'Pastor' Mbaakanyi Preaches To Parliament

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Monday April 6, 2009 00:00

 

She dedicated 30 minutes of her two-hour contribution reading verses in the bible explaining why equal representation of men and women should be maintained in Parliament. But other MPs frequently interrupted the 'sermon' demanding explanations from her. Mbaakanyi was contributing to a motion by MP for Mahalapye East, Botlogile Tshireletso, who wants government to amend Section 58 of the Constitution to increase the number of specially elected MPs to eight to cater for women. She said that women have been disadvantaged for a long time and it is likely to be worse in the coming years because of their low representation in Parliament. She said that the strong language male politicians use, both in political rallies and Parliament can sometimes intimidate women.

She said that the political environment should be made friendly to encourage the participation of women. 'As long as language stays like this, women will not participate in politics,' she lamented.

But many male MPs did not welcome the comment saying Mbaakanyi is trying to push the agenda of elite women, who want to be given positions of power on a silver platter. They argued that women must compete with men for all positions if they want their voices to be heard. They said that it would be undemocratic for government to push people who were rejected by voters into Parliament. Mbaakanyi blamed her frustrations on the media saying the press does not give support to women. She accused cartoonists and writers of portraying women in bad light. 

MP for Tonota South, Pono Moatlhodi, took the floor immediately after Mbaakanyi and accused her of trying to smoothen the path for elite women who want to go to Parliament. He lashed out at women for failing to recognise Amantle Montsho, the first Motswana woman to reach the finals at the Olympic Games in Beijing last year. He said that he had expected to see a huge reception for Montsho on her return home but women snubbed her. 'Even today, these women see nothing in what she did. They just did nothing to encourage her,' he said.  Moatlhodi pleaded for presidential recognition for Montsho.

The legislator said that the government has done enough to empower women saying they now hold positions of power in many departments. He added that the main problem with women is that they have a bad attitude towards each other as well as politics. Quoting from a speech he claims was an address by leader of the popular Zion Christian Church (ZCC), Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane, Moatlhodi said that a bad attitude could destroy every institution from the family, church, political party or even a nation.