Calling for first female president not ill-disciplined: ANCWL
The ANC Women's League (ANCWL) says pronouncing on Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma as its preferred candidate cannot be in any way interpreted as a form of ill-discipline.
The ANCWL made its pronouncement on the eve of the ANC's Anniversary Celebrations, leading to an outcry from the ruling party.
ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said the ANCWL announcement was premature.
"That name is out there, but the reality of the matter is undermining the process of the organisation is unacceptable," said Mantashe.
ANCWL Secretary General Meokgo Matuba says the league has not deviated in any way from the longstanding mandate from its members and supporters to pursue the call for the election of the ANC's first female President and having a minimum 50 percent representation in the top 6 of the ANC.
"In true pursuance of the ANC's policy of equality and non-sexism, ANCWL will not be persuaded to stop its decision to call for the members of the ANC to elect its first ever woman as President in December 2017 and having women equally forming part of the ANC top 6," says Matuba.
Matuba says the league is calling on all South Africans to join them in building a non-sexist prosperous country by transforming the political and economic structures which marginalises women purely on the basis of gender.
"Women have capacity to lead. The ANCWL will be recorded in history as one of formations that led to the demise of patriarchy in politics and other sectors in the world," says Matuba.