President Mnangagwa and First Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa (inset) salute ZANU-PF supporters on arrival for a Women’s League national assembly in Harare yesterday.
THE Zanu-PF Central Committee meets to discuss various issues in preparation for the forthcoming harmonised elections.
President Mnangagwa, who is the First Secretary of the revolutionary party, said this while addressing hundreds of women from Harare province at its headquarters ahead of a meeting of the National Assembly of the Women’s League.
The First Secretary expressed his surprise and gratitude at the high turnout by the women.
“I thank you for coming in large numbers today. You are power in Zanu-PF, you are a power in the country. Whoever ignores women, does so at one’s own peril. You will be in trouble if you do that.
“When I met your leaders, they gave me your grievances and one of them is the little number of women who won in the recently held primary elections. They said out of the 210 seats only 22 were won by women so we agreed that we will discuss the issue as the Central Committee tomorrow to see what we can do,” President Mnangagwa said.
He said one solution was to amend the constitution so that the present quota of 60 seats for women is extended.
The quota, which was implemented for the first time in 2013, was only designed to last 10 years and will lapse in 2023.
Other issues that are also expected to be discussed include allocation of resources and transport to be used during the campaign.
“The other issues they raised concern on include the allocation of resources. They said the resources that are there are mainly used by the main wing without specific allocations for the Women’s and Youth Leagues. It is one of the issues that we will also discuss tomorrow to ensure each wing is allocated its resources.
“The issue they raised was also on the transport for women to use during this campaign period. We will make announcements on that tomorrow,” President Mnangagwa added.
President Mnangagwa said Government was working hard to address the cash shortages but said they would announce a comprehensive plan if ZanuPF wins the elections.
“The issue of cash shortages is a challenging one but we are doing all we can to address it.
“Only a few weeks ago we brought $100 million but the problem is once the money goes out of the banking system it’s not coming back that’s why we are encouraging the use of plastic money.
“However, we will announce how will proceed with the issue of currency soon after the elections,” he said.
President Mnangagwa called for ZanuPF cadres to campaign peacefully.
“Zanu-PF is a powerful and popular party. There is no need for violence and, like we said, Zimbabwe is open for business, (that’s why) we have opened ourselves to the outside world.
“We have invited the AU, the EU and others and will win in their presence. Some may make noise, but we will not be distracted,” President Mnangagwa said.
He said Zanu-PF had a track record and was the only party with the interests of the majority at heart.