Helen Zille: Shifting boundaries in the gender debate

semiautomatix

semiautomatix

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During a turbulent week, my thoughts have often turned to the Kenyan government of "national unity", widely heralded as a solution to the conflict and polarization in that country following the elections of December 2007.

The "unity government" is actually a symptom of a failed democracy. After the ruling party refused to accept defeat at the polls, an arrangement was made for the President to stay in office, while his rival became Prime Minister. There are two deputy presidents and 40 cabinet ministers with 50 assistant ministers. Each minister received new mahogany furniture, a new Mercedes Benz for town travel and a Land Cruiser for the countryside. The cabinet costs an estimated one billion dollars annually (roughly one-eighth of government revenue). The commentators were satisfied. The quotas were filled. Every power monger got a piece of the pie. And the Big Men remained in control.

This scenario came to mind when President Jacob Zuma announced his Cabinet this week. There are now 62 Cabinet members (including deputies). They will cost the taxpayers at least R1-billion per year, and counting. Zuma's Cabinet is designed to repay political debts, settle scores, balance factions, meet quotas, and co-opt some opponents. The commentators are satisfied. The quotas are filled. The Big Men remain in control.

But in the one province the ANC lost, there is uproar. ANC affiliates are threatening to make the province "ungovernable" and take "militant action". Trade unions are threatening to strike. Spokesmen are vowing to "bring Zille to her knees". It is a re-play of what happened when the ANC lost an election in Cape Town in 2006. Only the pretext is different. This time the commentators and the media, hunting in their customary pack, justify the protests on the basis of the all-male composition of the provincial cabinet.

They have swallowed whole the ANC's narrative that filling quotas is the most important criterion for establishing a government.

They are now trying to force me to sing the same tune. They would, no doubt, be satisfied if I followed Zuma's example by increasing the size of the Cabinet, and creating a slew of sinecure positions as an equity façade.

But this is not the DA's narrative. We have a mere ten MEC positions in the Province to undertake the nigh impossible task of fixing the chaos the ANC has left behind, and deal with the scale of in-migration, driven in large measure by the ongoing collapse of service delivery in quota driven provinces.

In the DA we apply the "fitness for purpose" test to each appointment. We create opportunity. We do not manipulate outcomes. And the many women in top positions in the DA know they are there because they add value, not to fill a patronizing quota. "Big men" certainly do not control the DA.

But the whole brouhaha has actually got nothing to do with the composition of the cabinet. This is just a convenient pretext for the real issues.

In the ANC's eyes we have committed three cardinal sins.

1. We beat them in an election.

2. We exposed the lie that the ANC is a non-sexist organization that promotes gender equity.

3. We broke sexist cultural taboos around male sexuality and HIV/AIDS.

We know from bitter experience in Cape Town that the ANC does not take electoral defeat lying down. Instead they use every trick imaginable to reverse the voters' choice. We are now seeing the same pattern emerging in the Province. We are ready for them.

And, as in 2006, most of the media and commentators have failed to see through this. They buy the ANC's narrative once more, just as they swallowed the ANC's line on the kangaroo court, known as the Erasmus Commission.

When various ANC affiliates use the most vile sexist slurs against me (ironically in the name of promoting gender equity!), various commentators seek to establish a "moral equivalence" between our contesting positions by quoting -- entirely out of context -- one sentence from the middle of a letter I wrote to a newspaper responding to ANC attacks. In this way the media can accuse us equally of "mud-slinging" and "descending into the gutter". They can also manufacture a "major row", as if both sides, equally, are spoiling for a fight.

I appreciate the fact that the ANC distanced itself from the worst of these statements (although they created the climate in which they occurred).

However, the (male) gender commissioner has remained silent about the extreme sexism of the ANC Youth League and the Umkhonto we Sizwe War Veterans Association that both accused me of appointing men to my Cabinet in return for sexual favours. Contrast the commissioner's silence on this issue with his vocal threats to take me to court to impose quotas on the Western Cape Cabinet. His obsession with quotas is actually a useful diversion from the real issues that oppress women in South Africa.

