New ANC MP: tenuous ties of a dark horse
LITTLE-KNOWN: THIN ON PARTY ACTIVISM
Integrity commission wanted her excluded from party list in 2019.
It’s no surprise that the elevation of little-known Xiaomei Havard to an ANC MP caused shockwaves even among party members as she appears not to have much background in ANC activism. Her biography says little about her ANC involvement, except that she joined the party in 2004. Aside from attending a few gatherings of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), several Chinese and SA business gatherings, and attending Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) forums, Havard appears to have undertaken no real ANC activism.
Her Twitter account shows her with a group of ANCWL members on a recruitment campaign in Diepsloot in 2018. Earlier, she posted a photograph of her donating blankets to residents in Soweto.
Her other association with ANC leaders was through the China-SA Distinguished Female Business Council, of which she is co-president. She led the council’s tribute to late ANC stalwart Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in April 2018. Another photograph she posted showed Madikizela-Mandela giving a clenched fist salute wearing Xhosa gear in ANC colours.
Some ANC senior members remain unconvinced about Havard’s credentials and her appearance on the party list for parliament ahead of the 2019 election.
She was nominated by Gauteng, which had benefitted from her business generosity. That included recruiting several female entrepreneurs to form a bridge between SA and Chinese businesswomen.
Approached for comment, a senior ANC member and former parliamentarian, who requested anonymity, said the Gauteng ANC had to answer. “I don’t know about her and her Brics connections and other businesses she is involved in.
“I have never seen her in any [national general council] or provincial meetings. Why don’t they show such pictures. Where is the evidence? I have never heard her arguing politics anywhere,” he said.
As number 130 on the ANC National Assembly list, Havard overtook a number of ANC stalwarts, ministers and backbenchers from the previous administration.
She was born in Henan, China, and the ANC said she moved here in 1993 and after marrying a South African, became a naturalised citizen. She is the president of the Federation of Chinese Women in Commerce and co-president of the SA-China Famous Female Business Council.
It’s not clear what offence she committed for her to be included among 23 parliamentary candidates the ANC integrity commission wanted excluded from the party list due to misconduct allegations.
But the ANC has defended Havard’s selection as an MP and replacement for the late Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu. ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina said: “Her party, the ANC, included her name in the national list and her appointment meets constitutional muster and is allowed,” said Majodina.
Former ANC Western Cape spokesperson Yonela Diko, in an opinion peace published by Eyewitness News, said the reaction to Havard’s deployment was caused by multiple factors. These included inequality, fear of Chinese dominance, suspicion of Chinese global intentions and the rise of nationalism.