MY VOTING CHECKLIST
Loyalty, family history, consistency or switching things up? If you’re wondering how to narrow down your political party choices, two businesswomen share what they’ll be factoring in when determining their ballot.
“My gender doesn’t play a big role in my voting choices. I’m more interested in what the party stands for. It’s more important that they steer the South African ship back to a moral and ethical society, where there are real opportunities for people to take up employment, create businesses and be proud, active citizens,” says Benedicta Mahlangu-Durcan, the executive manager for the Ease of Doing Business unit in one of South Africa’s Special Economic Zones.
She continues: “Political leadership needs to take significant steps to both protect and support women. A good place to start is using the women-facing or focused portfolios in government to single-mindedly look out for women in these situations. The moral degradation and increasing rape and women abuse stats in South Africa are also of major concern – not enough people are being put behind bars for causing these heinous crimes.”
Another pro-women promise Mahlangu-Durcan hopes to see on every political parties’ manifesto is, “A commitment to put their weight behind the fight against women abuse – that they’ll help to restore the strength and dignity of women.”
Jacqui Maphala, who co-hosts the SABC1 current affairs show Expressions, says, “My choice to vote for a political party will be informed by the level of female representation and participation within that particular political party. I’ll also be on the lookout for policies they have in place to dismantle the systematic and institutional barriers to women.”
Maphala adds that a significant step that political leaders could take to both protect and support women is to appoint more women in leadership positions within the judicial and law enforcement system. “We have a great constitution that upholds and protects the rights of women on paper, however our ability to implement is shocking. I feel that the law enforcement and judicial system fails women deeply, and their inability to effectively prosecute perpetrators continues to disadvantage women. Every political party’s manifesto should have a promise to see more women represented in the highest structures and echelons of their party and political structures.”