The African National Congress (ANC) said on Monday it welcomed the ”admittance of error” by Western Cape Premier Helen Zille on her males-only provincial cabinet.
”The African National Congress welcomes the admittance by Zille that it was an error to appoint the male-only provincial cabinet. We hope that going forward the premier and her party will seek ways of redressing this unfortunate epoch.”
ANC spokesperson Jessie Duarte said the ANC also acknowledged the call by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) to proceed to file an application in terms of Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act, in an attempt to get the parties to the table, with the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) as mediators.
Earlier on Monday the trade union federation anounced it would declare a Nedlac-level dispute over Zille’s all-male executive council.
Cosatu Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said after a meeting with Zille on Monday that she had conceded there was a problem with the lack of representivity of women in her executive.
Last month Zille said her party would never subscribe to a ”narrative” on gender quotas.
”In everything we do, we focus on the fitness for positions,” she told journalists at a media briefing in the DA’s parliamentary offices in Cape Town.
Zille said a ”narrative” existed in South Africa that quotas took precedence over all other considerations.
”This is not the DA’s narrative. It has nothing to with the real oppression of women in South Africa. It has nothing to do with gender equity and the advancement of women. It has to do with women who are owed political favours.” — Sapa