ANC national task team convener Baleka Mbete has called for women in the ANC Women’s League to prioritise gender equality and place it at the fore front.
Giving a political overview at the opening of the ANCWL’s 13th elective conference held at the Nasrec Centre, south of Johannesburg, Mbete said the league was convening the conference “to reflect on daily matters” as directed by thousands of citizens in rural and urban areas.
“It is the collective wisdom in these communities that must guide deliberations that come out of this conference,” she said, adding the ANCWL is tasked with responsibility of helping the ANC broaden its mass base and should continue to be voice of women in the ANC and and the broad women’s movement, spearheading gender transformation.
Mbete also pointed out that while the task team was last year given 12 months to fix the ANCWL - it was confident that it had achieved its mandate.
“We had no illusion about the difficult political terrain we were stepping into and we were aligned to the limits of what could be attained in 12 months. I’m proud to tell world that this national task team did their best,” Mbete said.
She highlighted that post-Polokwane, the environment has negatively affected all structures of the ruling party, including women.
She added that the league was convening the conference “to reflect on daily matters” as directed by thousands of citizens in rural and urban areas and called for the women’s league to also address issues such as gender-based violence, inequality, and gender equality in society.
“It is the collective wisdom in these communities that must guide deliberations that come out of this conference,” she said, adding the ANCWL is tasked with responsibility of helping the ANC broaden its mass base and should continue to be voice of women in the ANC and and the broad women’s movement, spearheading gender transformation.
Mbete further said it was clear that women were the best people to lead the challenges faced by women and that the conference was a chance to dismantle the remaining psychological damage caused over decades.
Earlier in the day, proceedings were marred by registration delays.
Despite the Mbete, stating that they were 90% ready to kick off the conference, delegates by 3pm delegates were still verifying their credentials.
This includes the North West province which its delegates were still not registered.
About 3,100 delegates from branches across the country are expected to attend the women’s league conference. The NTT said the 2,900 delegates have been registered already.
By 8pm Mbalula had not taken the podium forcing his address to be pushed to Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, the conference was previously postponed over credential disputes.
IOL Politics