A woman for President in Zambia?

As the race for Zambia’s presidency shifts into higher gear in preparation for the country’s 2006 parliamentary and presidential elections, Forum for Democracy and Development President Edith Nawakwi is proving a tough contender as she seeks the support of the Zambian women’s movement in her political bid. 

 

Zambians watched as she metamorphosised from the caustic, shrill politician who it appeared thought she had to act like a man to prove her competence among male colleagues and who told women’s movement in no uncertain terms that she had no time for them. Now she is treading cautiously as she wants women’s support but is not quite sure how the women’s movement will respond to her.

 

Nawakwi previously did not want to be associated with the women’s movement; she thought they were petty, elitist, greedy and only interested in urban women. She believed that she was doing a better job in her work with rural poor women in her constituency and did not need to support feminists.

 

But Nawakwi’s anxiety about the women’s movement’s response to her was allayed at a recent media women’s luncheon where they appeared to forgive and forget. She in turn asked for their support and while she did not apologise for her past perceptions, she did explain them and it was resolved as a “miscommunication”. 

 

This was important for Nawakwi because while she was a member of parliament she could afford to ignore a section of the society, but as the head of a male-dominated political party contesting a national election, she needs all the help she can get. Women, who make up over 60 percent of the voters in Zambia, are crucial voters.

 

And it is precisely as a result of this that there is renewed interest in Nawakwi as a potential future president. Predictably, the guns are out for her already. The cheapest shot employed is questioning her capacity based solely on her marital status. The fact that she married her husband under customary law and he is still the common law husband of another woman has given critics a field day.

 

The irony of this situation is that when Nawakwi was single in government, the public court created by her political rivals clicked their tongues at her because the perception was that she was less of a woman because she had no husband. Her customary law marriage is still is not good enough and they use it to attack her at every opportunity. The hypocrisy is obvious as there are few men in Zambia’s cabinet who do not have three or four wives.

 

If she can deal with these obstacles as she has said can, Nawakwi’s only real challenge will be to court women’s support. By her own admission she is not very well versed in the feminist movement and has trouble relating what she does as a politician for her constituency to women’s empowerment. For example, she did not see how by helping communities clear storm drains and cart way garbage in the market could have been empowering women who use markets the most as traders and consumers. She saw it just getting a job done.

 

Her language has changed from referring to feminists as “those women” to “my sisters”.

While she has always been better able to relate to women in the rural areas, perhaps because they are not as critical judges as those in town and she was running for a political party rather than the presidency, she has realized that she needs the urban vote to help her win nationally. She asks for explanations on how gender relates to issues like ICT’s and globalisation not because she does not understand these issues (she is an energy economist with a host of degrees in development) but she has never related them to gender.

 

But she is also challenging the women’s movement, to meet her half way and do their bit on “her issues” like encouraging and helping people to register as voters; fighting for equality in the constitution and getting involved in the electoral reforms.

 

Nawakwi believes that the presidency is not about voting male or female. She argues it should be about voting for the best person for the job, and she believes she is.

 

She has brought in an element of excitement in the political arena because she is no push over has a firm grasp of issues, there is not a single politician in her milieu, who has served government for 10 years in the “hard” ministries like finance and energy.

 

This is the only politician in the world as far as I know who left the mouths of the World Bank and IMF gaping when she stormed out of a consultative meeting because of what she said was their belligerent attitude. She oversaw the privatisation of some of Zambia’s strategic industries, and as Finance Minister presided over some of the most difficult economic times the country experienced as it shifted from a socialist leaning to market economy.

 

As an overall package Nawakwi presents a potent mix. If it is only a question of capacity, as the women’s movement hopes, Zambia will have a female president in 2006.