Resta Dzvinyangoma: Life after overcoming painful situations

Alderman Resta Dzvinyangoma is the first-born daughter in a family of three girls and two boys. She was deprived of the right to finish her secondary school education by her father because he believed educating a girl child was a waste of resources. The only support she received from her family was when they facilitated her marriage to a well-resourced man, thus she was married at a tender age. She thought this marriage was going to solve her problems instead they worsened. The burdens of the patriarchy followed her into her marriage when her husband told her to give birth to a baby boy; failure to do so would necessitate his marrying an- other wife. They had a family business and she had no control over finances, she didn’t even have a bank ac- count. Decisions were made without her consent. Her husband sent her to his rural home to take care of her in-laws where everyone treated her like a child.

She endured different forms of abuse and discrimination while growing up, in her marriage, and working in society. While this was a difficult experience, it drove her to become a Councillor and Gender Champion, to ensure women and girls do not go through what she experienced.

Her vision is to see equal representation in all institutions at all levels and for communities to be economically empowered by 2030. Councillor Alderman Resta Dzvinyangoma walks us through her journey, highlighting some of her experiences:

“The issue of increasing women’s representation at the local level through 30% women’s quota was not received well”. This needs special attention. Intergenerational dialogues and mentorship programs also need attention as a way of building synergies between generations. With statistics indicating a persistent case of child marriages, robust awareness campaigns on ending child marriages need to be conducted”, she said.

Commenting on the reasons for her to pursue a political career Dzvinyangoma said she was driven to become a councillor because she wanted to eliminate barriers hindering women’s political participation such as patriarchy, cultural and religious practices, lack of political will, pull her down syndrome, inadequate resources, cyberbullying and hate speech. “My desire is to make sure policies, programs, and projects remain people-centric for an improved quality of life for all. Productivity and production across all sectors must be accelerated, and all projects and programs embarked on in the previous term should be completed”, she said.

Dzvinyangoma also stated the need for balancing time as councillor and wellbeing. “At first, it was tough for me to balance my personal life and work due to demanding programs at the same time, and inadequate resources, while working in an environment that is not conducive. I had to wake up as early as 3 a.m. having slept at 10 p.m. trying to make sure all household chores were in order. At work, most of the meetings ended very late which caused problems between my husband and I got a hang of it when I discovered the importance of time. This is when I started planning and coming up with my personal schedule and another one for work”, she said.

Dzvinyangoma identified key qualities and skills that a female politician should possess to become successful which include but not limited to entrepreneurship, corporate governance to execute the responsibilities of a Councillor, financial management with a gender lens, conflict management, presentation skills, lobbying and advocacy. Gender Links has taught me the importance of lobbying and advocacy. The skills I gained are indispensable which position me to achieve significant strides within the women’s movement. I have grown to be a hopeful and pragmatic optimism.

Gender Links has not only capacitated me to lead, but they have equipped me to be a good mentor and counsellor. I work a lot with young women and my job is to love them, mentor them, and assure them that all that they desire to achieve is possible. The struggle for equality continues for generations but when we achieve the desired equality, then the younger generation will take up the role of safeguarding the gains. Advocating for gender equality in a patriarchal world can be a very arduous task hence the need for partnership with fellow women, men, and relevant organisations. Through Gender Links, I have grown to be a professional in networking and I have been able to work in partnership with multiple individuals and organisations. I have grown to be an avid reader, and excellent communicator, researcher, and presenter. All of these skills and more have been embedded in the training conducted by Gender Links.

For Zimbabwe to have more women represented in politics the most important thing is to transform society through capacity building, awareness programs, and dialogues. Women should advance their education and develop entrepreneurship skills to become self-sufficient. Communities can be transformed through technology in the form of e-learning programs through Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Hubs for women to develop digital skills.