Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is among the women who did not make it onto the ballot for the ANC conference next month. Picture: Itumeleng English
The lobby group for Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has vowed to use the next few weeks to “engage” structures in a last-ditch effort to secure a nomination at Nasrec.
Kubayi, who was in the running for position of ANC deputy president, is among a number of female leaders who did not make the cut from branch nominations.
Now her group’s chief campaigners and Western Cape ANC leader Nomi Nkondlo said while they were disappointed that their candidate failed to make the ballot, they were not surprised.
“We maintain that this is a fight that we will pursue until we get to conference floor,” Nkondlo said.
“The power battle in the ANC mirrors the power battle in society, which is highly masculine. Every one knows that women carry the ANC, and if you go to branch level it is women who are doing the work.”
She said the aim was to ensure that at least three women were elected to the top six.
“We will not be the generation that sits back; we will have have three women in the top six and those women must not be relegated to deputy positions as it has been done in the past.”
Any woman who is still interested in clinching a seat in the ANC’s top six will have to persuade delegates and secure 25% of their support at the Nasrec Expo Centre next month.
Those hoping to secure the positions could also be saved by the election committee’s guidelines which say the party would limit the number of men voted into the top six.
This means that after the election, if men are elected to the first three positions, only women can be voted into the remaining three positions.
This is according to the election committee guidelines proposed by former President Kgalema Motlanthe.
Putting a cap on the number of men who can be elected into the top six could be the only way the party could ensure gender parity, analysts said.
The ANC this week unveiled the nominations for the top six, and only two made the cut - former minister Nomvula Mokonyane, who received 1 779 nominations from branches, and Febe Potgieter, who received 905 for the position of deputy secretary-general.
The two were the only two women out of 15 candidates whose names qualified to be on the ballot.
Some of the would-be leaders who did not meet the threshold include ministers Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Lindiwe Sisulu and Kubayi.
The lack of representation of women in the top six nominations has been attributed to the shambolic state of the disbanded ANC Women’s League.
Political analysts have argued that a strong women’s league could have opposed the nominations.
By Friday evening, the league had not responded to the nominations.
Meanwhile, the interim structure of the women’s league has so far remained mum on the nominations.
Political analyst Lukhanyo Vangqa said the ANC’s exclusion of women from the top six positions must be condemned.
"This speaks to nothing else but an organisation beset with patriarchy and sexism. There is no other way to explain it," Vangqa said.
He said the argument by some in the ANC that the nominees were chosen on capability over gender was nonsensical, adding that the same argument was used by white people who were opposed to transformation.
"The argument that they are going to cater for women in the national executive committee (NEC) is not a good enough excuse because women must not be catered for only in the NEC, they must feature and find expression in the top 6."
He said that had the women’s league leadership structure been intact, perhaps there would be a different set of nominees.
"We would have seen a stronger push for women to be included than we see now," Vangqa said.
Another analyst, Andre Duvenhage, said while there was an overall lack of leadership in the ANC, there seemed to be a serious leadership vacuum among the women in the party.
"Dlamini came close, but the way she handled the Covid-19 pandemic counted against her, and Sisulu is a bit of a controversial figure," Duvenhage said, adding that the other problem was the need to look for women leaders as opposed to having them readily available.
Political analyst Dr Protas Madlala said it was an insult that women were only given deputy positions in the ANC.
"Each time there are positions for chairperson and deputy, they are kept for men, and when it comes to treasurer or deputy secretary, it’s always a woman. I find that very insulting."