Is South Africa ready for a woman president?

picture by en.wikipedia.org

On the controversy, many people even I ever wonder if South Africa would ever clear a female to lead the country because since democracy South Africa has been led by male president. During 2005-2009 south did have a female deputy president hence we all thought that Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka was going to succeed Thabo Mbeki in the 2009 elections but things did not go according to plan. Former president Nelson Mandela once said ““Freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression. All of us take this on board, that the objectives of the Reconstruction and Development Programme will not have been realised unless we see in visible practical terms that the conditions of women in our country have radically changed for the better, and that they have been empowered to intervene in all aspects of life as equals with any other member of society.” This however, is not recognized because power and supremacy is making men to strive to lead in any position.

In parliament, still men dominate or acquired more seats than female, stating that women are not powerful enough to lead or men do not have faith in them. However, Nkosasana Dlamini Zuma continued to show everyone that women can lead when she was appointed to be African Union chairwoman by AU. The ranks of the political opposition include sterling women. The leadership of women such as Lindwe Mazibuko and Helen Zille in the DA, and the primary role of Mamphela Ramphele in founding the new political party Agang, clearly suggests that the traditional gender norm of political leadership in broader society has been transformed and seems to be growing.

 This can raise a question regarding the African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) on whether they lack of confidence in the leadership ability of its own members. Moreover, this can be directed in a stereotypical mode of disempowered femininity. In addition, this advocates a consciousness that the existing arrangements within the ruling party itself, which determines how women are elected on to the party list, acts as a powerful constraint to the nomination of a woman as party leader and therefore as presidential candidate. As it stand this shows that women in the ANCWL have become more dependent upon male benefaction hence that they have given up on leading South Africa and the woman’s lead has weakened due to changing presidential seats. With no doubt, South Africa needs a female president to lead because this country has many corruption scandals than any other country hence money is disappearing from the government, presidents houses are upgraded by a huge amount and this what makes people wonder if this is what they have voted for.