My name is Anita, Anita Kamanga.

I'm from Zambia.

I'm the deputy mayor for Chongwe.

Chongwe is one of the constituents in Zambia.

I got my first position as a councillor.

Then when we won, my fellow councillors, who are 21, we are 21 in total, voted for me to be their deputy mayor, which was a loner.

My journey started immediately when I became pregnant for my first son, which was in 2019.

And it was a time for corona.

And I thought of going on the ground and work with my people, or our people.

I thought I need to give back to the community as well.

It wasn't an easy thing to campaign for the councillorship.

It was very, very challenging.

But the thing which made me keep on moving is the love which I have, or I had then from the community, the people I was working with in my world.

It was very, very, very hard because according to the system, I was not wanted.

No one wanted me to be the debut mayor apart from my fellow councils.

So it was a big fight, but luckily I...

I stood and I won.

The part structures did not want me to win, to contest and win the elections.

They tried all their level best just to bring me down.

It was a bit of a hassle and heartbreaking, where like they wouldn't invite you for the national program.

Say for instance, maybe there's a HIV AIDS day, you want to go there, or there's youth day.

They won't invite you.

They won't recognize you on that meeting as their deputy mayor, not even a seat in front of you.

It was very, very humiliating and heartbreaking.

Another problem came when now my term finished, because in Zambia, you run for deputy mayor position for two years and a half.

So my two years and a half came to an end, and it was my time to leave office and to have elections again.

Again, the problem came now from my party in Chongwe.

As a constituent, we have other political party officials.

And they came to me and they told me, Anita, sorry, you're not running again in the deputy mayor position.

The one who came to see me was the district chairman from my party.

And they said, oh, thank you, dad, but is there a reason?

How did I do in my two years and a half so that when I go back home or in future, I can reflect on it and say, okay, if I have another opportunity of being a leader, I shouldn't do something like this so that it can help me.

He failed to give me a reason and two days before elections, they called for the district officials and constituents of officials to not support me.

And the reasons they gave was my dress code is bad.

And I have my people in the village where I need to cover my head and I need to wear each dengue according to my culture.

So they combined everything.

They took the dress code which I have when I'm going for work and they made it so big that I can never recontest.

So, and they went on my Facebook page, my private page, which I had, they took a picture where I was wearing a shorts and they edited it on it to say, look at the Deputy Mayor Chongwe, and there's no way we can vote for the person who dresses up like that.

I felt a bit humiliated.

I felt bad about it.

And again, they used the same picture.

We were a lot, I think more than 150, and the phone kept on going around just to show everyone that I was naked, and I did not like it.

It was a big issue.

So I went, did the nominations, I filed in my nominations, the following day we went for the elections, and I won again.

So all my friends who voted for me, they started campaigning then.

They had to put shadow counsellors on them.

All the part officials who supported them, they had to remove them from the party structures.

I made this decision to continue, but other people are being victimized.

They are not considered.

They are removing them from the party.

It started draining me every day.

I can't say I'm not happy in politics.

I'll say I am very happy to be there despite all the challenges I'm going through.

I feel politics is about service.

It's about being a voice to the people.

It's about you to bring change for the things which you don't like in that community or in your community.

I work with people living with disabilities.

We've sourced school shoes.

I've walked without shoes when I started my schools in my early years.

So I know how it feels in June without shoes.

I've worked with women.

In Zambia, women are the ones who keep families.

It doesn't matter whether the mother is educated or she's not educated, she'll be for their children.

We've tried to empower them and I've tried to source for menstrual cups.

I am very grateful to International, my dear, and if they can extend to more women, they are equipping us with so much knowledge and so much confidence how to manoeuvre, how to navigate, how to deal with issues of the camp.

It made me to say, look, Anita, you're not the only one in politics.

Look, there are a lot of women and they pass through a lot of things.

You need to forge a gate as well.

You need to move with them.

I am very grateful for everything they are doing for us as women, and may God continue listening them more and more.

Take care.