Source: The Sunday Independent
Coverage of the decision by the ANC Women's League (ANCWL) to postpone its elective conference regretfully fails to understand the role of internal party dynamics in reaching decisions.
There is a common misconception that the raison d'être of the ANCWL should be to "speak truth to power" – that power being the ANC itself.
The women's league has played a pivotal role, not only in the gender parity achievements that we have seen and which we have been proud of in South Africa since 1994, but also during the Struggle, when it mobilised South Africans, women in particular.
Most progressive South African women acknowledge this. In a recent case in the Mpumalanga legislature, a DA MPL requested the intervention of the ANCWL in a case of alleged harassment by a male MPL.
This seemingly small example illustrates the continued relevance of the ANCWL's role: even to women from the DA.
We have played our part and will continue to do so – and without any need for validation from so-called "commentators".
The ANCWL, like the ANC Youth League and ANC Veterans League, is an integral part of the ANC: it is not an opposition party.
We are not the DA of the ANC. When we differ with the ruling party, we deal with this through well-defined and functional internal structures, not through the media or channelled through "analysts".
The ANCWL, working with other women's formations, has successfully put in place policies that have helped South Africa attain the high levels of female representation in government that we see today.
These successes did not fall like manna from heaven – they were hard fought for and won by all women, led by the ANCWL.
To suggest that the impressive gender parity attained in South Africa has taken place in spite of the ANCWL displays a patronising disregard for the abilities of our many members who today occupy high office as executive mayors and mayors, premiers, Speakers, MPs, portfolio committee chairwomen and cabinet ministers.
The majority of progressive MPs in Parliament today are drawn from the ranks through the progressive, gender-friendly policies of the ANC. Were it not for these, Parliament would resemble the first – and subsequent – provincial executives of the DA. That the ANCWL is a substructure of the ANC is a fact we neither deny nor apologise for.
Since the enactment of the 1996 constitution, the women's league has continued primarily to play the role of supporting the policies of this government, led by the ANC.
Notwithstanding this, we have a long record of advocating that women's rights be placed at the centre of policymaking.
Furthermore, we have not hesitated to speak out against practices that contradict the equality provisions of our constitution, even if these involve sacred cows – as we do in the policy proposal we are to adopt at our conference.
These actions include cultural practices that our women find ffensive.
For example, the ANCWL has consistently called for the abolition of the practices of forced marriage known as ukuthwala and of virginity testing. Not only this, but we have called for women to play a stronger monitoring role during traditional initiation processes.
These are among the many positions taken at our national policy conference last year.
They have been articulated on public platforms, and have seen the organisation incur the wrath of cultural and ethnic chauvinists.
The ANCWL takes its mandate seriously – not to serve the interests of a privileged, moneyed, educated minority, but mainly the indigent, voiceless rural women who continue to bear the brunt of poverty and marginalisation. It is true that for a number of reasons, the successes we registered from the early days of our democracy have declined.
The national conference is precisely the platform on which we will discuss and plan how to recover some of that lost ground.
This includes stepping up our lobbying from within ANC structures, to advocate social, legal and other reforms.
The conference also offers the opportunity for serious introspection regarding the role of the ANCWL in advancing the cause of women. Our intention is to strengthen our structures and put measures and policies in place for organisational renewal. Robust debate on policy positions has long defined the nature not just of ANCWL conferences but of the ANC.
It is unclear what has led some people to draw the conclusion that the internal political culture of the organisation is defined by the maxim "do not rock the boat".
In making a case for this 102-year-old organisation to be dismissed as a "nonentity" with "no hope of resurrection", some critics have suggested that the ANCWL should somehow be "above" party politics.
This is naiveté, given that the ANCWL is slated to go into an elective conference, where jockeying for positions is par for the course.
It has publicly acknowledged on several occasions the need for organisational unity, to protect the league from falling prey to factionalism and personal agendas.
We will continue to push for the furthering of the objectives of the National Democratic Revolution, for which our organisation was founded. This includes promoting these objectives from the sidelines, internally, from within party structures, and from within the government.
In cases that necessitate speaking out, we will do so. But speaking out should not be the standard by which we should be measured.
Many wrongly assume that our relationship with the government and with the ruling party should be adversarial. It is not, for we stand for the same thing: the unequivocal, non-negotiable advancement of the rights of women in our society.
As we prepare for our national conference this month, we look forward to robust debate and engagement on the critical issues facing women today.
The ANCWL is in no need of being "resurrected" – it has never been gone.
* Molewa is ANCWL head of communications.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.