Women's league faces its demons
Vuyo Sokupa
05 April 2007 07:59
The African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) has been hard hit by neglected branches, failed recruitment strategies, unstable provincial leadership and inadequate resources, says league secretary general Bathabile Dlamini. In a frank report presented to the women’s league’s four-yearly national general council, held in Kempton Park last weekend, Dlamini also lambasted the league’s leaders for not fulfilling their official responsibilities. Her report warns members against the emerging phenomenon of forming groups in the run-up to conference elections. Continuing even after conferences and developing into cliques and factions, these were “a virus and a demon that threatens the very existence of our movement”, Dlamini says. Her comments were reinforced by league president Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who told delegates in her opening address: “The organisation needs to enhance its organisational and political capacity to take advantage of the space created to push forward the cause of women’s emancipation.”
More than a thousand delegates attended the four-day gathering, which called for the ailing Manto Tshabalala-Msimang to be retained as health minister. The other resolutions are yet to be publicised. The league is widely seen as organisationally weak and ineffective in representing women’s political interests. Dlamini’s report reprimands officials deployed to regions who fail to discharge their duties. “They only wake up on the eve of conferences,” she comments. In her closing address, Dlamini announced that the league planned to launch its own Imvuselelo (growth) campaign to strengthen branch structures. League spokesperson and national executive committee member Charlotte Lobe also said there would be a move to elect leaders who paid attention to their duties and to ask under-performing leaders to step down.
The league has launched a new membership system to provide easy access to information on the organisation and membership forms. Dlamini complains that branches do not monitor their membership and that branch statistics indicate that no effort is being made to recruit new members beyond the minimum requirement. “Much as we have created better ways of accessing membership, we have not been able to have continuous recruitment; we do not have a strategy for recruitment,” she adds. The league’s 2003 national general council decided to revive and develop branches as a key strategy. It was envisaged that the branches would become vibrant centres of the organisation where ordinary women would be empowered through political education and be fed important information on political developments and economic opportunities.
The national executive committee was charged with executing this mandate. The development of branches is vital as most league members are unskilled and semi-skilled women living in informal settlements or rural areas. Dlamini’s report turns a particularly harsh spotlight on the league’s provincial structures, saying there are no full-time provincial secretaries, with most having other responsibilities. This had “proved to be a serious drawback, and our centre cannot hold”, she says. One consequence was poor delivery on programmes of action. The report says that the issue of hiring full-time provincial secretaries had been raised with the ANC, which was looking at the cost implications. At the 2003 national general council, the league had decided, for financial reasons, that the position should remain part-time. “But since the ANC is up on its feet, I think we can afford to pay good salaries,” said Lobe. Also undermining the league’s provincial and regional structures was a shortage of administrative staff and organisers.
The report says that some provincial executive committees (PEC) are not performing well, and that some provinces have not been able to hold PEC meetings. It adds that, although the league’s finance and fundraising committee was “trying really hard”, most of its meetings could not proceed because they lacked a quorum. In 2003, the committee was asked to devise a fundraising policy and programme of action to meet the league’s “lack of financial sustainability”. Lobe said: “What came out of the [weekend] national general council is that we must not only have people in leadership on the committee, we must add more personnel. You cannot do anything without resources.”
Problems in the provinces
ANC Women’s League secretary general Bathabile Dlamini’s report paints a sorry picture of organisational disarray. Among the problems at provincial level are:
Mpumalanga:
Branches do not hold branch general meetings and meetings are only held so that members can get themselves elected to leadership positions. Branches do not report to the regional executive committee, and cannot manage their time properly.
KwaZulu-Natal:
The regions are rural and very large, making it difficult to maintain constant communication with members. The KwaDukuza region, in particular, has suffered from taxi violence, resulting in lack of programmes.
Free State:
The provincial executive committee (PEC) remains intact, although some of its members no longer qualify because of continued absence. Except for the fundraising sub-committee, all PEC sub-committees are dysfunctional.
North West:
Branches only become strong during conferences and elections. There is no qualitative growth in branches, which do not hold executive committee meetings, and programmes of action are not sustainable. The provincial secretary, Yvonne Makhume, was suspended and, after disciplinary hearings, asked not to stand for any women’s league position. -- Vuyo Sokupa
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