km (300 miles) away from the capital, Harare.
It was 10 days to the Zimbabwean parliamentary and local government by-elections in which she was representing the main opposition Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) in a race for a council seat, the 61-year-old farmer said.
The men numbered almost 40 and arrived in two vehicles reportedly belonging to the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) candidate vying for the same position, she said.
“They parked just outside the gate and forced their way into my yard carrying stones and shouting obscenities,” Dube told Al Jazeera. “My tormentors were mostly youths under the orders of Silibaziso Nkala and other leaders in their party.”
It was a continuation of a pattern of intimidation, she said, from “the local ZANU-PF leadership, which had constantly dissuaded me from contesting in the polls”.
Towards gender parity
Zimbabwe, a deeply conservative country, has always recorded a lower percentage of women participating as candidates in elections since independence in 1980 compared with men, despite constituting more than half of the electorate and of the total 15 million people in the country.
Interestingly, in 2013, the Southern African country adopted a pro-gender equality constitution that stipulated the reservation of 60 seats from the current 270 in parliament. The seats are distributed among parties on proportional representation. But after next year’s general elections, the quota will officially expire and parliament will have only 210 seats.
Despite this quota system, an attempt to achieve equality and encourage women’s participation in national decision-making platforms, female participation in politics remains low.
Various stereotypes have been used to undermine their capability to be active in politics, analysts say. When not deemed too weak to lead, women are often presented as having loose morals or as mercenaries for the governing party or opposition.
Earlier this month, CCC spokeswoman Fadzayi Mahere approached the courts suing writer Edmund Kudzayi for alleging that she had been involved in an affair with a married man resulting in the breakdown of his marriage. Mahere is demanding $100,000 in damages.
Beyond cyberbullying, there have also been cases of physical intimidation of female politicians.
In the March 26 parliamentary by-elections, only 16 female candidates participated out of 118 candidates vying for 28 seats in the National Assembly. The local government polls saw 76 female candidates contest against 291 males for 118 seats. Only five female candidates won parliamentary seats while 18 made it to their respective councils.
And during the by-elections, at least six women were reportedly hurt or harassed.
Such incidents hinder women’s representation in politics, according to Sitabile Dewa, executive director of Harare-based Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (WALPE), which helps prepare women to run for public office.
“The reoccurrence of violence during elections has continuous negative ripple effects to the participation of women in electoral processes as the assumptions of an election being violent and intolerant of women are always evident,” Dewa, told Al Jazeera.
According to her, women have largely been on the receiving end of the political antagonism, which has seen a drop in their interest to participate actively in electoral processes.
From 2018 to date, WALPE recorded 37 cases of women reportedly maimed, tortured and even killed for political reasons.
In 2019, local comedian Samantha Kureya, popularly known as Gonyeti, was abducted and tortured by masked gunmen over her political satire. The next year, Joanna Mamombe, a sitting member of parliament, was arrested while protesting alongside youth leaders Cecilia Chimbiri and Netsai Marova, all of the CCC, before resurfacing tortured and disoriented after two days.
“Women are largely known for peace and unity so when a certain field, be it political or at home becomes violent they usually shy away,” says Linda Masarira, political activist and president of opposition Labour Economists and African Democrats (LEAD) party.
Masarira attributes the continuous significant decline in the number of women vying for seats at different levels in politics to various forms of violence, including cyberbullying.
Despite her vast experience in politics, the former trade unionist and human rights defender who landed behind bars for her role in the 2016 protests, says the attacks can be unbearable.
“As women, we go through body shaming, interrogation of our sexual lives among other forms of violence and we hardly see that happening to the male counterparts,” she said. “At some point, the physical attacks started affecting me to an extent that I actually had to have personal security moving with me.”
But not all female politicians, especially those in rural Zimbabwe, can afford to do that.
Panic mode
Prior to the attack on Dube, her homestead, tucked within the rocky valleys and thorny bushes of Mawabeni, had been a safe haven. But nowadays, when the entire estate becomes enveloped by the quiet after sunset, the widow and her two granddaughters – aged eight and 12 – go into panic mode. And there are nightmares too.
She remembers squatting next to the door before it was kicked open and being the only woman in the midst of men baying for her blood.
“They vandalised my property and said I was contaminating the community. I was numb the entire time,” she said, adding that they “promised to cut my throat”. That warning haunts her daily.
Dube reported the incident to the police but complained that they had been “dragging their feet” under the pretext of conducting investigations. A group of human rights lawyers has also taken the issue to the courts.
Women groups which have long been calling for true equality in all spheres of life in the country are once again asking for true safe spaces for women to exercise their civic rights. According to Dewa, mechanisms like the quota system have been mere appeasement for those loyal to male leadership instead of creating a nontoxic space for women to compete fairly.
“In order to increase the number of women participating in politics it is important that a safe environment be created for women to participate freely in democratic processes,” she said.
Jestina Mukoko, the director of Zimbabwe Peace Project – a local human rights monitoring group, agrees.
“The system is built to support men at the expense of women and this will continue unless practical action is taken to punish perpetrators,” she said. “There should be steps that deter people from repeating the perpetration of violence [but] the challenge that we have in our country is that those who perpetrate violence are actually rewarded at times.”
Mukoko, a victim of political violence, underwent psychosocial support for years since 2009 to manage the trauma but by her own admission such a “scar will never be erased”.
For Dube, the horror lingers but she has hope, albeit thin, that justice will take its course before her 2023 election campaign gets into motion.
“It would make me feel better if those criminals account for their actions because if not they might repeat it next year,” said Dube who is confident of winning her seat and bringing an end to the injustice in her community.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
