Six months after President Jacob Zuma announced the formation of a women’s ministry led by Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, the ministry is still struggling to find its feet.
The ministry lacks a programme of action and a proper structure. Almost invisible, it has been accused of being slow to respond to public issues that fall within its mandate.
The ministry has pleaded for help, saying it is not ready to run the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign, which starts this month.
Three government sources close to the process of getting the ministry up and running said Mayende-Sibiya is out of her depth.
”It’s a question of being new and totally lost in the maze of the public sector,” said one. ”She should have been paired with an experienced person who is familiar with government business and knows what to do and what not to do.”
Sibani Mngadi, a spokesperson for the women’s ministry, said the strategy, structure and budget of the ministry have been forwarded to the treasury and the Department of Public Service and Administration for approval.
”The two departments have yet to endorse and allocate the structure and budget,” he said.
However, the ministry has been spending money — about R19-million — from a budget allocated to the former office in the presidency on the status of disabled persons, the status of women and the office on the rights of the child. A further R4-million was allocated to it in the recent budget.
ANC Women’s League president Angie Motshekga said the league’s view was that the delays in getting the ministry off the ground had nothing to do with any individual, but were caused by logistical challenges in government. However, she raised concerns about matters within the ministry’s jurisdiction that should have been concluded, with or without the budget.
These included finalising a programme of action and consultations with women’s groups — not just the women’s league, but women’s organisations outside government.
”Mayende-Sibiya hasn’t done that yet,” said Motshekga.
She said NGOs should be central to the ministry, as envisaged by its mandate. ”We should not deny groups that have been doing the job the space to continue doing it.”
Motshekga insisted that the league does not object to Mayende-Sibiya heading the ministry.
The Mail & Guardian has learned that the ministry has requested assistance from the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to run the annual 16 Days campaign, which is due to be launched in two weeks.
Vuyelwa Qinga Vika, a spokesperson for the ministry of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, confirmed that her ministry is helping Mayende-Sibiya with the campaign. ”They said that because they are new, they wanted to do it with us,” Qinga Vika said.
A senior presidency official disagreed, saying the campaign was ”low-hanging fruit for them to pick and run with. But they are running it with [a] department that is far removed from their mandate.”
The official said: ”If you’re drowning, go to your principals and ask for help.”
The 16 Days campaign was originally launched with former deputy minister of local and provincial government Nomatyala Hangana at the helm.
But it was expected that Mayende-Sibiya would take over to a significant degree from this year.
Qinga Vika said her ministry would pass on the responsibility for next year’s campaign to the women’s ministry.
Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini defended Mayende-Sibiya, saying she needed time: ”When she came in there was nothing. She has to define her strategy and she has to come up with a policy.”
Dlamini said Mayende-Sibiya’s detractors were envious because they had not been considered for the position.
”She does not have any experience because she has not been an MP. There are many others like her.”
Spokesperson Mngadi said Mayende-Sibiya has been vocal on issues within her mandate, including the forced marriage of children to adults in the Eastern Cape.
She had also written to the International Association of Athletics Federations to express unhappiness about athlete Caster Semenya’s gender test and tabled a resolution at the Cosatu congress calling for action against Athletics South Africa. However, sources said she has attended no more than two meetings of the ANC’s Semenya task team.
ANC spokesperson Jackson Mthembu replied that all members of the team, including Mayende-Sibiya, ”tried their best” to contribute and that the ANC would not comment to the media on the performance of individual members.