South Africa has long been ready for woman president
I believe that South Africa has long been ready to be led by a woman.
This has been demonstrated by a number of smart, tough women and their fierce loyalty to the cause and South Africa.
These women are found in the public and private sector, civil society and non-government organisations. They are mothers, wives, sisters, aunts, professionals, activists.
They want freedom from hunger, disease and fear, freedom to have a say in their own destinies no matter their class or race, but these women are not willing to be considered for an elective position in public office.
Why? How come no woman has ever been president of this country despite a pool of talent?
The first democratic elections were in 1994 and no woman was considered. I guess no one could have raised her hand against Nelson Mandela.
Fast forward to subsequent elections. The ANC pronounces on 50/50 gender representation in all party structures, meaning for the first time a woman could be elected president. This quota increased the pool of women who were “eligible” and we saw many of them occupy decisionmaking positions in government.
Where it mattered most in the ANC, however, we saw the election of women not as president, deputy president or even treasurer-general, but as secretary, deputy-secretary and national chairperson.
A woman could not be nominated and elected as president of the ANC because of the internal dynamics .
For a woman in the ANC to find a seat at the table, they first have to pass the ANC test. That test is found in decision-making procedures of the ANC, consisting of formal rules, informal practices and customs.
Angie Motshekga, the former ANC Women’s League president, aptly put it: “The environment we operate in as women has made it difficult even for the ANC itself to recognise the best it has in women and give them their rightful place.”
The environment she is referring to is the one steeped in patriarchy, sexism and machismo, where wom- en have been following rather than leading. Edna Molewa could not have argued better when she said: “Challenging and dismantling patriarchal attitudes within party structures that result in men being elected over women time and again will not follow a straight line.”
This statement is telling as it explains why 23 years later, the women’s league and the ANC failed to elect a woman as president.
After President Jacob Zuma had said the ANC was ready for a woman president, we have seen Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Baleka Mbete and Lindiwe Sisulu raising their hands to take over in December.
The decision to avail themselves for the position of the ANC presidency was thanks to the generosity of Zuma, who decided on behalf of the league that the ANC can now elect a woman. Over the last five years, I have observed masculinity rear its head in the body politic, becoming more pronounced in the ANC.
Men in the ANC have abrogated to themselves the right to decide on what is good for women in the ANC and the country at large. They determine when women are ready to lead, which women should lead and which position is suitable for them.
Gwede Mantashe did not disappoint not so long ago when the party was faced with the motion of no confidence in Zuma, when he boldly commented that it could not be allowed to succeed because there was no suitable successor. Can we read from the statement that if that motion had succeeded Mbete, the Speaker of Parliament, would not have been suitable to succeed Zuma until elections were held?
I do not subscribe to the notion that South Africa cannot elect a woman president. It looks like that will be reality in December.
We might differ and disagree on who those candidates are, but we cannot use their gender to exclude anyone of them from running for office because the system is stacked against them.