The Big Read: All the president's women

18 August 2015 - 02:03 By Justice Malala

The old saying goes that birds of a feather flock together. The Women's Day weekend confirmed the adage. The ANC Women's League, after two years of stops and starts, finally held its national conference. Some interesting political developments came out of it.First, the league's new president endorsed the push for the next leader of the ANC to be a woman. That is fantastic news, obviously. Some of us have been scratching our heads for the past two decades as the league came out in strong support of individuals whose commitment to the empowerment of women is dodgy at best.However, I have been in this game for a very long time now, long enough to know that the ANCWL did not come up with this notion all on its own at this time. Let's not beat about the bush. It's Jacob Zuma's idea.On May 5 last year, two days before the election, Zuma was inspired enough to call a press conference and declare to journalists: "I think the country is ready for a woman president. The ANC has capable women [who can serve as president]. The ANC would enthusiastically [support] the election of a woman president. That might happen sooner than we think."When he first said it out loud many of us wondered whether he was dumping Cyril Ramaphosa, his deputy in the party and state, for someone who is closer to him. After all many of Zuma's supporters in the late 2000s have now abandoned his ship. Remember Siphiwe Nyanda, Tony Yengeni, Kgalema Motlanthe, Zwelinzima Vavi, Julius Malema and others. Some of them wanted to kill for Zuma. Now they would give him a few hot klaps if they were to meet him in a dark alley.However, some remain firmly behind Zuma. Seeing as he cannot extend his term in the ANC - former president Thabo Mbeki tried that trick in 2007 and failed dismally - the man from Nkandla wants to perpetuate his legacy and patronage network. He is looking for a future ANC leader who would not send him to jail for the 783 pieces of silver he received from Schabir Shaik and for which Shaik went to jail.He has clearly picked Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma for that role. Remember that the Zuma camp rejected her when she ran for the deputy presidency of the party in 2007 on the Mbeki slate. Now, suddenly, they are enamoured of her. Why?Anyway, at the women's league conference one of the more astonishing spectacles came when the outgoing president, Education Minister Angie Motshekga, berated "men" who had come to the conference to tell women how to vote."They want to influence anything that has a voice for their own personal power. So it is not about a female president; it is about them," she said.The men who most prominently appeared at the ANC Women's League conference last weekend are now known to be Free State Premier Ace Magashule, Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza and North West Premier Supra Mahumapelo. Who are these people? All of them are staunch Zuma supporters and have been so since the mid-2000s.Are they the kind of people who should be choosing your president for you? At the height of the Nkandla scandal ANC North West chairman Mahumapelo told the nation that "working-class people treat a president like a king". He went on to tell City Press newspaper that ordinary people do not care for Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report: "They [the working class] say Zuma is our president . we see him as our king. In the African tradition, a king must always be respected, regardless."Okay, then. Clearly Mahumapelo is not rooting for Zuma because he believes the man can help us survive the Chinese economic downturn. Mahumapelo wants a traditional leader in charge of South Africa Inc.As for Mabuza and his scandal-soaked administration, the less said the better.In February, the Sunday Independent wrote that the State Security Agency had "confirmed handing Mabuza intelligence reports on the lives and movements of journalists".The newspaper also pointed out that "since 1998, 14 ANC-linked politicians or politically connected officials have either survived assassination or died under questionable circumstances in Mpumalanga".That is very comforting.Magashule has presided over the collapse of the health system in the Free State. Oh, and remember that R48-million website that could have been designed for just a few million? Plus, his son was reported to be living high on the hog with Zuma's friends, the Guptas.These are the people who have suddenly found their feminist bones and are pushing for a woman president. I smell a rat...

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