MEDIA STATEMENT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE ANCWL Cde Meokgo Matuba
8 October 2015
The Treasurer-General, Cde Maite Nkoana-Mashabane
Members of the media
Good Afternoon,
It gives me great pleasure this afternoon to first congratulate the leadership of the ANCWL in organizing the women of this country & ensuring that their voice is present in the National General Council of the African National Congress. The ANC WL hosted consultative workshops targeted at women from within and outside the ANC structures to discuss NGC documents, deliberate on matters women affecting women and organize the discussions to a submissions for NGC.
The consultative sessions are a resolution of the ANC WL NEC Lekgotla, that took place the previous month in Boksburg. The Lekgotla markeda new period of our history to RENEW, REORGANISE and REMOBILISE the organization.
1. It is important for the organisation to RENEW its historic mission and objectives for being a reliable and trusted movement and a wing of the ANC, whose main purpose is to defend the fruits of our democracy and the struggle of our people.
2. We need to RE-ORGANISE the ANCWL for organisational rebuilding and unity of purpose as well as enhancing the program of the ANC. ANCWL must be more visible and capable of rallying society behind its banner.
3. It is also important to RE-MOBILISE the entire membership of the ANCWL to be active in organisational work.
4. We need to RE-AFFIRM the role of the ANCWL in leading a hegemonic women struggle internationally and remaining a beacon of hope for women in different parts of the world.
On Friday the 2nd October 2015, the first Consultative meeting of the WL was convened in collaboration with the office of the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC and was targeted at business-women. The second meeting on the 6thOctober, for CPO’s, NGO’s & Faith Based Organisations then the final consultative session was the 7th October for women professionals. The gatherings also assisted the ANC WL in drawing a road map that will guide the organisation in implementing its conference resolutions. These sessions saw various women making inputs on NGC submissions and were well received by participants with the following activities and outcomes.
1. The Women in Business Consultative Workshop:
The Office of the Deputy Secretary General of the ANC and the ANC Women’s League held a consultative workshop on the 2nd October in Johannesburg. The workshop was to discuss the economic conditions of women and to collate information discussed to form part of the ANC WL submission at this National General Council of the ANC. Led by the DSG of the ANC Comrade Jessie Duarte, the workshop was addressed by the ANC WL President Comrade Bathabile Dlamini, the Treasurer General of the ANC WL Comrade Maite Nkoana-Mashabane and the Minister of Women Comrade Suzan Shabangu.
The observance brought by an opportunity for women to deliberate a way forward in avoiding regression of gains of democracy. With all generations represented by the meeting, mentorship featured prominently during debates as the need to mold the next generation of leaders * skills transfer were emphasized
Minister Lindiwe Sisulu, precipitated the discussions towards a way forward and the following resolutions were taken:
- The ANC Stalwart Comrade Frene Ginwala is to lead the process of developing a Women’s Journal to research and improve the quality of information concerning women in the modern South Africa
- To mobilize other women to rally behind the mission towards radical economic transformation of women
- A debriefing session will be held following the ANC NGC
Other resolutions taken include:
The WL took decision to intergrade our decisions in to a National Development Plan.
Women & Education
- Regulation of Private Schools in terms of policies & syllabus
- Curriculum must be reviewed in line with mandates of Government, e.g history , culture –heritage & tourism as priority sectors.
- Proper investment on Early Childhood Development and Infrasture & Training & Development.
Justice
- Parole boards must be reviewed
- Family courts must be revived and strengthened
- Judiciary still needs to be reviewed and harsher sentences need to be imposed on perpetrators of violence against women
Governance
- Private sector should also implement 50/50 but Government must impose a sanction on those who fail to implement it
- Leadership and party political participation
- Gender desk in the ANC must be revived so that gender issues are not made only women’s issues. The WL must remain the conscience of the ANC
- In all decision making structures women must be represented in terms of 50/50gender policy
- We need an audit on the impact on both Private & Public sector on where women are located and income levels
- We are concerned about by the current number of Premiers who are male which is not reflective of our gender policy in the Provinces .We need to have women Chairperson & secretaries in future
- We are concerned with the lack of women in positions such as municipal managers
Women & Economy
- Government must monitor both Private and Public sector if Government wants to achieve its goals on the aspect of transformation
- We call for the establishment of women’s fund, funding formulas are still not favoring women in order to promote ownership and mentorship
Statement issued by Meokgo Matuba, Secretary-General, African National Congress Women's League, 8 October 2015
