Leader’s gender irrelevant

THE question whether a male or female should be president of South Africa is of no primary significance in times like these when the country faces a host of socio-economic disparities.

In the midst of the subliminal and sometimes explicit power struggles within the governing ANC, all we need as citizens is a leader – in trousers or a dress – to pull the country out of the economic dungeon it has found itself in.

The presidential seat of the ANC and the country should not be made a jungle gym where kids take turns for a ride.

The ruling party should be wary of creating a precedent that a presidential seat should revolve according to gender, age, ethnicity and so forth.

And if that sense of entitlement is given a chance to thrive, the party will be depriving itself of detecting and nurturing the finest brains within its ranks.

During the pre-Nasrec elective conference, the former ANC secretary-general was right to say that the ANC wants a leader, man or woman.

“We don’t have anything called a woman president in the ANC , or a male president. We look for the president of the ANC – male or female…” said Mantashe.

It does not have to be forced down the throats of party delegates or citizens of the Republic that now it’s time for a candidate of a particular gender to lead the party.

All we need is a tried and tested leader who will display the leadership traits of honesty, innovation, intelligence, decisiveness and ambition.

At the funeral of the late ANC struggle veteran Winnie Madikizela Mandela earlier this year, ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini vociferously stated that the league will continue to call for a woman to assume leadership of the country.

There will never be anything wrong with South Africa being led by a woman, but we should bear in mind that Dlamini was not clear-headed at the time she made the remarks – she was still reeling from the shock of the party’s bruising elective conference where her preferred candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, lost to Cyril Ramaphosa.

Gender equity should not be overstretched to such an extent that even the highest seat of administrative authority in the country is seen as a place to settle perceived gender imbalances.

A genuine capable leader – man or woman – who is worth a presidential seat will naturally emerge from within the ranks of the party, and candidates will make him or her the party leader.

As much as I don’t have in-depth knowledge of British and Liberian politics, I don’t think that either former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher or former Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf were parachuted into their seats for gender balancing – these were women leaders of calibre who exhibited astute leadership qualities to lead their male-dominated political parties, and subsequently their countries.

No doubt Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who contested the ANC leadership in December last year, has impeccable Struggle credentials and leadership skills, but her campaign for the leadership of the ANC and subsequently of the country was, unfortunately, engineered under murky political waters.

On top of being the wife of former controversial ANC and state president Jacob Zuma, she was reportedly fronted by the pro-Jacob Zuma supporters to avail herself for party leadership under the guise of gender equity.

One of the major achievements of the ANC in so far as gender equity is concerned was to ensure a fair gender representation in all organs of state, including the National Assembly.

The new political dispensation in 1994 saw hordes of women filling the seats of the National Assembly and many more occupying leadership positions in the administration of government departments and its parastatals.

From the dawn of the new political order in 1994 under the leadership of the late Nelson Mandela down to former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, the ANC has been sensitive to the emancipation of woman.

I am confident that in future there will be a time when a capable, non-factionalised woman comrade who will capture the hearts and minds of ANC delegates will emerge from within the ANC to lead the party and the country.

At the moment, when some make others feel guilty for having made their choice on who must lead the ANC and the Republic of South Africa, then what is democracy in an organisation?