Tambo cited in push for woman president
ANC Women’s League president Bathabile Dlamini has taken the campaign for the election of a woman president in the ruling party to Parliament and invoked the spirit of Oliver Tambo.
Addressing the league’s members outside Parliament after President Jacob Zuma’s reply to the State of the Nation Address debate yesterday, Dlamini said the time had come for the ANC to take what was started by Tambo seriously.
She said Tambo, as the longest-serving president of the ANC, had established a committee for the emancipation of women.
“The time has now come for the ANC to ensure they do what Tambo envisioned,” she said to applause from dozens of party members.
She told the supporters that the league would pay a visit to Nkantolo, Eastern Cape, where Tambo was born, to celebrate his memory.
She took a swipe at those who doubted the capabilities of women, saying they did not understand the role of women even in their homes.
“We are presidents even at our homes. Nothing happens without women,” she said.
AmaXhosa King Mpendulo Sigcawu recently expressed his doubts about the readiness of the country to be led by a woman when former AU chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma paid a courtesy visit to his Nqadu palace in the Eastern Cape.
While Dlamini did not mention Sigcawu by name, she retorted: “We are going to have a woman president.”
The league named Dlamini Zuma last month as its preferred candidate to succeed Zuma at the ANC’s December conference.
If Dlamini Zuma gets elected, she is likely to become the country’s next president in 2019.