Forum unpacks politics ahead of elections

Hlanganisa Community Fund, in collaboration with Wize4Afrika, recently organised a thought-provoking dialogue that provided a platform for representatives from different political parties to share their perspectives on a pressing issue: whether the upcoming elections will have a significant impact on the status and opportunities for women in South Africa.

The dialogue was held at Indaba Hotel and moderated by the esteemed award-winning broadcast journalist, Cathy Mohlahlana, on May 20.

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Mohlahlana highlighted that women constitute the majority of the population in the country. She said if they were to vote together as a unified bloc, they would have the ability to significantly influence the outcome of elections.

Despite this potential, Mohlahlana expressed concern that women do not seem to recognise the collective power they hold. She questioned whether issues directly impacting women are truly being prioritised in the political landscape.

“We often talk about how South Africa is the most unequal country in the world. What we don’t say is that it is women who bare the brunt of that inequality. It is women who are largely unemployed, faced with the increasing costs of household spending, and most vulnerable to gender-based violence.

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“What are political parties saying about this? Why do we see a general silence about women in their manifestos? We are here to have these conversations. Sometimes it does not matter which political party is in charge but what their policies say and their specific commitments which are being made in those manifestos about women.”

The chief executive officer of Hlanganisa Community Fund, Bongiwe Ndondo, said they aim to advance gender-inclusive policies and a more equitable society through hosting such dialogues.

“We realised when we talk about issues that affect women, we make them a women’s problem and that is problematic. A lot of these issues that impact women are societal problems. If we want to build South Africa, then the issues that affect a minority group must be everybody’s problem. We need to think about how we bring a cohesive approach to these issues and given that they affect certain groups disproportionally which is why we are here today.”

Ndondo said understanding the manifesto work from the political parties is important as it is what the parties are saying about their commitment and priorities – things that citizens should be engaging with.

“The many people that we have spoken to tell us they have not read the manifestos. How are we voting and making decisions about who we vote for if we did not read the manifestos? If we are not engaging with these manifestos, it means we are not carrying out our responsibility in doing the necessary due diligence in appointing the leader. So where does that leave us? We must be more invested in unpacking those manifestos, and for us as Hlanganisa, we recognise that they are huge, and sometimes are hard to understand the content of the document, so we make them digestible for people through these dialogues.”

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