By Magreth Nunuhe
WINDHOEK – Political commentator Professor Joseph Diescho has upped his opposition to the proposed 50/50 gender quota for political parties, stating that the concept would mean policing voters into who they should vote for.
This, Diescho said, would defeat the principle of having a sacred and secret ballot system.
“The right to vote is left with the individual. How are we going to police that?” he asked, adding that no one has the right to arrange or orchestrate people who to vote for.
Diescho was speaking at a public lecture titled the ‘50/50 Gender Balance – Challenge for Namibia’, hosted by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Windhoek on Tuesday.
He said that although the ruling Swapo Party has amended its constitution to make the gender quota mandatory, not all female members of the party have embraced the concept.
Swapo amended its constitution at an extraordinary congress, convened specifically to adopt the 50/50 policy, which would see men and women in the party represented equally in all party structures.
But the former director of the International Relations and Partnerships Office at the University of South Africa (Unisa) said that it sounded right to aspire to a society free of discrimination but the concept contradicted the country’s constitution, especially Article 10, which speaks for equality, and against discrimination.
He further questioned whether the gender quota concept is meant to solve a human rights or democracy problem.
Diescho said not even the best democracies in the world have reached that benchmark and mentioned as an example the USA, where President Barak Obama has found the right women on merit without declaring 50/50 gender balance.
He further stressed the need to create a critical mass in society who want to make things equal and right, but by equality not being symbolic but substantive.
He added that the real equality should start in the homes, schools, churches and even in conversations as gender relations are more complex than race.
The professor argued that gender parity is a matter of economic survival whereby for some able-bodied men their only job is in politics – and they would claim they have fought for the liberation of the country.
Diescho was recently also quoted in the media as saying he does not believe Namibia’s goal of having half of its parliament filled by women is possible anytime soon and was not practical.
But Nangula Shejavali, Research Associate at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that discrimination along gender lines was institutionalised in the past and the constitution recognises that by instituting affirmative action.
She said it is important to see that both women and men are represented.
Responding to Diescho’s assertions that some males may regard it as ‘economic survival’, she said people should not regard or see political office as a lifetime career without an end or that it is a way to maintain their lifestyle.
She further stressed that Namibia should not be sidetracked by numbers but must look at the discrepancy created by underrepresentation of women who make up more than 51 percent of the population.
Shejavali said that it was not the first time to talk about a gender quota as this was done way back in 1997, which led to a climb in women representation especially in local government.
She added that Namibia should not be fearful of a ‘zebra system’ as the pros outweigh the cons, although the challenge only comes when different political parties present their candidates when they have few numbers.
She said that as far as Swapo was concerned, if the zebra style was implemented, women representation would rise from 26 to 39 percent.