Mobilise and unite women towards a caring society

Members of the ANC Women's League have gathered in Mangaung, in the Free State for their 11th elective conference from 2 July 2008. The conference ends on Sunday 6 July 2008. This year the ANC Women's League will focus on the unity of the nation and shaping a caring society.

It is common for the media to focus only on the election of officials because indeed, the processes of democracy in the ANC provide a great deal of news as our cadres exercise their democratic right to contest positions that become vacant. Yet, ANC conferences are also about in-depth discussion on policy matters and on implementation thereof.

The level of discussions at the ANC Women's League Conference will undoubtedly result in resolutions that will shape the work of the ANC Women's League for the next five years.

The ANC Women's League will discuss and resolve on matters pertaining to Health, Education, War on Poverty, Safety and Security, Human Settlements, the Environment, Women and the media, Arts, Culture and Heritage, Economic Transformation. The focus of the discussions being held today and tomorrow in Mangaung will centre on the role, responsibility and reaction of women to these issues, and whilst they are doing this, they will elect a leadership collective to implement the resolutions that will shape the programme of action for the league.

The women will no doubt address how best to mobilise men and women toward achieving our vision of a non-racial, non-sexist and united South Africa. They will reflect on the fact that the ANC has placed in its constitution a clause that ensures that all structures of the ANC will include a 50% representation of women. They will seek mechanisms to ensure that the positive and progressive policies of the ANC will find facilitation in the broader South African society. They will discuss the challenges that a patriarchal societal structure places on all progressive institutions.

More importantly the women will tackle the very real issue of how to mobilise all women into the Women's League to ensure that women are central to all the decisions made, and give expression to the statement 'No decision about us without us'.

Throughout the history of the ANC Women's League, substantive debate has been the legacy that has shaped the thinking in the ANC on gender and the mainstreaming of gender, yet at the same time ensuring that 'mainstreaming' does not become a catch phrase to subsume the issues which effect women in particular and forget the special nature of the struggle we need to continue to wage to emancipate women.

To the women I reiterate what I said in my speech at the opening of the ANC Women's Conference: 'Women occupy many important positions in our government and in the ANC because the voices of women spoke out in a united collective on the issues that matter to all of us. Now is the time to heighten the public discourse regarding the direction the League should take to encourage broader participation and knowledge on the issues that women need to mobilise around.'

Certainly, Health, Education and Safety and Security remain the most urgent priorities for our liberation movement as a whole and for women in particular the implementation of Health care is accessible to all and addresses the relationship the public has with state run Health care institutions becomes an important quest to achieve. Our policies are unashamedly biased in favour of the poor, but we must assume the responsibility to ensure that health policies are implemented and that we achieve the results we want, a healthier nation. Programmes that encourage healthy life styles amongst the youth, including a focused programme that discourages drug and alcohol abuse and above all prevention of HIV and AIDS must form the basis of the programme for the ANC Women's League.

Education is a priority for all South Africans and we have a democratic duty to increase the literacy rates in our society, information on the needs of the girl child and women in education must be firmly articulated. The phrase 'Educate a woman and you educate the nation' has grave meaning in our society as we strive to achieve a developmental state. Education of our women will ensure that women become formidable agents of change. We need to increase the number of no fees schools, and work with teachers to re establish the culture of consistent and well-researched teaching.

The war on poverty is one we must engage and win with positive results.

Women are still the poorest people in our country and rural women in particular need to feel the strength of the organisational capacity of the ANCWL. The need for infrastructure in our rural areas will see actualisation when women are mobilised to engage with the state on what is needed to improve their lives. Gender based budgeting can improve the lives of all our people. There is greater value in a tarred road in a rural area, a dam for fresh water, a storage facility for grain, electricity to power homes and industry, bridges over rivers than more shopping malls in the urban areas. Women need to engage the private sector on what will make this country work better. Poverty will remain the bane of the rural poor if we do not change the manner in which we see it being eradicated.

Women entrepreneurs are growing, yet in the rampant free market economy we have, women are seen more in the flea markets than in the economic hubs and this must change. We must applaud the achievements we have made in more representation of women in the structures of the state, and we need to ensure that women are active participants in shaping our economic development by being more critically and directly involved.

The Safety and Security of women in our country is paramount to the safety of our nation. In is vital that women become the engines for the formation of street committees, that we assist the Criminal Justice System to advance the education of all its operatives to become sensitive to the challenges faced by women who are victims of crime. We need to make every day a day when less and less women and children are violated and abused in any way.

The ANC Women's League must take a leading role in developing and uniting our nation and providing the activism that will ensure that our diversity becomes our most formidable strength.

So as we enter a new epoch for the ANC women's League, let it be with the same determination that the women fought against apartheid and pass laws. We need to see mobilisation of women as never before.

NOT IN OUR NAME

Defend our Living Legacy

The recent incidences of ill discipline in the run-up to conferences and at gatherings of the ANC and our Leagues, has brought the issue of discipline to the fore.

The ANC is a democratic organisation and we encourage open and disciplined lobbying. We believe that debate encourages new ideas to emerge that deepen the quality of our discourse on any matter.

The ANC has confidence that our policies offer a solid platform from which our country can be transformed from the legacies of apartheid and colonialism to a state, which is developmental in character and where poverty will be eradicated. The ANC does not engage In negative campaigns against Its extremely hostile opposition and therefore It is inconceivable that any cadre of this movement out of his or her own volition would engage In character assassinations, smear campaigns and acts of vulgarity and violence. The ANC will never accept any form of violence in the name of the ANC.

Two incidences where the stabbing of an ANC cadre by members of this organisation has occurred resulted in our organisation being brought into disrepute. These two incidents have allowed the media and other hostile critics of our movement to create an impression that the entire fabric of our movement has been eroded. This Impression must be corrected and can only be corrected by every member of this organisation asserting maximum discipline upon themselves.

