Innocent Mujeri — The Southern African region is basking in the glory of the milestone achievements chalked by Zimbabwe's former Minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation and the new International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, Kirsty Coventry, and the recently sworn-in Namibian President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, despite detractors' efforts to decampaign them.
The two daughters of the region notched the boundary-pushing, ground-breaking and game-changing achievements within 24 hours of each other.
Coventry won the IOC presidency on March 20 in Greece, while President Nandi-Ndaitwah was sworn in the following day at the Namibian State House, amid a cloud of witnesses, including President Mnangagwa, and other presidents from Angola, Kenya, South Africa, and Tanzania.
What a way of celebrating the women's month and the 30th anniversary of the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, which was a landmark event focusing on gender equality and women's empowerment, in style!
Coventry's victory was no walk in the park.
Her campaign was fraught with detractors' efforts to discredit her with the view to reduce her chances of victory. At home, mostly opposition activists criticised her for the state of most stadiums in the country, which led to the Confederation of African Football (CAF)'s decision to ban the country's stadia from staging international matches in 2021, and the confirmation of the same in 2024.
While sport is important, in view of the resource constraints which the State is battling with, the Government had to prioritise other pressing areas, such as the social services like health and education.
Opposition activists conveniently forgot how, in 2022, the CCC Harare Mayor, Jacob Mafume, played unnecessary politics by frustrating a public-private-partnership (PPP), which Sakunda Holdings proposed for the refurbishment of the 53-year-old Rufaro Stadium in Harare's Mbare suburb.
In return, the City of Harare, which owns the stadium, would sign a long lease with the company. The activists also chose to ignore how their councillors and municipal executives at Chitungwiza Municipality frustrated Prophetic Healing and Deliverance Ministries leader, Walter Magaya, who offered to refurbish the 46-year-old Chibuku Stadium.
In return, Magaya would lease it for use as his football team, Yadah Football Club's home ground.
The opposition's former legislator, Fadzayi Mahere, in a bid to be seen to have commented on Coventry's victory, stooped very low to state the obvious that the new IOC president will have to resign from her Cabinet post.
There is no way that she would serve in both capacities. This exposes the jealousy and pain in the opposition camp over her milestone achievement.
Abroad, some who could not countenance a 41-year-old African swimming sensation leading the IOC, criticised the former minister's win claiming that on her own she could not land the prestigious position.
They claimed that she had been assisted by her predecessor, Thomas Bach, whom they said wanted someone to continue his legacy.
The Oppenheimer family-funded regime change vehicle, the Brenthurst Foundation, was also not amused by Coventry's victory. It sought to cast aspersions on the election process to belittle her victory because she is from Zimbabwe.
The foundation did not hide the fact that it would have preferred the British sports administrator and former athlete, Sebastian Coe to land the post.
The regime change instrument claimed that the process of choosing a new IOC president was "a selection" and not an election, "since it was a secret ballot held among the IOC's members, two-thirds of whom were personally appointed by the outgoing president Thomas Bach."
Such petty jealousy is born of baseless bitterness!
Other mean westerners, realising that there was nothing concrete they could use against Coventry, resorted to personally attacking her.
A day after her victory, The Telegraph's chief foreign affairs commentator, David Blair, published an article in which Australia-based white former Zimbabwean farmer, Robert Cary, sought to besmirch the new IOC president by pointing out that Coventry was allocated a plot at Cockington Estate, which he used to own before the land reform programme.
The farm is located in Darwendale, Mashonaland West Province.
Cary and other hecklers should know that Coventry is a Zimbabwean citizen, who has an inalienable right to benefit from national programmes, such as the land reform.
They should come to terms with the reality that no amount of maligning the new IOC boss will miraculously undo her victory. Cary should know that if he drops his childish politics, returns to Zimbabwe and applies for land, the Government could gladly allocate him some.
The region has every right to celebrate the former Minister Coventry's victory. Her election was not just a Zimbabwean or regional victory, it is an achievement for the African continent.
She is the first woman to lead the 130-year-old Olympic body, a major milestone for women. She also becomes not only the first African to do so, but also the youngest.
Coventry is set to preside over the first Olympics in Africa, the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal next year.
When President Nandi-Ndaitwah was selected as the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO)'s presidential election candidate for Namibia's November 2024 general elections, her critics were quick to claim that she would not win.
Her gender was also thrown in to justify their wish for her electoral failure. They contended that, although she was not corrupt, some of her party members were. On that basis they projected that she would not win, but their projection turned out to be a mere malice-driven wish.
She went on to win the polls by 58,07 percent of the valid votes cast, which was more than double her nearest rival, Panduleni Itula's 25,84 percent.
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This was evidence that, despite the evil wishes of her party's detractors, SWAPO had its political fundamentals in place to ensure a victory which would enable it to retain power.
Like her sister, Coventry in Zimbabwe, President Nandi-Ndaitwah broke new ground. Yes, there have been female Vice Presidents like Zimbabwe's Joice Mujuru and South Africa's Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
Africa has had other female presidents, such as Malawi's Joyce Banda and Tanzania's Samia Suluhu Hassan, but President Nandi-Ndaitwah is the second elected leader after the former Liberian President, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who led her country from 2006 to 2018.
President NNN, as she is affectionately known, scored a first by becoming the first elected female president in the Southern African region.
In his address during the inauguration ceremony, the outgoing Namibian President, Nangolo Mbumba described President Nandi-Ndaitwah's win and ascension to that country's presidency as a culmination of efforts in "the struggle for gender justice."
The new president broke another Southern African record by coming up with a 14-member Cabinet, eight of whom are women.
The two Southern African daughters' achievements are a valuable lesson to all of us in the region and the continent. Women can do it if given a chance and supported.
Theirs is a lesson to other women and humanity in various sectors and from all walks of life that they can pursue their dreams and achieve them regardless of societal norms, stereotypes and prejudices.
