‘NC Women’s League defied mother body’

THE ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) National Executive Committee (NEC) members who oversaw the ANCWL provincial meeting last week, where Cyril Ramaphosa was endorsed as the presidential candidate, have singled out the Northern Cape as being the only province in the country to rubber stamp a male candidate.

ANCWL NEC members Nkagisang Ngesi and Johlene May-Ntwane both indicated that they were endorsing Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma in line with the national ANCWL mandate. Ngesi stated that they had merely presided over Friday’s meeting.

May-Ntwane reiterated that the ANCWL NEC collective had decided to support a woman candidate for ANC president.

“The other eight provinces have implemented the resolution, with the exception of the ANCWL in the Northern Cape.

“The nomination for candidates for the ANC NEC was not a unanimous process and the outcome was not unanimous. The ANCWL provincial secretary, Topsy Dlapula-Vilakazi, was totally disingenuous to release a media statement, without the input of her PEC (Provincial Executive Committee), indicating that the outcome was unanimous.”

She pointed out that the outcome of the voting indicated that there were 18 votes for Ramaphosa and 12 for Dlamini-Zuma, along with 19 additional votes for Ramaphosa and 11 for Dlamini-Zuma.

“The outcome, in my opinion, reflects a need for political education, but also the need to free the 19 women from intellectual and patriarchal oppression and ignorance of ANCWL decisions and processes.

“Furthermore, organisational discipline and adherence to our culture, especially from the ANCWL, is what is needed at this stage.

May-Ntwane commended the women who had expressed their support for Dlamini-Zuma.

“These 11 courageous women understand the principles on which the women’s league is founded, its conference resolutions and the culture of democratic centralism which distinguishes us from other political organisations.”