The fate of strong black women in politics shows how hard it is to compete with members of the boys’ club

Since the death of Winnie MadikizelaMandela, I have been wondering whether women really have a place in politics. Madikizela-Mandela was one of the strongest characters to have walked the earth and yet politics chewed her up and spat her out. Perhaps more accurately, the male-driven political machinery, aided and abetted by other women in the ANC, drove her to the periphery and ensured she remained there till her death.

Only after Madikizela-Mandela’s passing was there real acknowledgement of her role in South Africa’s history and the fact that she held up the liberation struggle in the way no man could have.

Last weekend, former ANC MP Makhosi Khoza announced her resignation from her new political party, African Democratic Change, deciding to focus on civic activism and education projects.

Her political career was of course destined to end in tears because of the way she left the ANC and established ADeC based on transitory outrage against her former party and Jacob Zuma.

Khoza was convinced that the public approval she received for speaking out against Zuma and rebelling against the ANC would translate into sustainable support.

It did not.

Another strong woman in South African politics, Patricia de Lille, is now fighting to clear her name as the DA bulldozes her out of her job as mayor of Cape Town.

Her fight seems pointless.

There is a breakdown in relations with her party and there is no way for her to hang on to the mayorship — although she has managed to drag out the fight for a really long time.

Among the reasons the DA decided to charge De Lille for misconduct was because she “deliberately acts in a way which impacts negatively on the image or performance of the party” and brings “the good name of the party into disrepute or harms the interests of the party”.

De Lille’s actions did not seem to impact negatively on the party or bring it into disrepute when it used her to secure a 66.6% win in the City of Cape Town in 2016. In fact, during that election campaign, the DA claimed she was governing the “best-run city in South Africa”.

De Lille should have seen the writing on the wall when the DA’s former parliamentary leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko, was driven out. She, like De Lille, was independent-minded and would not conform to the script of the DA’s power barons.

But perhaps it is not just the DA that is incompatible with strong, particularly black, women.

The ANC has only one woman as an official and Jessie Duarte would not have been able to hold on to the position of deputy secretary-general were it not for the factional horse-trading at the party’s December conference. It seems women in the ANC believe they have to fit into a faction’s agenda or conform with the establishment to survive politically.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma’s decision to front for the Zuma faction in the 2017 ANC presidential race was evidence of this.

Lindiwe Sisulu ran a strong campaign in the first few months but was unable to sustain the momentum unless she joined the Cyril Ramaphosa ticket.

ANC delegates, including the ANC Women’s League, voted for David Mabuza, a man with a dubious agenda and many skeletons in his closet, rather than support Sisulu for the position of deputy president.

Although the EFF has two women among its top officials, there is no doubt that the power lies with Julius Malema and Floyd Shivambu, with Godrich Gardee keeping a tight hold on the administration and Dali Mpofu being the go-to guy on party affairs.

Of the 13 parties represented in parliament, only one, the

National Freedom Party, is led by a woman. Zanele kaMagwazaMsibi is, however, ostensibly an absentee leader due to ill health.

Trying to distinguish yourself as a strong woman in South African politics is like walking into a yoga class with a pickaxe — there is just no way to fit in.

But perhaps the situation is not unique to South Africa. Americans chose an odious buffoon who represents an assault on all sense of decency to be their president rather than have a woman lead them. In Germany, Angela Merkel makes a deliberate effort to eschew femininity in order for people to take her seriously.

While women are making strides in all sectors of society, it seems that strong young women either tend to avoid formal politics or are crushed early in their careers.

There is also the consideration that it is better to have men dominate the halls of power rather than have people like Bathabile Dlamini and Nomvula Mokonyane in positions of political responsibility.

Both were kept in the cabinet to satisfy factional interests and gender parity despite being utterly incompetent in their previous portfolios. Both ought to be held criminally liable for the corruption perpetrated in their former departments on their watch.

There are no easy answers for how strong, capable black women can rise and survive in politics, but the current boys’ club is indefensible and untenable.

It must be challenged.