Activists’ anger at patriarchy
THE SOLITARY election of Jessie Duarte on Monday night to the male- dominated ANC Top 6 has angered women’s organisations in the country.
Gender activists, who Independent Media spoke to yesterday afternoon, are calling for a special indaba “to discuss” the absence of women in the party’s top structure, in spite of the ANC’s official commitment to gender parity.
Former AU commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma failed to become the first woman president in the ANC’s 105-year history, being beaten by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa following a bruising electoral contest.
The ANC Women’s League was the first to react, at a press conference at Nasrec where the ANC is holding its five-yearly national conference.
League president and Social Security Minister Bathabile Dlamini blamed Dlamini Zuma’s loss on the patriarchal tendencies of ANC members.
The ANC had failed, she said, by electing five men and only one woman to lead.
“We cannot be proud of this outcome. Patriarchy has once again reared its ugly head in the ANC,” Dlamini said.
She called on the party to establish a “commission on the emancipation of women” which would look into issues of women’s empowerment in the ANC and the country.
Nonhlanhla Skosana of the human rights organisation, Sonke Gender Justice, echoed Dlamini: “Are women incapable to lead? It is not satisfactory.
“We need to have a discussion to find out whether the decision of the ANC to elect one woman in their executive meant that women are incapable to lead in society.
“It is a concern. We need to deal with it,” Skosana said.
Political analyst Tasneem Essop described the male-dominated ANC top structure as “more of the same and going backwards”.
In the previous Top 6, Duarte served alongside Baleka Mbete who was national chairwoman.
Essop said the composition of the Top 6 meant that the party “paid lip service” to gender equality within it.
“Its representation of women is less than it was during its past executive,” she said.
Essop also agreed with women activists that the ANC was a “patriarchal organisation” but she was equally scathing in her criticism of the women’s league, accusing it of having failed to champion women issues.
Earlier, the ANC Women’s League lodged a veiled attack on the party’s newly-elected deputy president David Mabuza and secretary- general Ace Magashule, who managed to secure positions in the Top 6. Mabuza and Magashule featured on Dlamini Zuma’s slate, managing to get elected, while she failed in her bid.
Dlamini and ANC Women’s League spokesperson Thoko Xasa took a swipe at them for having ridden Dlamini Zuma’s coat tails.
Dlamini Zuma, she said had been betrayed and defeated by institutional patriarchy.