CONTROVERSIAL MP for Matebeleland South, Priscilla Misiharabwi-Mushonga, has said Zimbabwean men who are above 40 suffer erectile dysfunction and were a drain to the national fiscus which is skewed towards expenditure on male condoms which they hardly used.
She was contributing to Wednesday’s debate which focused on the 2018 national budget presented by Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa in December last year.
In a passionate presentation, the MDC lawmaker, who is also parliament women and youth affairs committee chair, dismissed Chinamasa’s budget which she said did not prioritise women’s concerns even if though they constituted the majority.
“I brought in this house a sanitary cup. You can use it for 10 years,” she said, “I spoke to the producers this morning and they said they can sell the sanitary cup for $6, 50. If you give it to a young girl now, she can have it for 10 years. If we put aside $6 million, Mr Speaker, we will deal with a million young women that will not ask about sanitary ware ever.”
The outspoken legislator and avowed feminist said the national purse was inherently biased towards availing condoms to men with vulnerable young women made to purchase sanitary ware.
“Why are we having condoms in the budget and not sanitary ware? And yet, Mr Speaker and forgive me for this statement, for men who are over 40 years or 45 years, actually having an erection is almost like winning a lottery.
“It’s very difficult for a man who is over 40 years to have an erection. So we have condoms that are actually not being used because most of these men can’t use it,” she said to laughter from fellow MPs.
It is not the first time the sharp tongued former regional integration minister has taken a go at local men or at least turned sensational in attempts to stress a point.
In September last year, Misihairabwi-Mushonga claimed that 70 percent of Zimbabwean MPs were HIV positive and were taking ARVs.
On the occasion, she was debating a motion which called for a probe into rampant cases of child commercial sexual activities in parts of Harare.
The firebrand legislator has, in the past, also brought used undies into the house to show legislators that Zimbabwean women were so poor and were being so demeaned to a point that they were forced to purchase used underwear from the streets.
In her presentation, Misihairabwi-Mushonga chided Chinamasa for presenting a budget she said continued to place women on the fringes of the economy as seen by allocations towards village gardening when men enjoyed easy access to the main levers of the economy.
She also said there was little mention of women in government’s much touted command agriculture programme which has seen farmers assisted with inputs as part of government’s attempts to boost agricultural produce in the country. – NewsZim