The ManicaPost
CDE Happiness Nyakuedzwa (HN) is the recently re-elected ZANU PF Manicaland Provincial Women’s League Chairperson.
She has been in politics for a long time and has had a colourful career.
She started right from the bottom at cell level.
This week she sat down with our Rusape Correspondent, Lovemore Kadzura (LK), to discuss various issues.
LK: First, I would like to congratulate you for your re-election as the ZANU PF Manicaland Provincial chairlady. Women in Manicaland have once again showed confidence in your leadership and people would like to know who is Cde Happiness Nyakuedzwa and your background.
HN: Cde Happiness Nyakuedzwa was born in 1972 in the Sharara area of Makoni South. I attended Sharara Primary School and Queen Elizabeth High School in Harare.
I am a business woman, well versed in business management. I am an entrepreneur running a hardware shop and a farm in Nyazura. On top of that, I am a seasoned politician. I joined politics in 1995 when I was a member of the ZANU PF Youth League in Makoni District.
I was one of the most active and vocal ones. I rose to be the chairlady of Zororo Duri party district (Mabvazuwa). In 2000, I was elected a councillor in the Rusape Town Council and was elected vice chairperson of the council. I served as a councillor for three consecutive terms.
I was also a member of the Makoni District Coordinating Committee as Secretary for Transport and Social welfare. From there, I was elected Political Commissar in the provincial women’s league for two terms.
I moved to be the Secretary for Administration for another two terms, and I was eventually elected to be the provincial chairlady, a position that I retained this year. I am also a provincial councillor in the yet to be commissioned Manicaland Provincial Council.
LK: What motivated you to join politics?
HN: I am a woman of the people. I love serving people, women in particular. I like to see women rising in their lives, be it in politics, business, education and employment. I want to see an empowered girl child.
The only way my voice could be heard clearly was through joining politics and fighting in women’s corner. Through politics, you cover lot of areas and people will understand you better.
LK: Women are the majority in terms of numbers in politics, but very few hold positions of authority. What can be done to encourage them to take up leadership positions?
HN: Fear used to engulf women when it comes to occupying political positions and other influential posts. It is not because of women themselves, but men who always look down upon women.
If you closely analyse everything, you will realise that men use women to rise in whatever they will be doing. What is needed is motivation to conquer fear of the unknown and join the political fray.
As the leader of women in Manicaland, I will make sure that women are recognised and duly rewarded for their roles from grassroots to the top. Women must rise up and participate in whatever areas they want. Women are very competent leaders.
In Manicaland, we have tried our best as leaders to open avenues for women to take up leadership positions. During the 2018 ZANU PF primary elections, I encouraged women to submit their curriculum vitae to contest and as we speak we now have three female Members of National Assembly in Nyanga, Mutasa and Chimanimani plus a number of councillors across the province.
The three female legislators are some of the best performing in the province and we are very proud of the work they are doing in their constituencies.
This should push other women to enter politics. Women themselves in the past preferred to vote for a male candidate, leaving their peers stranded, but through education and lobbying, the trend is changing as women now trust each other.
LK: You are a politician, business woman, a farmer and family woman, how do you balance all these demanding roles?
HN: Politics is about families, business and social life. So if you look at the family, this is social life. Business is an entity you use to work for the family. In politics, you encourage people to empower themselves through businesses. I am managing all my portfolios well.
If you visit my farm, all my things are in order. My business is flourishing and at home we are a happy and joyous family. In politics, I am actually happy with how things are moving in Manicaland Province. You just need to be organised to make things happen.
LK: ZANU PF is targeting five million votes for President Mnangagwa, how is the Manicaland Women’s League mobilising women for this feat to be achieved?
HN: Women are the vanguard of the party by virtue of their numbers and dedication. Women will deliver the most votes for the party and President Mnangagwa. When we were restructuring the party from the cell levels up to the province we encouraged women to come on board and join party structures.
There are several on-going empowerment projects initiated by Government and the party which are tailor-made to benefit women. We are engaging women organisations and working hand-in-hand with them to address their concerns. The party is also working with churches where we have been fully embraced as the party’s ideology is in sync with the church.
Women in Manicaland are very much satisfied with the sterling work of our leader, President Mnangagwa, and I am confident that they will resoundingly vote for him and the party in 2023.
LK: You come from a political family; your husband, Cde Albert Nyakuedzwa is also a politician. People are curious to know how you balance that. The just-ended provincial elections were really intriguing. Your husband was gunning for the provincial chairmanship and the two of you were in different camps.
HN: Politics is about an individual. My husband is an individual who has his own interests and I have my own interests, but let me say we are a talented family. We are both in politics and people like us.
We have no problem with that because we were all born leaders and we cannot suppress our talents just because we are a couple. My husband was contesting and I was contesting. That is everyone’s democratic right to enter into an election. You cannot say you are my wife or husband so step down from the race.
