BOTSWANA: 30% Quota for Women in Power Elusive?

The number of women contesting council seats in Selebi-Phikwe is disappointing despite efforts to sensitise and encourage them to occupy positions of authority.

While no single woman will be running for a parliamentary seat, only nine women from Botswana National Front (BNF), Botswana Congress Party (BCP) and Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) will be battling it out with their male counterparts for the council seats. Currently there are only three female councilors - one from the BCP, one from the ruling party and a nominated councilor - in the Selebi-Phikwe Town Council.

BDP chairman in Selebi-Phikwe East branch, Tebogo Venson, said women seem to be more interested in being in campaign teams than in contesting for positions. From the ruling party, only two female candidates, Susan Pudiephatshwa and Margaret Mmidi, will be contesting for the council seats. Venson said the two have been contesting all along. so there has not been any increase. "I do not remember the number exceeding this even during the era of Daisy Pholo as a Member of Parliament (MP)."

Venson added that even in the primary elections, the number of women is low. It appears that politics is a man's domain. He added that by the look of things women are not as ambitious. He however said they continue to encourage them to contest at party, council and parliamentary levels. He cited one instance where a woman showed interest in contesting only to give way to her male counterpart in the same ward afterwards. The chairman indicated that in most cases women have a tendency of pulling one another down yet they are in the majority as voters.

BNF also has only two female candidates, Rose Motlhwa in Leseding ward, and Mpho Mariame in Ikageleng Phase One. Even in the BNF the trend has been the same. BNF publicity secretary Moeti Mohwasa said that his party was the first to introduce the 30 percent quota system for women representation in positions of authority but it has not been easy to achieve the target. He said the number of women tendering their applications is always low. Mohwasa said they are strongly against the first-pass-the-post system because it discourages women as the atmosphere is hostile for them to contest. "We want proportional representation, then more women will contest. Through the quota system we encourage them to contest. We are the first party to have a female vice president and a female council chairperson."

On the other side, the BCP has five female candidates for the council seats. The party's regional chairman Nzwaligwa Nzwaligwa said that this is an impressive situation and that it would be even more encouraging if all of them made it into the council especially that it is the first time the party is fielding that number. In the last general elections, only Evelyn Kgodungwe excelled. Nzwaligwa added that vying for a political office seems very difficult for women than men because they do not have ample time for campaigns. He added that women contest in large numbers during the primaries where they sometimes face each other.