OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Tuesday 8.30pm
WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of former president Nelson Mandela, was on Tuesday called to order by the ruling African National Congress over her criticism of the government’s economic policies.
At a meeting Monday at KwaThema, east of Johannesburg, marking national Women’s Day, Madikizela-Mandela, president of the ANC Women’s League, denounced the government’s Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) macro-economic policy. Madikizela-Mandela said Gear is a “disaster” that profits investors but fails to create jobs or benefit ordinary people.
Lashing out at bureaucracy and nepotism within government, she asked: “How long will we be used like condoms and thrown away? Let us stop being used as stepping stones for others to go to parliament and forget about us when they get there.”
ANC spokesman Smuts Ngonyama said in a statement said that Madikizela-Mandela has the right as Women’s League president and as an individual to express her “attitude and perspectives” on ANC policies. However, he said this is usually done within ANC structures before doing so in public. “Madikizela-Mandela obviously used the occasion of Women’s Day to take issue with the ANC’s Gear policy,” he said in a statement. “It is now very important that she raise her perspective on the policy within the structures so it can be assessed.”
Madikizela-Mandela’s statements mark the second occasion since June 2 elections that she has crossed swords with President Thabo Mbeki’s government, departing from her role as a disciplined ANC member she assumed in the months leading up to the poll.
In July, she criticised the ANC for being a party for black people with little support among other races. Douglas Gibson, spokesman for the main opposition Democratic Party, said Madikizela-Mandela is “back on form” and Mbeki can expect a bumpy ride as she no longer is his praise singer as she had been during the election campaign. — AFP