Late ANC Member of Parliament and ANC Women's League member Tina Joemat-Pettersson has been hailed by the League's national task team convenor Baleka Mbete.
Addressing delegates at the ANCWL 13th elective conference in Nasrec on Saturday night, Mbete asked honoured late ANC acting secretary Jessie Duarte and Joemat-Pettersson whom she said would have made history at the conference by becoming the first non-black member to be elected as the League's deputy president.
This comes after Joemat-Pettersson received 1061 nominations for the position.
"Let us pause and reflect on one of the comrades (Joemat-Pettersson) nominated and had successfully qualified possibly to become deputy president of ANCWL... We think it is important to note that in that exercise that was conducted by our electoral committee of checking around the provinces and the structures of ANC Women's League, we were for the first time going to have all nine provinces voting for a deputy president of a candidate other than from the African community and therefore remind us of the message that our late DSG comrade Jessie Duarte left us with," she said.
Mbete and the delegates in "collective grief" observed a moment's silence for the two women, adding they had "contributed immensely to the work of the Women's League."
Meanwhile, the 13th elective conference moved to adopt credentials late on Saturday with up to 3 065 delegates eligible to vote.
The position of Presidency remains a three-horse race with deputy minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities Sisi Tolashe clinching 1564 nominations followed by ANC Member of Parliament Thembeka Mchunu with 796 nominations and former ANCWL president and Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini only gathering 258 nominations.
Delegates were expected to vote well into the early hours of Sunday morning.
IOL