Aids gaffe exposes legislator

Comment & Analysis
BY CAIPHAS CHIMHETE ASPIRING legislators must have a minimum level of education to qualify for election into the House of Assembly or Senate to enable them to comprehend and debate crucial policy issues, political analysts have said.

Although human rights proponents would view the suggestion as discriminatory, the analysts insisted that it was the best way to promote good governance and national development.

This suggestion follows recent remarks by Senator for Matobo Sithembile Mlotshwa (MDC-T) that men should be injected with “immobilisers” to reduce their sexual desire to curb the spread of HIV and Aids.

Contributing to a debate on HIV and Aids in the Senate recently, Mlotshwa stunned other legislators when she said it was important to reduce men’s appetite for sex.

“If the scientists that we have here look into the issue of trying to inject men with a substance that will make them lose appetite and use that chance once a month at home, I think that might help,” she said.

In 2009, Mlotshwa set tongues wagging after she complained during debate on the same topic that a condom advert was “too explicit and could encourage women to lust for well-endowed men”.

“Those kinds of adverts affect the womenfolk. In a quest to find out whether there is such a man, the women end up contracting HIV,” Mlotshwa said.The Standard could not independently ascertain Mlotshwa’s educational background.

However, her CV, which she deposited with Parliament, shows that she attended a string of primary schools in Matabeleland South before going to Ekusileni Secondary school in Filabusi.

She went to a polytechnic and New Vision College, a private institution.

Born in 1965 in Matobo, she joined Zapu in 1976 and then the MDC in 2000. Mlotshwa claims to be an entrepreneur with interests in women’s affairs, sports and culture.

She however is not alone as several other legislators have also made equally outrageous proposals in the past few years.

Zanu PF MP for Uzumba Simbaneuta Mudarikwa once stunned the House during a question-and-answer session when he suggested that marijuana be legalised.

Mudarikwa asked Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development minister Joseph Made why government prohibited the cultivation of marijuana.

“I would like to know from the minister the national policy with regards to creating export processing zones (EPZ) in remote areas,” said Mudarikwa. “The reason for creating the EPZs in those remote areas is so that we can grow marijuana.”

His CV says he did ‘O’ level at Murehwa High School before enrolling at Highfield High School for ‘A’ level as an external student.

Mudarikwa, who boasts having several children, also attended Bo Ben Botac Military Academy in Yugoslavia.