Woman leader ‘a campaign slogan’

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe has effectively dismissed the call for the next president of the party to be a woman as a mere campaign slogan.

Addressing members of the Foreign Correspondents’ Association yesterday, Mantashe said: “We don’t have anything called a woman president in the ANC or a male president‚ OK?

“We look for the president of the ANC – male or female – because if we elect a female‚ that female will not be a female president but will be the president of the ANC. It’s as simple as that.

“[Saying] that it must be a woman president is a manufacturing of terms that feeds campaigning.”

This comes as elements of the youth and women’s leagues as well as the Free State provincial branch have come out in support of former AU Commission chairwoman Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to lead the organisation.

Dlamini-Zuma‚ openly endorsed by President Jacob Zuma‚ is expected to go head-to-head with Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Mantashe suggested strongly that while it might be difficult to get rid of Zuma now‚ it might not be as difficult once he is no longer ANC leader.

“We have six months to go to the national elective conference. [At] that elective conference‚ we elect a new leadership of the ANC.

“Beyond that point‚ many things are possible.”