Mutinta Mazoka’s leaving UPND must be one of the hardest and most painful decisions she has ever had to make

By Saboi Imboela President- NDC

News broke that the daughter of the founding father of the UPND, the late Anderson Kambela Mazoka, Mutinta Mazoka, left her party. She has been a loyal member of the party and served in the highest organ of the party the National Management Committee.

Many speculations have been thrown around as to why she has left the UPND, the party that her father started from scratch and left with about 47 MPs at the time of his death. He grew the party in a very short period of time and he was a very loved figure as could be seen from the votes he got from all over the country. People today have jobs because of Mutinta’s father’s hard work, even though they are failing to give the daughter a job.

Coming back to the elephant in the room, just the fact that Mutinta Mazoka uses her father’s name and not the husband’s should tell you 2 things. 1. She has a very supportive husband who is not threatened by his wife’s vision and need to protect her father’s legacy and he supports her as she does that. 2. She wants to carry her father’s legacy. A legacy worth preserving and protecting. So leaving UPND must have been one of the hardest and most painful decisions she has ever had to make and not one where she left to just go and support the husband. They have both supported each other very well even from different political parties. So leaving UPND must have everything to do with UPND and not any external forces.

When some UPND people have called her out to leave the UPND and join the husband’s party, all in an effort to stop her from being adopted, I have had the chance to speak with her and talk about how not easy it is to have women that want to preserve their father’s legacies to just change their names or direction easily. And when you have a husband who supports you and respects women the way Dr. Mmembe does, it becomes an easy task. Just look at the Socialist Party structures and adoptions, you will see what I’m talking about. Men like that who support women to help them achieve their best in the political arena and other public spheres will certainly be hypocrites if they did not do that to their own wives. And the good doctor has proved that he is indeed a person that believes in real gender parity right from his house.

So to see Mutinta Mazoka leave UPND, to me does not look like an external but internal issue. Mutinta has aspired for about 3 to 4 times to stand as an MP and they have never picked her, despite the UPND having very few women. They have formed government and there is no sign that good, hard working women like her, Martha Mushipe, Ruth Dante, etc, will be rewarded for their hard work, commitment and also simply qualification for certain posts. If Mutinta was a man, she would probably be a Minister, but lo and behold, the male chauvinism of the UPND is never too far off.

Mutinta had tried to hold on, but it was increasingly becoming clear that she was not respected and recognised for her efforts. And knowing my former party UPND and their grudges and bitterness, I’m sure that her being married to the Socialist Party President also made them dislike her almost the same way they do her husband. They play politics of hate and their articles on their party platforms show just how they hate people that do not belong to their party. And so they must have certainly treated her with the same disdain.

To Mutinta, you have a lot going for you. You can make a very good MP, Minister, Ambassador, etc, and also First Lady of this country. Infact, even a good President. The sky is the limit and know that many of us support you and whatever you decide to do next. We need more women like you in politics and it is very sad that the sexist UPND fails to see all the good that many women like you can bring to the table. You have a very bright future and I pray that you do not slow down but get in the next chapter of your life with Godspeed, grace and a clear understanding of your work and purpose.