ANC confident it can protect party women
‘Mechanisms in place to deal with assault’
THE ANC has defended itself over criticism that it is not genuinely committed to protect women who fall prey to sexual assaults within the party.
This comes after it was found that the party did not have a sexual harassment policy.
The ANC has been embroiled in sexual harassment and rape allegations recently involving its spindoctors and national executive committee members Pule Mabe and Zizi Kodwa.
Mabe was accused of sexual harassment by his personal assistant. The party’s grievance panel cleared him before his accuser opened a criminal case against him.
Kodwa was accused of rape, an allegation he has denied.
ANC NEC member Nocawe Mafu said it was difficult for the party to take responsibility for the individual behaviour of ANC members and leaders, even though it was aware that it affected the party.
Mafu was speaking alongside other members of the ANC’s subcomittee of social transformation at Luthuli House in Johannesburg, where the party was unpacking its manifesto ahead of the elections.
“We need to agree that behaviour is a subjective issue. How ANC leaders behave is subjective behaviour but, of course, how we behave will reflect on the organisation that we belong to,” Mafu said.
NEC member and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga said while the party had admitted that it did not have a sexual harassment policy to deal with internal complaints, the ANC was no less committed to protecting or empowering women.
“Having a policy does not mean we are a perfect structure. What we should applaud and what is encouraging in the ANC is the fact that women issues are on the table,” Moshekga said.
She said the party had also created internal structures to deal with issues affecting women.
How ANC leaders behave is subjective, but how we behave will reflect on the organisation we belong to
“As gender activists we are not oblivious … even inside the ANC there are ongoing struggles. That is why the Women’s League fights for women issues both inside and outside the ANC.
“Within the ANC itself we even have a gender committee. That is an acknowledgement that the struggle still continues within the ANC,” the minister said.
The ANC’s social transformation subcommittee has also called for stricter sentences for those found guilty of sexual assault and gender-based violence.
Meanwhile, Motshekga said the ANC would not be proposing new policies on social transformation, especially education, but would rather improve existing ones, including early child development.
“In the past 25 years, we have been able to build a solid framework.
“We have built one system of education and one assessment, so the framework is there.
“What we will have to do as a country is to consolidate on the things that we have put in place, among others.
“That is why we are advocating for a very strong early childhood development programme as part of ramping up the work that we do,” Motshekga told reporters.
This includes fully placing early childhood development, or ECD, under the Education Department, with four and five-year-olds being placed on a compulsory two-year pre-school enrolment before entering Grade 1.
Nocawe Mafu ANC NEC member