ANC says Helen Zille and DA is back to all-male team

The Western Cape ANC says the DA must still publicly say why Dan Plato was removed as mayor of Cape Town if he did such a sterling job, as he was replaced by Patricia de Lille in the City of Cape Town.

Shadow premier Lynne Brown, ANC leader in the provincial legislature, says in her reaction to the latest Western Cape cabinet reshuffling: "This move resulted in premier Helen Zille again having no confidence in any of her women leaders by not appointing them in her cabinet. There must be no woman ‘fit for purpose' to replace the only woman who had a brief stay there, then wooed ID leader De Lille.

"It is also proof that Zille only have confidence in an all-male team under her and deem women only fit enough to use women on their poster photo's, but when it comes to gender equity under Zille in the provincial government the DA pays less than lip service to the commitment to give women a proper chance to show their worth. The DA is also not serious to live up to the Constitutional principle of non-sexism and transforming our society into a better place, also for women.

"It is also not clear why Albert Fritz was removed from the community safety portfolio and moved to social development if he was effective as was claimed that he stopped gangsterism and brought crime down.

"It is disappointing that speaker Shahid Esau was not removed. The Western Cape provincial legislature is the cornerstone of our democracy and he brought it into disrepute by procurement irregularities during his tenure, also with the way in which he chairs and how he stifles the democratic process.

"It is a big surprise that MEC for human settlements Bonginkosi Madikizela was spared the axe," says Brown.  

Statement issued by the ANC Western Cape, May 31 2011

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