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Nduduzo Tshuma Political Editor—
BULAWAYO-BORN Nicolle Ndiweni has revealed how she had to fight against racial discrimination in her campaign to be the first black councillor for Hucknall on the Ashfield District Council in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Vivacious Ndiweni, who studied Criminology and International Relations at the University of Lincoln, was voted councillor for white-dominated Hucknall in the May 7 elections in that country.

The 26 year-old who grew up in Karoi, Mashonaland West, after her father opened a pharmacy there, left Zimbabwe 13 years ago.

On a visit to Bulawayo this week, she told The Chronicle how she had to endure racial abuse from some members of the community whom she door-stepped for votes.

A businesswoman who sells hair extensions online through her company, Nicolles Boutique, Ndiweni said she was attracted to the Labour Party last year as she shares similar beliefs with the party which she says brought anti-racism legislation into the UK, the National Health Service and minimum wage to the people among other “people-oriented” policies.

“I’ve always had the same values as the Labour Party but I was at university, I wasn’t really politically aligned. I was helping with different things – rallies against gun crime, racism and equal rights for men and women in the workplace so I had my hands full while studying. Politics wasn’t really at the top of my mind, helping my people was. So when that opportunity came to get involved in the community, politics presented itself and it was just the right time,” she said.

Ndiweni, whose mum Thembekile hails from Luveve, and whose dad, Dought, was born in Kwekwe, is visiting family in Bulawayo.

She was surprised during her campaign to realise that some members of the community she wanted to represent were prejudiced against black people and migrants.

“When I moved to the UK, I moved to Hucknall and I think you get used to the schools, the churches and the community groups that you interact with,” she said.

“When I ran for council, I thought that everyone will receive me well and when you start knocking on neighbours’ doors and people you don’t necessarily know, you start to realise that people have different ideas on different things so yeah, there was some racism that I did face and there was a lot of prejudice against immigration as a whole. There’s a lot of frustration in the UK at the moment with immigration,” said Ndiweni, who is touted as one of the Labour Party’s rising stars.

“There were times when I thought, ‘why am I doing this’? I was being called all sorts of names that weren’t really pleasant and I think it really was a character building experience, you think you’re strong until you’re tried.”

Ndiweni said she went to a family wedding after her election and had many Zimbabweans approaching her and congratulating her while some would call her asking her how she entered politics and asking for business tips.

She added: “It’s truly an honour to represent my country in such a positive light abroad and to be the first black councillor in a town that historically is known for racism here and there, not so much now but it’s still there. Historically, if you were a person of colour and you said you live in Hucknall they would say ‘why would you live there? They don’t receive people like us’. It’s a big deal and I’m just grateful that I can fly the Zimbabwean flag even if I’m in the UK, so it’s been good. The reception from Zimbabweans has been positive and may it continue.”

She wants to engage young people and minority groups that feel that they don’t have a voice in the UK as they matter in effecting change.

She said the Conservatives, back in power under Prime Minister David Cameron, were pushing for all migrants working on visas that earn less than a specific amount to be required to return to their respective countries, a development that would affect a lot of people including Zimbabweans.

Ndiweni says she looks forward to running for MP in the near future and helping young people enter politics and hold positions.

She, however, acknowledges the pressures associated with her post as councillor.

“Whether you’re the only black person or the new person in a workplace, you’re always eager to please and do the best you can. I would say that being the only person of colour in the chambers sometimes is interesting to say the least,” she said.

“You’ve your own pressures you put on yourself not so much that other people put pressures on you. There are so many negative stereotypes to be honest about being black sometimes so you’re always trying to combat those so I think what I’ve learnt is just to be myself.”

Ndiweni confesses that she doesn’t follow Zimbabwean politics that keenly and is reluctant to comment on a system that she says she is not involved in to avoid offering opinions from a position of ignorance.

But she told The Chronicle she has recently begun reading around Zimbabwean history particularly on the lives of President Robert Mugabe and the late Vice-President Joshua Nkomo.