Africa-Press – South-Africa. The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) said women should be part of the total value chain of the state’s buying power, hence the call for 40% procurement for access to economic opportunities.
President Cyril Ramaphosa urged, at the league’s 13th conference, for women to access housing, land and other resources which grant financial and economic empowerment.
Affirming the importance of this procurement, the secretary-general of the ANCWL, Nokuthula Nqaba, said women needed to be fully involved in the economy.
Addressing the media on Tuesday, following her recent appointment at the weekend, Nqaba said the league had to ensure that the involved women became independent and were a part of the process from the beginning to the end.
She said:
She added: “If we are talking, for example, about the feeding scheme at schools, it should not be us cooking for the learners, it should be us being a part of the process from the beginning.
“If it comes to push, we will also make a demand, as the women’s league, to get a portion of land where we will then be able to plough and plant things that we think will actually contribute, so we don’t go and buy at supermarkets.
“And where we are also able to do those things on our own and package them and sell, or be a part of the value chain process, so that we don’t buy anything, but produce on our own.”
The newly elected president of the ANCWL, Sisisi Tolashe, said the conference was a success “because it took only a year for the ANC’s Women’s League national task team, led by comrade Baleka Mbete, to prepare for this”.
Tolashe said the ANCWL remained focused on fighting patriarchy, despite needing to clarify how it planned to differentiate itself under the new leadership.
“The ANC Women’s League exists to address those challenges within the society. It is the first organisation that has taken that decision. That those challenges of patriarchal tendencies are a problem for society, women in particular,” said Tolashe.
“Hence the establishment of the women’s league exists for this reason. It has made strides in addressing that. However, there are still challenges. It is not only an ANC problem, it’s a societal problem. Hence, we go through a very bad experience of gender-based violence.
“The women’s league is encouraging women to come together for all of us to fight it.”
The ANCWL’s electoral subcommittee announced that the party’s chief whip, Pemmy Majodina, was one of the additional members selected by delegates at the 13th conference. This was despite allegations of bribery against her, which she has denied.
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