ANCWL members are ‘cheerleaders for male leaders’ within ANC, says analyst

A leading academic with research interests in feminist theory has slammed the ANC Women’s League’s (ANCWL) decision to have six men in its delegation at the party’s national policy conference in Johannesburg, saying the structure is “basically cheerleaders for male leaders” within the ANC.

The Sunday Times reported at the weekend that league president Bathabile Dlamini justified the inclusion of men in the delegation by saying women got “too emotional” during debates. The ANCWL, however, later dismissed the report as politically motivated.

“My first reaction was to laugh because it is exactly what we came to expect in the ANCWL. They have no analysis of gender power and patriarchy,” Professor Shireen Hassim told Talk Radio 702 on Monday.

“They are basically cheerleaders for male leaders within the ANC; they usually choose a side that is least favourable for a transformed gender politic. So my first reaction was, how much more ludicrous can it get, this sort of blatant attempt to position themselves with the ascending male faction?” she said.

Hassim added the league, which supports former African Union commission chairperson Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as the next ANC president, had never had a strong position on dismantling patriarchy in the ANC and often had complicated relationships with feminists in the party.

“This is the problem with the ANCWL: their failure to really develop their own analytical, critical capacity. They haven’t invested in it, they have no ideas, they have no alternative, so I am not surprised that when push comes to shove, they go out looking for some rent-a-crowd analyst,” she said.

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