Winnie Madikizela-Mandela lashed out at the African National Congress for failing to implement its own policies — especially those concerning women — in an interview published on Sunday.
“It is time for the ANC to go back to the drawing board and to assess how it will realistically implement policies,” Madikizela-Mandela said in the article in City Press.
She said the party needed to revisit their strategies and tactics in the upcoming national general council meeting in September, by getting concrete suggestions from ministries as to how they would deliver on their promises.
Madikizela-Mandela also passed judgement on the country’s record of gender empowerment, saying that Lilian Ngoyi, a women’s liberation icon, would be turning in her grave.
In the interview she did not directly attack Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, the Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, for failing to empower South African women.
Instead she questioned the power that Mayende-Sibiya had in delivering real change.
“It should be within Mayende-Sibiya’s purview to lean on key ministries such as justice, health and police, where implementation of policy continues to thwart women’s access to protection, justice and health”.
Madikizela-Mandela however was not disillusioned but rather critical, saying that the World Cup proved that the ANC could have done much to prevent the ills of society that effect women.
“I wouldn’t say the ANC has failed women … it’s the
responsibility of every South African to transform society”, she said.
Madikizela-Mandela told City Press the problems of South African women were a lot more complex and would take more than annual women’s rallies to solve their inequality. – Sapa