NGOCC’S BEAUTY KATEBE UNDER FIRE FOR ALLIGNING WITH PF/TONSE ALLIANCE INSTRAD OF PUSHING THE GENDER AGENDA
By Shalala Oliver Sepiso
Some NGOCC member organisations have complained about their Executive Director’s actions, especially the partisan political stances she is taking on the constitutional amendment process, to the point where the tenability of her tenure is now being discussed.
Some have accused her personal partisan political stances as being behind the organisation’s loss of finding from the Swedish Embassy.
Otherwise feel like her links to Dambo Dambo, which suspiciously saw her win a prize in ‘My Home Town Beauty Pageant’ for people between 40 and 60 years, make her role as NGOCC difficult. Beauty Katebe was the first runner-up in the 30-60 years category of the My Home Town beauty pageant and was given US$30,000 in prize money.
The money was intended to help the winners improve their communities; Ms. Katebe indicated the funds would support her community work in rural villages in Chongwe, Lusaka. It was never reported where that money went. But with people like Dora Siliya, Antony Mukwita and Miles Sampa in the foreground of organising the event, it raises eye-brows as to whether she could have remained neutral under the circumstances.
Those complaining say she has abandoned the fight for the gender agenda and prioritized partisan political issues. During this year’s women’s day in Kasama, Madam Beauty, in her capacity as NGOCC chair, made demands to the Republican President, which includes:
1. Calling for the government to implement a 50-50 nomination policy for the 2026 elections to boost women’s involvement in leadership roles.
2. More proactive steps to close the gender leadership gap, stating that “women can not eat promises”.
These are in line with the gender declarations and protocols NGOCC pushes for.
In line with this agenda NGOCC initially supported the constitutional amendment process, based on a March 2025 membership meeting that agreed that the constitutional amendment process of Bill 7 was aimed at increasing the participation of women, youth, and persons with disabilities.
But on 2nd June 2025, NGOCC changed stance over suspicions and kept changing the reasons for not supporting Bill 7 much to the chagrin of those who felt that NGOCC under Engwase Mwale was not so brazenly partisan and not shy to walk shoulder to shoulder with party cadres.
This has led to the NGOCC head being accused of towing the PF/Tonse Alliance party line and repeating what Sean Tembo, Jay Jay Banda and Sishuwa are talking about. They wonder how now NGOCC, a gender organisation, is lowering itself to the point of speaking about fake bribes to members of parliament, who are it NGOCC members or clients, instead of talking about Beijing Declaration and other gender declarations and protocols.