‘Women are own worst enemies’
Durban fashion designer Mxolisi Mkhize, of House of St Luke, wowed the audience with his creations at the Durban Fashion Fair. FORMER SABC chief operating officer Hlaudi Motsoeneng addressed a delegation of women at the North West’s Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati municipality dialogue conference and told them they were their own worst enemies.
The theme of the dialogue was “Enough is Enough on Women and Children Abuse”, and Motsoeneng was to share insight into the causes of violence from a man’s perspective.
“Who is the problem when it comes to the setback of equity among women? And, in my view, women themselves are the problem.”
He said he deliberately appointed female senior managers at the SABC.
“In this era, women should not blame men because they also contribute to the problem of growth and equality. These issues might seem minute, but they have bigger implications, because they affect women in general.”
Concerns about experience seem feeble, because no one is born with experience, he said. “I don’t know where people expect this experience to come from without the opportunity.
“I know that many women don’t support this idea and will tell you many stories about why ‘she’ can’t do it. If you tell me about another woman, that means you are telling me that you are also useless. You can’t say that this woman can’t lead when you don’t believe you can do it yourself.”
Motsoeneng added that South Africans had the opportunity to support a female president. He said the only reason he was not contesting the presidency was that he was supporting a female president.
Event organiser and council speaker Lerato Maogwe said Motsoeneng was viewed as the ideal speaker for the day as he commanded attention.
“We chose him because he can attract people to listen. Many things have been said about Mr Hlaudi but we don’t judge him.”
On Friday, President Jacob Zuma signed off the Special Investigating Unit proclamation that will look into “debatable contracts” in the SABC, and Motsoeneng said he welcomed the authorisation.