There are no three men holding 12 million people hostage, just one man 'playing' with the lives of the millions of people. And the man doing that has been in power for close to 3 decades! As a female activist, you talk about the marginalisation of Zimbabwean women from main stream politics. But I tell you opposition politics in Zimbabwe is so susceptible to violence (from the ZANU PF side) that very few women would want to be associated with it. Of course, a substantial number of women find it easy to go into politics on the side of ZANU (PF) as it is safer to do so.

The problem you have is when women take to steets in peacefull demonstrations they are arrested and held without trial for weeks on end. I salute these brave individuals as they are the bravest of all that take the beatings and degredation that is afforded to them by the regime that holds onto power by all means possible. It is unfortunate that Tsvangorai will be defeated by the poers to be in SADC who also have no repect for the women (or men for that matter) in Zimbabwe and are happy to unleash the repressive regime of Mugabe that has created this poverty and is resposible for the female life expectancy of 34 in Zimbabwe. It apears that the women are the most corageous of Zimbabweans as they take the brunt of the repressions, have to give succor to their starving children while they themselves starve to death. My heart goes out to them and what they are suffering and in the knowledge that the situation will only get worse for them under the repressive regime they have.

Shereen Essof should rather first help build maximum pressure on devil Mugabe to quit! It is quite offensive to lump together two leaders fighting the monster with the latter! It creates more diversion at this particular time when every attention should be directed towards forcing illegitimate Mugabe to abdicate!

The question of women representation can receive due attention under a genuinely democratically elected government.