The position of South African women in government

Following the general elections of 22 April, the issue of women in government in South Africa has made the headlines twice so far.

On the positive side, it was announced that women’s representation in the National Assembly had increased to 45%, placing South Africa third behind Rwanda and Sweden in the international rankings for women in parliament.

On a more controversial note, the leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Western Cape Premier Helen Zille, drew substantial flak when she appointed an all-male provincial cabinet.

But what exactly is the position of women in government in South Africa, particularly in local government? To what extent are women ruling the roost? Do they want to rule the roost, or are they simply seeking fair representation – and are they getting it?

Needless to say, this topic represents something of a minefield where there are as many opinions as there are women in government. However, it can safely be said that South Africa is making great strides in respect of women being present in all levels and structures of government, although more can still be done.

According to Kubi Rama of Gender Links, a southern African non-governmental organisation that specialises in gender, governance and the media, the number of women now in the National Assembly “puts the country firmly on course to achieve the Southern African Development Community (SADC) target of 50% women in political decision-making by 2015”.

Rama’s colleague at Gender Links and founding chief executive officer of the South African Commission on Gender Equality, Colleen Lowe Morna, labels it “fashionable” for women to be in leadership.

In a recent interview with the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Morna said: “In South Africa there now is a culture of ‘zero tolerance’ for not having women at the table. Someone will always ask the question, ‘Where are the women?’.”

Well, exactly where are they?

The statistics are impressive. While women comprise 54% of South Africa’s total population, 45% of the members of the National Assembly are women, or 180 out of 400 members – an increase of 11% from the previous parliament.

Fifteen years ago, before the first democratic elections, only 2.7% of the nationally elected members in the National Assembly were women.

Under Nelson Mandela, female representation in the National Assembly rose to 27%, and by 2004 it stood at 34%.

Similar strides were made in the nine provincial legislatures.

Women made up 19% of elected officials in local government in 1995. That number climbed to 29.6% in the 2000 local elections, and reached 40%, or about 800 out of 2 000 councillors, after the 2006 local government elections.

But gender activists such as Morna are quick to point out that statistics do not tell the full story and that much more needs to be done to achieve full gender equality in the government and elsewhere.

Morna told the Mott Foundation that in her view, gender equality is about providing a voice to the poor and marginalised who often are women, and that leaders who are responsive and accountable to their needs were required.

Which raises the question: are women in South Africa truly in top, decision-making positions where they can make a difference?

At national level, South Africa has had two successive deputy presidents, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Baleka Mbete. The latter is also the national chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC).

However, a man, Kgalema Motlanthe, now again occupies that position in the government of President Jacob Zuma.

When Zuma announced his Cabinet in April, the 14 female ministers and 12 female deputy ministers brought female representation in the government close to 42%.

When former president Thabo Mbeki announced his Cabinet after the 2004 general elections, it consisted of 16 male and 12 female ministers and 27 male and 10 female deputy ministers. In total, female representation in Mbeki’s government stood at 33.8%, so there has been a considerable increase under Zuma.

Zuma has appointed women to key ministry positions such as Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Basic Education; Correctional Services; Defence and Military Veterans; Energy, Home Affairs, International Relations and Co-operation; Mining; Public Enterprises; Social Development and others.

He also created a new Ministry for Women, Youth, Children and People With Disabilities, headed by Minister Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya.

Gender Links had this to say: “Of the 14 ministries headed by women, at least eight are in non-traditional areas...

It is heartening to see women deputy ministers in the economic cluster, including the new Ministry of Economic Development and the two deputy ministers of Trade and Industry.”

Five of South Africa’s current provincial premiers are women. They are Noxolo Kiviet (Eastern Cape), Nomvula Mokonyane (Gauteng), Helen Zille (Western Cape), Maureen Modiselle (North West) and Hazel Jenkins (Northern Cape).

However, the percentage of women in provincial Cabinets is somewhat lower than the 60% of female premiers.

The highest number of women MECs is in North West Province, where six out of the 10 MECs that a province is allowed to have by law, are women.

The Western Cape has fared the worst, with no women.

In the remaining provinces, the Eastern Cape has four women, Free State has four, Gauteng five, KwaZulu-Natal four, Limpopo five, Mpumalanga four and Northern Cape three.

It is clear that in the eight ANC-ruled provinces, the ruling party tried to stick close to its own 50/50 gender quota target, which is in line with the SADC target of 50% of women in political decision-making by 2015.

While the DA-ruled Western Cape has no women in the provincial executive other than Premier Zille, the party does have relatively strong female representation in party structures, parliament, provincial legislatures and local government.

Nonetheless, in this respect most political parties still seem to lag behind the ANC.

Zille is the only woman among the DA’s eight national office bearers, while the ANC fares little better with two out of eight.

The Congress of the People (COPE) is far ahead with five out of its 10 national office-bearers being women.

Two of the Independent Democrats’ six national office-bearers are women, while the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has only one woman in its top leadership.

Only two of South Africa’s major political parties, the DA and the ID, are led by women.

Meanwhile, three of the nine provincial directors-general are women. They are Dr Hlamalani Nelly Manzini in Limpopo, Nana Magomola in North West and Moira Marais-Martin in Northern Cape.

Of the 36 national government departments in South Africa, only eight are headed by women, these being the directors-general of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Communications; Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs; Correctional Services; Public Enterprises: Tourism; Transport; and Water and Environmental Affairs.

Of South Africa’s 11 major cities, including the six metropolitan municipalities, only four are run by female mayors: Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality (Port Elizabeth) Executive Mayor Nondumiso Maphazi; Ekurhuleni (East Rand) Executive Mayor Lentheng Mekgwe; Tshwane (Pretoria) Executive Mayor Gwen Ramokgopa; and Msunduzi (Pietermaritzburg) Executive Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo.

In April, Helen Zille, who was voted World Mayor 2008, became premier of the Western Cape and was replaced as executive mayor of Cape Town by a man, Dan Plato.

While the picture in the rest of South Africa’s 283 municipalities does not look much better, it is improving.

The Electoral Institute of Southern Africa (EISA) says that “the rising levels of women’s representation in local government” can be largely attributed to the ANC’s commitment to a minimum quota for the representation of women at all levels since 1994.  

However, in 2006 the ANC was only partially successful in achieving its own parity target due to male resistance.

The trend towards gender parity in government is by no means an issue only in South Africa.

In its ground-breaking new study on gender and local government in southern Africa, and which included interviews with 478 councillors across the sub-continent, Gender Links found that “with a growing number of southern African countries from different political and electoral backgrounds showing that gender parity can be achieved in local government, there is no longer any excuse for any country in the region not to achieve this goal.

“However, if women are to make a difference in this sphere of decision-making – the ‘coalface’ of service delivery – far more needs to be done to strengthen local government and to integrate gender considerations into its work.”

The study reports a range in women’s representation in local government from 1.2% in Angola to 58% in Lesotho.

“What is unfortunate”, the study says, “is that measures to increase women’s participation at local level appear to result from a calculation that local government is not as serious a sphere of politics than the national level, rather than because of a commitment to deepening democracy through decentralisation and the equal participation of women”.  

Furthermore, some gender activists point out that patriarchal forces are deeply entrenched in South Africa, and despite the protection of rights for women in the Constitution, some people still hide behind what Morna calls “the cloak of culture and custom”.

So, while South Africa has progressed well down the path of gender equity in government, at the same time much still needs to be done before men and women will share equally in ruling the roost.