IEC called on to benchmark on Zim women
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday February 26, 2024 06:00
Botswana currently stands at the bottom of the SADC region's women representation in Parliament and councils, 11% and 18% percent respectively.
Countries such as Zimbabwe, where the IEC benchmarked last week, have adopted legislative special temporary measures, such as gender quotas and reserve seats.
The measures are more advanced and extensive in neighbouring Namibia and South Africa, with 50% gender quotas in political office.
The measures have helped open the way to women's advancement. In Zimbabwe, in addition to political parties reserving a percentage of seats, the recent elections in 2023, had more women coming into Parliament through the 60 reserved seats.
Some women activists are currently calling for the IEC to push the government to consider the move by reserving certain seats for women. In an interview, the interim president of Botswana Caucus for Women in Politics, Rhoda Sekgororwane said: “The truth is that other countries are practising what is called propositional representation, which works well and addresses what we are seeking as women. I believe it is time the country does what is called Mixed First Past the Post since we are behind when it comes to women's representation.
As IEC is benchmarking on how the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission is doing its accreditation, then they should do the same on the issue of women's representation.” She said ZEC's structure on the issue of women's representation is way far better as it has helped Zimbabwe. Sekgororwane, whose movement was recently re-registered, said it is time the country’s constitution becomes inclusive to women and therefore it must have a clear percentage of their representation.
Furthermore, she said already other SADC countries are inclusive of women's representation to empower their women. She said South Africa and Zimbabwe are good examples that Botswana could benchmark from. Sekgororwane said the country could do better in women's representation since President Mokgweetsi Masisi has improved women's representation at executive positions at the government level.
Therefore, according to Sekgororwane all is not lost as women could come together to advocate for improvement in both council and Parliament. According to Sekgororwane the reason why they have re-registered their movement is to make their voice heard by the government. However, IEC spokesperson Osupile Maroba said; “regarding women's participation in elections, the IEC confirms their active participation. More women have consistently registered for elections than men and more have cast their vote than men. Therefore, within the constitutional mandate, the IEC deals with electoral management.” Maroba said the IEC cannot benchmark on issues that deal with the constitution unless it has been given a mandate to do so.
He said the issue women are calling IEC to do at ZEC lies with the government and Parliament to adopt it. Meanwhile, on issues of registration, Maroba said they want to improve the figures that have already been attained, which stands at 54% and their target is 80%. “Our target is 1.3 million and eligible voters stand at 1.7 million. Therefore we need around 33% to reach our target from what we have already attained. As IEC, we don’t have a mandate to request to have a clause in the constitution that calls for a certain percentage of women representation,” he said.