The ANC condemns violence, and the ANC is a peace making organisation. We fought against a violent vulgar and well-armed regime in order to bring about a peaceful, non-racial and non-sexist democratic society. This is our legacy. To allow this legacy to be destroyed or to become distorted is anti-ANC and anti the legacy of our movement.

The ANC is central to the creation of a democratic state wherein every South African is protected by one of the most advanced constitutions in the world. As the African National Congress, we believe in the rule of law and will defend the rights of our courts to act independently and without undue influence or innuendo which suggests undue influence being exerted upon it. This is the legacy of the ANC.

The vision of the ANC is to unite South Africa and to strive for a non-racial, non-sexist and democratic country. This vision sets us apart from any other political movement in the country and abroad. We have to live this vision every day where ever we are.

The ANC is a rules-based organisation and we condemn without fear of favor any behavior, which brings the ANC into disrepute. The constitution of the ANC guides us to protect the name and the dignity of our movement.

Our movement derives its values and its reputation from 96 years of the courage and commitment of its membership to strive for freedom from all forms of oppression and repression.

Joining the ANC is a voluntary action on the part of any individual. Staying in the ANC is a measure of the discipline that is required by our movement.

Expulsion from the ANC has never been a choice of first action, because the ANC believes that every human being has the ability to be rehabilitated if they do a wrong. We have expelled only the most incorrigible in the history of our organisation and violence is incorrigible behavior. So is not respecting the decisions of the collective and for this reason we do not rule out expulsion in the case of violent action, factionalism and disruptive behavior, which is anti ANC.

Leadership of the ANC at all levels has a duty to insist that we protect the image of the organisation.

Our task is one of eradicating poverty, of ensuring that the people of our country have a better tomorrow. Ours is a destiny of deliberate choice. We chose to be a mass based movement with policies biased in favor of the poor. We chose to be a mass-based movement who will not shirk the responsibility of leading with dignity and responsibly. We therefore insist that all members abide by the rules we made together and read the constitution of the ANC and understand the grave responsibility our chosen path has placed on us.

We cannot fail the masses that have put their trust in the ANC. We cannot fail the rural poor, the women, and the children. We dare not fail the legacy we own and should continue to own with a dignity that does not need to be defiled or defied.

DEFEND THE ANC, DEFEND OUR LIVING LEGACY, LIVE THE LEGACY OF THE ANC.

Joe Nhlanhla

A life dedicated to the cause of freedom

It is with great sadness that we, the African National Congress mourn the passing away of Joe Nhlanhla.

He passed away after spending four weeks at Milpark Hospital, in a coma.

Joseph (Joe) Mbuku Nhlanhla was born on 4 December 1936 in Sophiatown. He was one of the five children of Christina Toli (born Buhali) and Samuel Nhlanhla. Both parents were originally from the Free State Province (formerly known as Orange Free State). His father left Free State as he refused to be under the oppressive racist rules of the area he lived in and the family settled in Sophiatown.

A victim of the infamous Sophiatown forceful removals, the Nhlanhla family settled in Alexandra township. He attended school at the local primary school named, Ikage Primary School.

He enrolled at Kilnerton High School, where he matriculated in 1956.

As a person who always had an interest in politics, he finally joined the African National Congress (ANC), and was an active member of the ANC Youth League. During this period, he served as the secretary of the Alexandra Youth League and was a member of the Transvaal Executive Committee of the ANC Youth League.

His love for his people saw Joe getting involved in the anti-pass campaign as well as the 1957 bus and potato boycotts. He was among the first people to be arrested during the 1960 state of emergency and was detained on 28 March that year.

On his release a few days before the lifting of the emergency, he was "restricted" and confined to the magisterial area of Johannesburg.

In 1964, Nhlanhla left South Africa for Tanzania after which he was selected by the ANC to study Economics at the Plekhanov Institute in Moscow. After completing his studies in 1969, he returned to Tanzania to serve as head of the ANC's youth and student structures.

In 1973, he was appointed as the ANC's Chief Representative in Egypt and the Middle East during which time he represented the ANC on the Afro-Asian People's Solidarity Organisation.

Nhlanhla was coopted on to the NEC after his return from Egypt in 1978 and served as Administrative Secretary of the NEC until 1985. He became Administrative Secretary of the PMC in 1985. He was part of the ANC delegation at the Groote Schuur talks in May 1990, which opened negotiations with the South African Government.

During the Convention for a Democratic South Africa negotiations, Nhlanhla played a key role in smoothing over difficulties relating to the interim Government and the future of the intelligence services. He plated a critical role in negotiating for a transformed Intelligence Service as well as negotiating the integration of cadres from liberation movements to join the intelligence services.

Nhlanhla was deployed as a Member of Parliament in the first democratic Parliament in 1994 and was appointed Deputy Minister for Intelligence Services in February 1995. In 1999, he was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki as Minister for Intelligence Services, a position he held until he was no longer able to due to ill health.

Nhlanhla's life speaks of his dedication to the cause of freedom of his people. He pursued the challenge of creating a better life for all South Africans, both Black and White, through his unwavering commitment of over half a century to advancing the climate for negotiations and peace.

Joe Nhlanhla has dedicated his life to the struggle for a non-racial, non-sexist democratic South Africa. It is through the contribution of his extraordinary capacity of intelligence and militancy that today South Africans enjoy the benefits of a peaceful democratic country. His commitment to the struggle will always be honored and remembered by the ANC and the rest of the country.

We dip our revolutionary banner in remembrance of Joe Nhlanhla and wish to express our heartfelt condolences to the family and relatives.

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