Govt, political parties not doing much to curb violence

IN December, the Women’s Academy for Leadership and Political Excellence (Walpe) and the Women and Law in Southern Africa with support from the Netherlands embassy hosted a live TV programme on Bustop TV with aspiring women leaders discussing the topic “Is enough being done to punish perpetrators of political violence against women?”

To mark the end of 16 Days of Activism against Gender Based Violence, aspiring women leaders reflected on the challenges posed by political violence on aspiring women and how inaction on the part of political parties, the police and government was discouraging women from contesting for public office.

The panellists concurred that women were, indeed, the biggest victims of political violence before, during and after elections and that the perpetrators are mostly men.

They also bemoaned lack of timeous response to reported cases of political violence, surge in cases of political violence and lack of stiff penalties for perpetrators.

The net effect of these vices is a further decrease in the number of women occupying leadership positions.

The women highlighted that the media could play a significant role in curbing violence against women in elections by reporting and publicly naming and shaming all perpetrators.

The aspiring women leaders recommended:

⬤ Mandatory sentences or penalties for perpetrators should be enacted,

⬤ Political parties should do more to curb politically motivated violence,

⬤ Use of social media to name and shame perpetrators,

⬤ Automatic disqualification of candidates who have a history of violence by political parties,

⬤ Development of toll free lines by women’s organisations for reporting cases,

⬤ Operationalising the independent complaints commission, and

⬤ Political parties’ code of conducts must clearly condemn and punish perpetrators of politically motivated violence against women.