Africa-Press – South-Africa. Newly appointed ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) national coordinator Maropene Ramokgopa has dismissed allegations she was appointed because of her close proximity to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramokgopa told News24 her appointment to lead the revival of the ailing ANCWL was on merit, and former presidents had also appointed her to notable positions based on her “calibre”.
“In 2006, when I was 26 years old, I was appointed by the former president, Thabo Mbeki, as a mayor, and that made me the youngest mayor in the Eastern Cape at the time.
“In 2016, [former] president [Jacob] Zuma also appointed me to go and represent South Africa as the head of mission in Mumbai, India.
“This is one of the biggest missions we have as a country, given India’s size as a country. India is also a member of the BRICS nations and one of the biggest trading partners that we have.”
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As head of mission in India, Ramokgopa represented the country for four years “dealing with issues of trade and investment in South Africa”.
“Does that mean that maybe I was an ally of [former] president Mbeki or that maybe I was an ally of [former] president Zuma and that maybe now I am an ally of President Ramaphosa? I do not know,” she said.
Ramokgopa suggested “whoever else is going to be a president of South Africa will effectively be called my ally because the presidents of the ANC believe in me”.
At the end of June, News24 reported the ANC’s national working committee had resolved to appoint her as the coordinator of the ANCWL’s task team.
One-time deputy president and former National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete was appointed as convener.
Ramokgopa’s appointment raised eyebrows as it came months after another Ramaphosa ally, Gwen Ramokgopa, was moved into the powerful secretary-general’s office.
Both appointments were seen by Ramaphosa’s detractors as him attempting to secure a second term by placing his allies in influential positions.
Ramokgopa said she was not offended by suggestions she was Ramaphosa’s ally.
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The soft-spoken Ramokgopa went on to detail her achievements which she believed have led to her being appointed as coordinator.
“We went into another conference of the [ANC] youth league in 2013 where we were disbanded.
“Out of that entire disbanded NEC [national executive committee], the ANC of president Zuma took me along to be part of the entity to rebuild the ANC Youth League, so this is not the first time that I have been appointed in such a capacity.”
She also mentioned that besides being a member of the ANC Youth League, she was also an NEC member of the ANCWL in 2008 when she was in her twenties.
“I was also a founding member of the ANC’s Young Women’s Desk, of which I wrote the concept document that is why I was its first convener, and currently, I am a PEC [provincial executive committee] member in Limpopo, where I was born.
“Lastly, which is one thing that people don’t know, is that I was actually the manager in the ANCWL’s national working committee during the time of Angie Motshekga when she was the president,” Ramokgopa said.
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