Female president? These 3 titans are up to the task

Published Jul 30, 2017

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If South Africa owes its constitutional democracy to the ANC and its heroic struggles, then the ANC owes its progressive outlook and gender sensibilities to a legion of its woman cadres, who over the years have weaved formidable foundational threads upon whose pivot this progressive culture is hinged.

The women’s lobby in the ANC has fashioned the ANC into a receptive and responsive organ that is alive to many societal issues, chiefly among those is its gender struggles for equality and liberation.

The recent public debate about the possibility of a woman president taking the reins of the ANC has brought into focus and pitted the three women candidates - Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Lindiwe Sisulu and Baleka Mbete.

Countries such as India, England, Germany and Brazil have had female leaders and some still do. The most well known case of a woman head of state in the West was Margaret Thatcher, who can be viewed as an extreme case of a political uncouth whereas Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, symbolises greater sensitivity and humanity by allowing refugees in Germany against national protestation at great risk to her career.

In the US, Hillary Clinton’s recent campaign highlighted that country’s deep seated chauvinistic sentiments towards a female presidential candidate. A capable woman was sidelined for a choice of masculinity and all its loquacious trappings.

The list of woman leaders that the ANC has produced numbers among the best minds this country has ever had. Without exception and with emphatic virility, none of them suffer fools as they heroically held their own in a patriarchal and racist society. These women could put any man to intellectual shame, and in fact stand head and shoulders above most menfolk.

Charlotte Maxeke was a distinguished woman and leader in her own right. A pioneer of modern political activism and a nation builder who went on to establish the women’s league and an educational academy called the Wilberforce College, which was a teacher and theological training academy in Evaton.

In the 1930s woman leaders like Sophie Mpama led resistance struggles in areas such as Tlokwe - the erstwhile Potchefstroom - to the chagrin of oppressors.

Mrs Hall, wife of Dr Xuma, Ruth First, Ruth Mampati, Bertha Gxowa, Lilian Ngoyi, Sophie Du Bruyn and Ray Alexander organised a cross section of communities in the 1940s and 1950s.

The other legion of women Struggle heroines to whom much gratitude is owed include Ellen Khuzwayo, Lucy Mvubelo , Adelaide Tambo, Albertina Sisulu, Winnie Mandela, Gertrude Shope and Frene Ginwala to name a few.

Women have entrusted their male counterparts to take charge of the reins of power. Now that they have influenced a progressive policy direction, it is only fair that they too hold the reins in the implementation of their views and aspirations.

This is not lack of trust in the male folk but confidence in the female’s humane temper and reasoned disposition. Under their watch, nothing will be left to chance.

Three formidable women have been urged to raise their hand and wave an affirmative response to the chorus of branches and members who strongly argue that the time has come for a more firmer and steady hand in the reins of power.

The political outlook of the three women is the same as it is based and founded on the ANC principles and traditions of the Struggle.

These three leaders have imbibed the ANC politics from youth, were raised in its ranks, were weaned from its loins, suffered under its flag and bore the brunt of the racist’s regime’s bestial and inhumane treatment.

Forced into exile in their formative years, their dreams of a normal life were dashed when they took their place of pride in the ANC’s various assignments and performed them with distinction.

Is our time for a woman president beckoning? It has eluded our compatriots in Zimbabwe when Joice Mujuru’s ascendency was mercilessly thwarted. The Zanu patriarchy proved too entrenched for her sort and her designs regardless of her struggle credentials.

The election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia as the first African female president opened the possibility and reality of a female president. On the other hand, the ANC’s progressive outlook will be tested as to whether it will prove receptive to a woman leader.

Lindiwe Sisulu is one of the most senior leaders in cabinet and the second longest serving minister, second only to Jeff Radebe. She has held many senior cabinet posts, including that of Deputy Minister Home Affairs, Minister of Intelligence, Minister of Human Settlement , Minister of Public Service and Administration and again as Minister of Human Settlements. Her cumulative public service experience rivals that of any university rector and learned institutional administrators.

Baleka Mbete has held a number of strategic positions, from that of Deputy Speaker of Parliament in 1994 to that of National Speaker during president Thabo Mbeki’s tenure. Thereafter she was assigned to the ANC national office as the first female national chair, only to be brought back as deputy president during the interim era of president Kgalema Mothlanthe and she is currently Speaker of Parliament.

Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma held the position of minister of Health in 1994 during the inaugural Nelson Mandela cabinet. Thereafter she was assigned to the post of Home Affairs and then seconded for two terms to the strategic post of International Relations. In October 2012 she became the first formal head of the African Union for a five-year term.

Apart from their public service these leaders come from the same political generation of the 1970s. Mabete and Sisulu served the ANC mostly in the African frontline states while Dlamini-Zuma held the fort in London and later in Swaziland.

She played a leading role in the health section of the ANC in exile whereas Mbete played a key role in the artistic section and also played a leading role in exile in the ANC Woman’s League.

Sisulu, on the other hand, played a critical role in the underground and intelligence unit of the ANC, to such a degree that at one point she was a secretary to Jacob Zuma who was head of intelligence.

These three leaders are personal friends and have shared profound historical and struggle experiences with each other.

Their families have suffered the hardships of struggles and they too have lived to tell many tales of horror, torture, loss and ultimate triumph.

The reality is a dawn for South Africa where the candidacy of women for the highest office may be too compelling to shrug off.

These three women contenders to the political throne have many compelling attributes in their favour, including their daring intellect.

They come from strong political communities and do not wish to claim their aspirations to the throne based on their husbands or families’ history and political fortunes. They are leaders in their own right and demand to be regarded and respected as such.

These three leaders have over the years achieved greatness and are loved and loathed on their own merit.

What is evident is that a woman leader and president will bring a more human face that will be attributed to most decisions that will be taken and a sense of temperance and greater sensitivity in decision making.

The ANC delegates will be spoilt for choice as these three titans will enter the ring in December to outbox each other for the affection of the delegates.

The women who marched to the Union Buildings on August 9, 1956 planted a seed in fertile ground and its budding shoots are making an unenviable announcement.

* Ka Plaatjie is special advisor to Lindiwe Sisulu.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

The Sunday Independent

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