IFP is backing women for leadership positions

IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa has encouraged women to raise their hands for leadership positions in the party and to accept nominations for top positions, but warned that they should not be used for the political gains of others.

The IFP national executive committee top seven is currently made up of six men and a woman.

In an interview with the Sunday Tribune, Hlabisa said as the party heads towards its national conference in August 2024 they would encourage and create a conducive environment for women to start positioning themselves to occupy key positions in the NEC so that they display their skills and talents.

This comes in a week when the ANC in Kwazulu-natal announced Nomusa Dube-ncube as its premier candidate for the province before she was sworn in as Premier at a special sitting of the provincial legislature in Mooi River.

In another milestone for women in leadership, Dube-ncube announced her new members of the Executive Council made up of seven women and three men.

Hlabisa said the IFP believed in women leadership, stating that even when the IFP was in charge of the former Kwazulu government it appointed Dr Lissa Joyce Themba Mthalane as the first woman to serve in the Kwazulu government.

“Post-1994 it is the IFP more than other parties that had a woman as a national chairperson of the IFP, (Zanele) Kamagwaza-msibi.

“Even though our representation numbers may not balance, nationally and provincially we have a sufficient number of women. In our municipalities we deployed women, some of whom are mayors, some are deputy mayors, some are speakers and some are serving in the executive committees because we believe that women have rare abilities and ways of doing things,” Hlabisa said.

There were concerns that political parties were now scrambling to have women in leadership positions to appease the electorate and that some women leaders would be puppets for politicians pulling the strings behind the scenes.

However, Hlabisa was quick to dispel that notion, saying that was not how the IFP operated.

“The IFP believes that women must be elected to positions through their abilities, skills and experience not to use them for political gains.”

Dr Fikile Vilakazi, University of Kwazulu-natal politics and public policy expert, said the elevation of women into top leadership positions signalled a new era in the country’s political system.

“It’s an era and a time that we have been waiting for for so long to see our mothers, sisters and grandmothers being respected for the work that they have put into the political system and contributed since the struggle for liberation.

“It’s something we need to celebrate as a country,” Vilakazi said.