Comrades, let the next ANC deputy president be a woman

AS WE depart from Women’s Month and celebrate Heritage Month, we must remain focused on advancing and promoting our women.

Our struggle for women is not that of stand-in comedians shouting from the top of mountains, but one informed by real challenges facing our women, who still constitute the majority of the unemployed, abused and isolated.

Many of our women were persecuted for the freedom that we enjoy today, and they did this without expectation of gain, because they were in the service of their country and people.

Our women are highly politically conscious, and we reject the notion that women are housewives, that they are indoctrinated like robots whose sole purpose is to cook for men and do as they are told.

Women must be central in determining the outcomes of the challenges we face in the various facets of our national development, lest they cry after decades of democracy that freedom means nothing to them.

For this reason, I call on ANC branches to support a woman ANC deputy president in the 54th national elective conference (NEC).

I call on ANC branches to field Comrade Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa as the ANC president and that the deputy president be a woman.

As we celebrate Heritage Month, we all owe this precious freedom to the generations of women who fought for our freedom.

In doing so, we must also be vigilant in the face of intense antagonism.

It must never elude us that forces of counter-revolution remain active and are waiting in the wings to pounce and destroy this hard-won ANC democracy.

Let this Heritage Month unite us in respect of the above views as we march towards the ANC’s 54th national executive committee.

May Eastern Cape branches be united before our eighth ANC provincial elective conference by ensuring we field Cde Lubabalo Oscar Mabuyane as the provincial chairperson, Cde Mlungisi Gerald Mvoko as deputy provincial chairperson, Cde Lulama Ngcukayithobi as the provincial secretary, Cde Helen August-Sauls as the deputy provincial secretary and Cde Babalo Madikizela as the provincial treasurer, and not isolating Cde Pumulo Masaulle as the NEC member of this glorious movement.

Cde Masaulle’s leadership experience is highly needed in the ANC NEC.

We appreciate Cde Masaulle’s role in our provincial politics in his capacity as chairperson over the past two terms.

He deserves NEC recognition and I call to him as the person to lead.

Our provincial elective conference is on during this important month of marking our heritage.

Let’s celebrate it by advancing unity within the ANC. Cde Viwe Sidali ANC Mzwanele Fazzie Branch Former ANCYL REC East London