SAYS ROSA ZA MBONINI
Wishaw SNP councillor Rosa Zambonini promises to be back serving her community in the future - after blaming a campaign of harassment at North Lanarkshire Council for her resignation.
Single mum-of-two Rosa told the Wishaw Press she is gutted to be standing down but claims the smear campaign against her has became too much to deal with.
She said: “It’s the right time to go. For myself and my daughters’ sake. There’s only so far you can be pushed and I feel like I’ve reached my limit.
“I am so thankful for all the people in Wishaw who supported me and took the time to support the many projects through my term.
“I understand not everyone can have the same political opinions but I believe everyone in Wishaw wants to see the town grow and improve.
“It’s been my honour to serve and I promise I will be back.”
Rosa, 34, claims the sinister “whispers” alleging she used her transgender daughter Charlie’s story to boost her career and comments about her sexuality have driven her out.
She said: “When I took on the byelection in 2015 I believed with all my heart that a single mum from a scheme could be anything she wanted to be. I still do.
“However, we have a long way to go when it comes to being a woman in politics. When I tried to take on major issues I was told there was a smear campaign put out by the Labour Party councillors based mostly around the fact I’m a woman.
“When wee Charlie came out and supported TIE she did it with the best of intentions, and yet that too became a load of media drama. It got word. But then came the accusations of it being planned by me for my career.
“Imagine someone who doesn’t know you, verbalising that you would do such a thing for the sake of notoriety.”
Rosa, of Netherton, passed the SNP’s internal vetting procedure to be considered as a candidate in May’s election last month but has since decided to withdraw her candidacy.
She claims they way she has been treated by several “sexist” councillors and the media scrutiny she has faced since she was elected two years ago, has led to her current battle with depression.
She added: “Over the last month I’ve been feeling very down and low. I’ve been struggling to get out of bed and have been prescribed antidepressants.
“I don’t get why people are so interested in my life.
“Yes I take selfies, yes I like to look good and, yes, I like to go out and have a good time. Why should I be criticised for it? I’m just a normal woman trying to make a living for
When wee Charlie came out and supported TIE, she did it with the best intentions, then came the accusations it had been planned by me for my career . . .
my girls.
“I tried my best for my constituents but I was always shut down and laughed at by opposition councillors. I was never taken seriously and I believe that was because of how I looked.
“When I was criticised or picked on I was told it’s ‘just politics, you have to have a thick skin’. But why do I? Why do politicians have to be so cruel to each other?
“Until the old school, grey suit, middle- aged man behaviour is flushed out, then nothing is going to change.”
Rosa is due before a standards commission hearing after allegations she didn’t disclose she worked for SNP MSP James Dornan in her declaration of interests. She dismissed the inquiry by saying: “Busy mum forgets to do something, eh? Big news. I was always going to declare I was working. I never made any attempts to hide it.”