Daily Dispatch

Hang heads in shame, ANC

THIS week marks the official start of the 16 Days of Activism against Women and Child Abuse. Each year the campaign is launched in a different province and the Eastern Cape was earmarked to host the national launch last weekend.

But instead this important campaign, which seeks to highlight the scourge of physical and emotional abuse against the most vulnerable sectors of our society, has been overshadowed by the infantile political squabble between social development MEC Nancy Sihlwayi and ANC provincial secretary Lulama Ngcukayitobi.

The event which took place in Port Elizabeth on Saturday was meant to have been addressed by President Jacob Zuma. But the president did not show up and instead Susan Shabangu, the Minister of Women in the Presidency, represented government at the poorly-attended gathering.

This irked Ngcukayitobi so much that he penned a scathing statement calling Sihlwayi irresponsible.

“The event was deliberately sabotaged by the MEC of social development, Nancy Sihlwayi who out of stubbornness and recklessness, decided against both the advice and decision of all authoritative bodies to remove the pre-planned event from Alfred Nzo to Nelson Mandela Metro only to satisfy her thirst to serve the [factional] political attitude,” said Ngcukayitobi.

He went on to say that as the provincial leadership they knew “as a matter of fact” that by taking the event to NMB as opposed to Alfred Nzo – where it was initially scheduled to take place – the “principal aim was to distribute ANC (factional) T-shirts”. The intimation here is that Sihlwayi merely wanted to use taxpayers’ money to find a platform to distribute T-shirts with the image of Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, one of the main contenders for the ANC’s top position.

All this public mud-slinging is based on the ANC’s internal party battles ahead of next month’s national elective conference.

Sihlwayi is part of the Phumulo Masualle grouping which largely backs Dlamini-Zuma to be the next ANC President. Ngcukayitobi is part of the dominant faction led by Oscar Mabuyane – who defeated Masualle at the October provincial congress of the ANC in East London. The latter grouping has thrown its weight behind Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa to take over from Zuma. So this is just a political fight by all accounts. Sadly the latest skirmish between Ngcukayitobi and Sihlwayi takes the focus away from such an important issue.

South Africa has the highest numbers of women and child abuse in the world. We are the rape capital of the world and every few seconds, women and children suffer abuse at the hands of abusive men.

If anything, this country should focus all its energy on dealing with the social ills that underlie the abuse. The intention of this editorial is not to apportion blame on either of the two main players – both are equally guilty if the claims against Sihlwayi are true. Rather, it is to highlight how the vulnerable continue to become doormats for self-serving politicians.

The ANC, both at Calata House and in provincial government, should hang their heads in shame.