MDC-T vice-president says new bill should give women rights to use their husbands’ properties as collateral

Movement for Democratic Change vice-president Thokozani Khupe has welcomed the proposed Movable Property Security Interests Bill but said it should allow women to use property which is registered in their husbands’ names as collateral.

She said Zimbabwe’s economy had been informalised  with 5.4 million people in the informal sector 78 percent of whom were women.

“Women have tried to go to financial institutions to borrow money, but financial institutions look at women as people who are not credit worthy because they do not have either immovable or movable property which is registered under their names and hence that is why we are advocating for a women’s bank which will not require collateral in the traditional banking sense but rather would harness the trustworthiness of women as an asset in business,” Khupe said.

“However, as far as this Bill is concerned, for the sake of this Bill, I would also like to add my voice and propose that women be allowed use property which is registered in their husband’s names as collateral so that they are able to access loans from financial institutions. 

“It is a fact that the majority of women as I said earlier on do not have any property either movable or immovable which is registered under their names.  Therefore, they are not able to access any loans from the banks, so we want women who are the majority in the informal sector to be able to access loans so that they are able to grow their businesses and contribute to the growth of this country and the economy for the good and better life of every Zimbabwean.”

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