Shirking her duty

IT TAKES a special kind of woman to say in public, and unashamedly at that, that no action should be taken against Deputy Higher Education and Training Minister Mduduzi Manana, but such a woman is Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini.

Manana has admitted to viciously attacking two women after one apparently suggested he was gay.

Dlamini is also president of the ANC Women’s League, which purports to campaign to end all forms of violence against women and to fight for women’s rights – but not the rights of all women, it would seem.

She offered the puerile reason that there were other senior government leaders who were worse than Manana and against whom no action had been taken.

In a country with a horrific record of violence against women, it is scarcely believable that any woman, let alone one in Dlamini’s position, would condone such behaviour and especially on the basis that there are worse men.

Instead of using these “worse men” to excuse Manana’s behaviour and thereby adding insult to the injuries inflicted on his victims, it is Dlamini’s duty to identity them so that they, too, can be prosecuted.

Even the ANC Youth League has called on President Jacob Zuma to immediately fire Manana, refusing to accept his excuse that he had acted under extreme provocation.

The youth rightly point out that not taking action against him would “normalise” violence against women.

To understand Dlamini’s position on Manana, it is important to understand who she is. This is the same woman who pleaded guilty to fraud charges for fleecing Parliament to the tune of more than R250 000 in the Travelgate scandal.

However, Zuma appointed her in 2009 and she has become one of his most staunch defenders.

This is the same person at the centre of the grants payments scandal and who stubbornly refuses to take any responsibility for the debacle, twice dodging parliamentary committee meetings called to probe the matter and only deigning to appear eventually when summoned by MPs.

This is also the same Dlamini who infamously said that all those in the ANC leadership had skeletons in the closet, which should not be let out for fear of all hell breaking loose.

Quite what the criteria to be elected ANCWL president are is unclear, but they evidently do not include integrity, responsibility or upholding the rights of all women.