'Mujuru dismissal retrogressive'

Leader of the opposition in the National Assembly Thokozani Khupe yesterday said the removal of former Vice President Joice Mujuru from the presidium took women a step backwards.

According to a newspaper report, Khupe said this while introducing a motion in the House which called on the Executive to declare March 8 a national holiday to commemorate womanhood and women's rights.

She said women were the ones running the economy as 80% of Zimbabweans were in the informal sector of which an estimated 70% were women.

Khupe said as a way of recognizing the important role in nation building played by women, no woman should give birth at home and fall to have access to material health and antiretroviral drugs.