Elisabeth Valerio opens up on why she entered politics

Elisabeth Valerio, the only female candidate in Zimbabwe’s 2023 presidential election, has opened up about what drew her into politics.

She said it was not ambition for a political career but her concern over conservation and the protection of Zimbabwe’s natural resources that pushed her into the field.

“My initial entry into politics was because I was trying to prevent Chinese occupation of our land because it had become so widespread and so concerning. It was not benefiting the citizens of Zimbabwe,” she said.

Before entering politics, Valerio was a scientist, entrepreneur, and conservationist, with a career spanning biotechnology and professional development in the United States, as well as tourism, indigenous knowledge, enterprise and community development in Zimbabwe.

She studied public health at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and began her professional career as a biochemist in the United States.

Valerio said she returned to Zimbabwe after promising her dying mother that she would look after a herd of elephants in Dete, near Hwange National Park.

She went on to settle in the Hwange area, where she became involved in conservation, tourism, cultural heritage, agriculture and enterprise development.

Among the ventures associated with her is Gwango, a tourism and conservation enterprise developed with her husband.

She also founded Gobelo, which focuses on ethnobotany and the development of natural and indigenous products.

Valerio, who leads the United Zimbabwe Alliance (UZA), received 6,989 votes in the 2023 election, representing about 0.16% of valid votes cast, according to final results released by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC).

President Emmerson Mnangagwa was declared the winner with 2,350,711 votes, while the main opposition candidate, Nelson Chamisa, finished second with 1,967,343.

Valerio’s mother, Isabel Shanangurai Madangure, was herself a pioneering political figure, identified in Valerio’s official biography as the first woman to challenge the presidency of an African nation.

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