Weak leadership of the ANC has been blamed by African Union Commission chairman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma - predicted by many to be a leading candidate in the next presidential elections - for the ruling party's dismal performance in the municipal polls. Speaking to President Jacob Zuma and his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, at a Women's Day celebration in Pretoria yesterday, Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa could not afford weak leadership."If South Africa is weak and the leaders of South Africa are weak, the continent is weak, so we owe it to those women, president of South Africa and deputy president, that this country must be strong," she said.The party's devastating losses at the polls have been partly blamed on Zuma's credibility as a leader. There have been renewed calls for him to quit.Dlamini-Zuma said she had been getting calls from people at the AU who were shocked by the ANC's election misfortunes.She said she was being asked if it was "as bad as it looked" but she did not know what to say."So we must not squander the hard-won freedom Sophie de Bruyn and others [leaders of the 1956 women's march to the Union Buildings] fought for. How can we?"Today I am speaking as chair of the AU."Listening to parties talking about hung councils, I think something is wrong, but I will just leave it there."Dlamini-Zuma emphasised that she was speaking as the AU Commission chairman "who happens to be a South African".She said that, as AU Commission chairman, she did not meddle in the internal affairs of countries but "as the AU, we look up to South Africa".GOOD FOR A LAUGH: President of the ANC Women's League and Minister of Social Development Bathabile Dlamini, AU Commission chairman Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, President Jacob Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa at the National Women's Day celebrations at the Union Buildings, Pretoria, yesterday.Dlamini-Zuma said South Africa must salute its women and ensure that "we will never squander their sacrifices".She said the women who marched to the Union Buildings to protest against the pass laws were given no money with which to organise but used the little they had. She lamented that "today we have an enhanced sense of entitlement".As she made the remarks, the smiling Dlamini-Zuma turned and looked at the giggling lineup of Zuma, Ramaphosa, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa, Minister in The Presidency Responsible for Women Susan Shabangu, and Bathabile Dlamini, president of the ANC Women's League and Minister of Social Development.Bathabile Dlamini jumped to Zuma's defence and attacked the actions of the four women who staged a silent anti-rape protest during Zuma's speech at the Independent Electoral Commission's results centre in Tshwane on Saturday .She said the women's league "encouraged peaceful demonstration but not what happened at the IEC"."That made headlines to the society that is still fractured and still in the thrall of bitter political campaigning. It does not take us forward in the fight against key drivers of sexual violence and persistent levels of inequality between men and women in this society."We cannot dismantle patriarchy when we, as women, consciously and unconsciously collude with patriarchy by using the ongoing war on women's bodies to fight and defend what is essentially a fight for power between elite men in our society," she said.Security was tight at the event and people were searched on entering.The buffer zone between the stage and the audience was huge - about 60m - with a presidential security detail keeping close watch on the crowd of about 5,000.Zuma began the commemoration with the unveiling of the Women's Living Heritage Monument...