Call for taxes to benefit women and girls

Tawanda Bote

Government has been urged to promote transparent tax systems that ensure the provision of quality gender responsive public services (GRPS), whose absence affects women and girls the most.

Officially opening a three day Tax and GRPS summit held online, ActionAid Zimbabwe country director Joy Mabenge said women and girls continue to walk very long distances to reach their nearest water points in rural areas.

“In towns and cities the perpetual absence of piped water has caused women and girls to wake up as early as 3am to go to the nearest borehole to be the first one in the queue just to get water for the day.”

“Communities must walk over 5km to get to their nearest Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres or schools”, Mabenge added.

Speaking on the same platform, Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Health, Dr Ruth Labode said for health services to be gender responsive, public services should be publicly funded and not privatised.

“For these health services to respond to gender issues and services they should be funded by the public so that people know exactly how important it is,” she said.

A representative from the ministry of lands, agriculture, fisheries, water and rural resettlement, Mr Karimazondo said government has drilled boreholes around the country in the past years to avert a water crisis.

“I acknowledge that there is a water crisis in the country. However, government has and is currently drilling at village level at schools and hospitals to address the water crisis,” he said.