No worries about divisions in ANC, says Nkoana-mashabane
MINISTER of International Relations and Cooperation Maite Nkoana-mashabane, who has been nominated for a top-six position in the ANC, feels deeply honoured to be considered for a leadership position in the continent’s oldest liberation movement.
Nkoana-mashabane, who is also treasurer-general of the ANC Women’s League, has been nominated by the ANC Youth League and the umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association for the post of party treasurergeneral.
Both organisations have also endorsed former AU chairwoman Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma to succeed President Jacob Zuma as leader of the ruling party.
If Nkoana-mashabane and Dlamini Zuma are elected at the ANC’S elective conference in December, they will make history as the first women treasurer-general and president of the party respectively.
Softly-spoken Nkoanamashabane says being a member of the ANC is in itself an honour.
“But it’s even a greater honour and a privilege to asked to serve in a leadership position of this great movement. It is an honour I do not take for granted and I want to thank comrades for this honour.”
Nkoana-mashabane, who was born in Makgoebaskloof and raised in Ga-makanye, Limpopo, says she was reminded by a fellow ANC member that if her election succeeds, she will be the second person from Limpopo to serve in the top-six leadership position of the ANC after the party’s second president, Sefako Mapogo Makgatho, who was born in 1861 in Gamphahlele, in the then Pietersburg district of Transvaal (now Limpopo province).
Asked what those who nominated her see in her, she says: “They see my passion, selflessness, dedication and hard work.
“Perhaps they have also identified what I refer to as my weakness – that I never do anything without doing it to the best of my ability.”
Asked if she is worried about divisions dogging her party, she says: “I’m not worried at all. The ANC is a very big organisation. Because we are a very big family, naturally there will be very robust debates.
“These perceived divisions are symptomatic of robust engagements that characterise our movement.
“One thing that I do not appreciate and that worries me is when these debates degenerate into personal attacks and insults. Everything has to have a limit and so should contestation of ideas.”
Nkoana-mashabane provides a lengthy background of her early life, saying she was “one of my generation who did not choose politics as a career. We were born while there were these challenges”.
She highlights among other injustices how as a toddler, she witnessed her great-grandparents being thrown out of their ancestral land.
She speaks also of the harassment she endured at the hands of apartheid security forces while she was a teacher.
“The children that I taught used to accompany me after school to my home where lessons continued in my garage. When these kids left my home, police would come and accuse me of teaching these children communism.”
Of the ANC Women’s League endorsement of Dlamini Zuma as the next leader of the ANC, Nkoana-mashabane says the process to nominate the former AU chairperson is “very open, transparent and democratic”.
“Like most of us, comrade Dlamini Zuma was born in a village. Her involvement in politics at an early age saw her leaving the country. But that never distracted her. She pursued her studies and ended up qualifying as a medical doctor.
“When she returned to the country, she became the first black female minister of health, where she did exceptionally well. She carried out her duties with passion. She introduced new laws to crack down on smoking in public.”
Nkoana-mashabane is referring to the Tobacco Products Control Act championed by Dlamini Zuma while she was health minister, making it illegal for anyone to smoke in public places.
“This was emulated by many countries across the world. We should be proud that this revolution started in South Africa spearheaded by a woman.”
Nkoana-mashabane mentions how during her tenure as foreign affairs minister in the Thabo Mbeki government, Dlamini Zuma played a critical role in transforming the then Organisation of African Unity to the AU.
She highlights how as home affairs minister Dlamini Zuma turned around the department which had for years been the worst performing and also championed the introduction of the current identity cards which replaced identity books.
“What I call a miracle happened in 2012 when comrade Dlamini Zuma was elected by the AU Commission as its chairperson, making her the first woman to lead the organisation.
“Clearly, her talent, her impeccable credentials and her love for her people is what South Africa needs today. This country needs someone who will help us overcome 350 years of colonisation and economic exclusion.
“We need someone who will push for radical economic transformation, and that individual is none other than comrade Dlamini Zuma.”
Asked about the controversy sparked by Dlamini Zuma’s nomination which many have said is not in line with the ANC’S “tradition” of the organisation’s deputy president succeeding its president, Nkoana-mashabane says: “There’s no controversy at all. ANC presidents are not handed the leadership position in the party, they have to contest it.
“Zuma contested Mbeki in Polokwane and Zuma was also challenged for the ANC presidency by his deputy Kgalema Motlanthe in 2012 in Mangaung.”
Nkoana-mashabane weighs in on reports that US and UK authorities have identified Dlamini Zuma as among 27 people linked to the Gupta family being probed for possible involvement in criminal financial activities.
“We have seen that movie before. I find it strange that these countries, with whom we have diplomatic relations, have not followed any diplomatic procedure in this regard.
“To date, I have not in my capacity as international relations minister received any formal correspondence from these countries that are reported to be investigating some individuals in this country, neither has our ministry of police.”
Dlamini Zuma has since denied any links with the Gupta family.