/ 21 January 2000

‘SA READY FOR WOMAN PRESIDENT’

SOUTH Africa should have its first woman president when Thabo Mbeki’s second term in office expires in the by the year 2009, says speaker of the National Assembly Dr Frene Ginwala. “This is the logical conclusion of where we are going,” Ginwala told the Beeld newspaper on Friday, saying it was in line with the Constitution and the African National Congress’s policies. South Africa has addressed women in power by appointing three of the four presiding officers in Parliament, and having 15 women in the 40-member Cabinet, she said. “The PAC (Pan Africanist Congress of Azania) has Patricia de Lille as its Chief Whip, the New National Party has Sheila Camerer as its Leader of the House in Parliament.” “South Africa is ready for a woman president in the year 2009,” Ginwala said.