“I am not a political shark” says Zimbabwe legislator who has represented three different opposition parties in 20 years

Though the waving of sanitary pads in Parliament did not make her popular, she achieved what she wanted and that is one thing she would like to be remembered for.

“The one thing I would want to be remembered for is putting women on the agenda of Parliament,” she said.

“I tried to role model, to say to other women that it’s possible to get into a men’s arena and stand our position and be heard.

“I brought sanitary pads to Parliament. It was a scandal from a cultural point of view and I was actually menstruating at the time and I publicly stated so. I did things that were taboo. I had to cut out taboos, do things that were outside the norm to get my message heard.

“It has not made me a popular person but now we have a Finance Minister who says ‘I don’t understand how for all these years this was a subject for debate. How do we charge tax for something that is natural to happen’”, she says.

She is referring to Zimbabwe’s current Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube who this year allocated Z$200 million for sanitary products in the current 2020 budget.

Misihairabwi-Mushonga has also used her position as a member of the African Parliamentarians Network Against Corruption to get Southern African Development Community countries as well as the African Union to advocate for the waiving of tax on sanitary pads.

But it was not an easy walk. At one time she chided her male Zimbabwean Parliamentarians why the government was allocating money to buy condoms instead of sanitary pads because men over 40 had erectile dysfunction and did not need condoms.

Contributing to the debate on the 2018 budget, when Chinamasa was still Finance Minister, Misihairabwi-Mushonga asked: “Mr. Speaker, why are we having condoms in the budget and not sanitary wear and yet Mr. Speaker – forgive me for this statement – yet for men who are over 40 years or 45 years, actually having an erection is almost like winning a lottery. It is very difficult for a man over 40 to have an erection. So, we have condoms that are actually not being used because most of these men cannot use them.”

She has also performed other stunts that got media attention. In her 2018 campaign for Khupe, she said that women should not wear panties when they went to vote.

“On the election day, I urge all women not to wear panties,” she said. “When that demon of wanting to vote for a male candidate comes into you whilst in the booth, just pull up your dress and be reminded that you are a woman. So, vote for Thokozani Khupe, who is a woman, and cares about your issues.”

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