Road to ANC electoral conference might not be about gender
THE gender can of worms for the ANC presidency has been officially opened.
The surprising statement by the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) at the time of the ANC annual January 8 statement has opened a Pandora’s box and its lid cannot be shut.
On one hand, the ANCWL can be commended for leaving the bygone era of waiting for the readiness of men. The debate on the possibility of a woman president conducted during Angie Motshekga’s reign as ANCWL president held no water.
Imagine if South Africa had waited for white South Africans to elect a black president, the country would not have experienced Nelson Mandela’s leadership in uniting and reconciling a divided country on the brink of war.
In this regard, patriarchy – in men and women – cannot be made ready for a female leadership in the same manner that racism cannot be entertained. The reason is because racism and sexism operate under the same laws of oppression which should have no space in a progressive society claiming to aspire to gender equality.
The league’s statement of “we see that we would have to do that ourselves” could have a revolutionary effect if its candidate was someone who spoke across gender lines. Judging from the polarising responses to the league’s announcement, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma clearly does not.
Sadly, most sentiments do not critique her as a politician, but rather as the ex-wife of the disastrous Jacob Zuma – making her surname a liability of note. Those who put her in the ex-wife box speak of her as incapable of having any sense of agency separate from her ex-husband.
What is interesting is the critics hardly refer to Jacob Zuma as Dlamini-Zuma’s ex. It is misogyny of the highest order.
In addition, the South African electorate is exhausted and Dlamini-Zuma’s speaking abilities are not inspiring. Truth be told, Dlamini-Zuma is not the best orator to compete with the likes of DA leader Mmusi Maimane, who rolls his tongue to make even a Model C “clever black” feel they have been through the Bantu education system.
There are also EFF leader Julius Malema and spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, who can create national conversations with phrases such as “Weekend Special”, “Zupta” or “pay back the money”.
The ANC needs to be aware of the political climate it operates in or could end up like the US Democrats who recently experienced a Hillary Clinton-led presidential campaign defeat despite her qualifications and being the most qualified presidential candidate.
Yet it is misogynistic to judge Dlamini-Zuma on her surname when she has carved her own political career separate from Zuma. Like a Clinton, Dlamini-Zuma is a qualified, yet deeply flawed candidate whose silence on issues is not doing her any favours.
She, like Hillary Clinton, represents the old establishment of which South Africans are exhausted.
Yes, a female president would free young boys and girls to dream of what is possible. It would model what a woman in the top position looks like. But how can South Africans know in the current election system of the ANC when the very candidates put forward by the party cannot speak on the issues that they would tackle.
This makes them proxies of their lobby interests rather than speaking in their authentic leadership voices to voters. This leads to subtle and not very direct accusations of Dlamini-Zuma being a proxy for the premier league or of men pulling the strings.
Dlamini-Zuma’s silence is not golden in this political terrain. The silence of the female candidates put forward, on the other hand, serves to communicate an unwillingness to transgress party lines and speak in their own voices.
This can only leave the voters to speculate on whether they will do the heavy lifting needed to dismantle a patriarchal society or will they be female statues speaking on behalf of male interests? These are all credible questions the electorate in a democratic dispensation is entitled to ask.
Until the female candidates put forward by the ANCWL begin to speak in their own authentic voices and say what they have to offer South Africa, their credentials will be met by a sea of doubt in a patriarchal society that already distrusts female leadership.
The front-runner male contender for the ANC presidency, Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, is hardly met with the same doubt despite he also being flawed as a politician with the Marikana massacre and his BEE-gained wealth.
Bidding millions for a buffalo while the majority are struggling with poverty did not do him any favours. But at least Ramaphosa has given direction as to his main issues should he be elected president of the ANC and the country.
He has suggested a lifestyle audit of political leaders which would clearly shake the core of the political elite and probably reveal “smallanyana skeletons”.
For obvious reasons, Zuma’s patronage would not want this kind of leadership that could open a can of worms into his scandals.
The president has even entered the presidential succession debate by refuting the culture of the ANC deputy president becoming the president as an “accident of history” and saying that South Africa is ready for a female president.
Pity that this “accident of history” was not an accident in Polokwane, and Thabo Mbeki was defeated and vilified for making the same call of support by the very same Zuma who was then deputy president. Clearly, the gender can of worms has been opened, but the road to the December ANC electoral conference might not be male or female.