by Bayano Valy in Windhoek – SANF 04 no 100
Namibia faces a big challenge of meeting the Southern African Development Community (SADC) target of 30 per cent women in decision-making by 2005.
In the last elections in 1999, Namibians elected 21 women into the 72-seat National Assembly, the country’s parliament, which is 27 per cent.
This was an improvement from the nine per cent of women elected in 1994.
In the SADC region, only Mozambique and South Africa outperformed Namibia, which was also ranked 23 in the world for the proportion of women representatives in parliament.
Although the figure was just shy by three per cent of the SADC target, this has not translated into a similar proportion of women in the executive.
There are five women in the cabinet of 26 in the present government. This is just 19 per cent.
Across the political spectrum no party is headed by a woman, although the opposition Congress of Democrats (CoD) has a female vice-president. At its congress in 2004, CoD elected 10 women in its 36-member National Executive Committee (27 per cent).
The ruling South West Africa Peoples Organisation (Swapo) Central Committee has only 19 women out of 83 members – 23 per cent. Its 21-member Politburo has four women, just 19 per cent.
None of the other parties represented in parliament had significant numbers of women in their top party structures.
It is against this backdrop that women groups have been calling on government to introduce legislation ensuring that 50 per cent of candidates are women in all future elections.
Women constitute 51 per cent of the country’s population, and 52 per cent of the electorate.
But the 50 per cent campaign is a new process that has not yet succeeded. Liz Franks, of the non-governmental organisation Sister Namibia, says the Standing Commission of the National Assembly, the country’s parliament, blocked the motion.
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Swapo’s secretary for information and publicity, and current Minister of Women’s Affair and Child Welfare, said that the move would have been tantamount to introducing a quota system.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said quotas are not sustainable in the long run. She cited a case of Egypt where parliament had introduced a quota regime for the election of women, but when it was scrapped after a while, the number of women in the legislative body plummeted.
So rather than quotas, she said Namibia should aim to find a sustainable mechanism that would ensure women are represented in party structures, and parliament.
But this is still contingent on the will of men. For example, owing to cultural aspects, many men do not support moves geared to place women in positions of power.
President Sam Nujoma has been at the helm of the country since 1990 when Namibia won independence after more than two decades of armed struggle against apartheid South Africa.
He is expected to formally hand over power early next year to his successor, likely to be Hifikepunye Pohamba, the current Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation, who is Swapo’s candidate in this election.
At Swapo’s congress earlier this year, President Nujoma used his prerogative to appoint six women to the party list out of the 10 places that Swapo statutes avail him.
Franks disagreed with Nandi-Ndaitwah’s reading of the 50 percent campaign. “We’re not asking for a quota system. We’re asking for a piece of legislation that would make a permanent amendment to the electoral law. This is sustainable because it’s not temporary but permanent.”
However, women groups managed to have some parties agree to using a “zebra” system when coming up with party lists – the system entails the alternation of men and women on the lists.
The Namibian Women’s Manifesto, an analysis of the party lists, carried out by gender organisations in the country, shows that Swapo has not done well in promoting women representation, which accounts for 23 per cent, and there is only one female candidate in the top ten places.
However, significant progress has been made in the grassroots insofar as promoting women. The May 2004 Local Authority elections turned out a resounding 43 per cent. Women gained 123 seats of the 283 available countrywide – up from 41.3 per cent at the 1998 election.
Women are in the majority on 13 councils, and they have been impressive in the way they are discharging their duties.
Nandi-Ndaitwah believes that this is sensitising Namibians that women can be elected into higher office and serve their constituents well.
Ironically, the figure in the local authority election was achieved only after parties were obliged to name a certain number of women on their lists depending on the size of the council. (SARDC)
