Azapo fields 6 women in top 10 list
In an effort to promote gender balance and women representation, Azapo has fielded six female candidates in the top 10 of their provincial list.
The list of 39 candidates submitted to the Independent Electoral Commission is also topped by a female candidate, the party’s provincial chairperson, Tobela Winky Mngqibisa.
The party does not have a single seat in the Eastern Cape legislature.
In an interview on WednesThapelo day, Azapo president Strike Thokoane said the party and the Black Consciousness Movement had always been sensitive to gender equality.
“Women leaders must be celebrated and it is not the first time that Azapo will be led by a woman. When other parties that are still struggling in putting women in key positions, Azapo and the Black Consciousness Movement has done that a long time ago,” Thokoane said.
Mngqibisa, who is the party’s premier candidate for the May 8 elections, made a bold call, saying they would abolish provinces should they win the elections.
“Provinces are a hindrance to job creation and service delivery. Provincial government is a sphere between local and national and you find out that services do not go to the people because they are stagnated at the provincial level,” she said.
She criticised provinces as a waste of money and other resources.
“To have nine MECs of health plus a minister for health means that you have 10 people who are running health, which is too much.
“But if we can get rid of the sphere of provincial government and set up an administration, that will improve services,” she said. “Take these people to local government because that is where the service is supposed to be.”
Asked if she did not think that Azapo had lost relevance and appeal for voters over the years, Mngqibisa said that the ideas of black consciousness were still alive and relevant.
“Black consciousness talks to all socio-economic needs that people talk about every day. What causes the perception that we are not relevant anymore is that only [former President Nelson] Mandela was elevated as the hero of our struggle.
“Another thing is that we did not participate in the 1994 elections based on the fact that we rejected Mandela’s sell-out position,” she said.
She said that in its campaign the party would focus mainly on bringing back black power. It promises to do away with the tender system. Azapo also supports land expropriation without compensation.
The party wants to “decolonise” the education system, improve the health system and stimulate job creation.
“Dependence syndrome is another problem that this government has entrenched. We can all see that the current corruption is a cancer so we want to do things the right way,” she said.
Provinces are a hindrance to job creation and service delivery Tobela Winky Mngqibisa Azapo Eastern Cape provincial chair and premier candidate