Zuma warns league against its mode of campaigning

PRESIDENT Jacob Zuma last night warned a divided African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) against lobbying and campaigning for positions in the “wrong way”.

He was speaking before delegates headed off to vote for new leaders of the league, some two years after the term of the current leadership had expired.

The leadership battle between incumbent league president Angie Motshekga and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini has divided the league, resulting in senior ANC leaders calling for unity in its ranks.

“You can’t lobby or campaign wrong, if you do so, you are sowing seeds against you. If you look at each other as enemies, how are you going to lead them (afterwards),” he said.

Zuma urged the league to learn from early ANC leaders who despite having greater support than their opponents, stood aside in the interests of the organisation and allowed others to lead.

“The ANC does not belong to individuals, it belongs to the people of this country,” he said.

Zuma slated those who lost at conferences and then undermined the new leaders when they took over. “You must be comradely once conference has decided, you rally behind the new leader,” he said.

The “modern ANC” did not seem to be making the party better than it was in the past. He questioned delegates for spending more time lobbying for elections than discussing key policy issues.

Earlier, Ms Motshekga lashed out at male party leaders who had the “audacity” to instruct the organisation who to choose as its leaders as she delivered her political report. She said it was not their place to dictate to the league who should lead it.

Doing so amounted to “abuse of office in the highest order”.

The league conference was meant to take place in 2013 and was delayed twice this year. The delays were due to non-existent structures in various provinces and had to be rebuilt.

Ms Motshekga told the conference that a provincial chairman of the ANC — she did not say which one — had sought to tell the league who to choose as its next leader.