Have you ever heard the gender commissioner challenge the assumption, still held my millions of South African men, that multiple unprotected sexual encounters are their right? This is the worst manifestation of South African patriarchy, and it is encouraged by the behaviour of some leaders. It is also the main reason why we cannot bring the AIDS pandemic under control and why women bear the greatest burden of this disease. I will keep making these points no matter how much outrage it elicits. Denial and political correctness are far easier than challenging deep-rooted cultural norms of sexual dominance that are the root cause of gender oppression.

Have you ever heard the gender commissioner insisting that men who make babies should actually accept their responsibilities as fathers?

I could go on, but the list of omissions is too long. Almost every structure established to protect the rights of South Africans has become an extension of the ANC, protecting the powerful against ordinary people and maintaining a culture of silent denial about the root causes of many of our country's biggest problems.

The role of the opposition (amongst other things) is to break that silence. We will continue to do this, no matter how much politically correct outrage this elicits.
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Now that this fact is no longer aimed at a particular individual, but the political climate in South Africa, as a whole, will this satisfy DA detractors?
 
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Oh, Helen. This soapboxing stance is futile. Just shut up and get on with your job. You have enough to do without aggressively responding to idiots. Your campaign manager/spin monkey must have told you that. If he hasn't then get another one.
 
Kenya and Zimbabwe the same place ? :confused:

During a turbulent week, my thoughts have often turned to the Kenyan government of "national unity", widely heralded as a solution to the conflict and polarization in that country following the elections of December 2007
Click to expand...
 
timgaul said:
Now that this fact is not longer aimed at a particular individual, but the political climate in South Africa, as a whole, will this satisfy DA detractors?
Click to expand...

Dude! She took an hour out of the day to write a letter. That's an hour she could have spent building shacks, connecting electricity, having a quickie ith her cabinet and having a quick smoke after each one.

She's lazy!!! :D

PS: I'd like to a letter as well written as this one coming from the government, preferably from Zuma :-)
 
:rolleyes:
Move on Helen, honestly...
We're sick of hearing you complain. We get it.
Before the elections it was understandable for you to vocally criticize the ANC over and over again, but now it's time to get on with job and focus on what the DA is doing, not what the ANC did or didn't do...:mad:
 
joelus said:
:rolleyes:
Move on Helen, honestly...
We're sick of hearing you complain. We get it.
Before the elections it was understandable for you to vocally criticize the ANC over and over again, but now it's time to get on with job and focus on what the DA is doing, not what the ANC did or didn't do...:mad:
Click to expand...

She's responding to some extremely vocal and offensive statements made by the ANC and its allies towards her. I don't see what's wrong with that. It's not like she's ignoring everything else that needs to be done in the W. Cape.
 
joelus said:
:rolleyes:
Move on Helen, honestly...
We're sick of hearing you complain. We get it.
Before the elections it was understandable for you to vocally criticize the ANC over and over again, but now it's time to get on with job and focus on what the DA is doing, not what the ANC did or didn't do...:mad:
Click to expand...

I wonder if you were attacked in the public domain what you would do? :rolleyes:
 
timgaul said:
Now that this fact is not longer aimed at a particular individual, but the political climate in South Africa, as a whole, will this satisfy DA detractors?
Click to expand...

Very well said actually. She handled the entire matter very maturely and i respect each of the points she made.

Perhaps we should also be a little more aware of how the media will take a sentence out of context to create a stir and sell newspapers and not see everything the media feeds us as simple fact.

Thanks for sharing this timgaul.

I am objective on all grounds. I don't fight for the DA and i don't fight for the ANC. I fight for what i feel is right based on my moral background.
 
BCO said:
She's responding to some extremely vocal and offensive statements made by the ANC and its allies towards her. I don't see what's wrong with that. It's not like she's ignoring everything else that needs to be done in the W. Cape.
Click to expand...

The extremely vocal and offensive statements made by the ANCYL were pathetic and childish and quite frankly unbelievable. By responding to that nonsense she is lowering herself to their level and perpetuating a media debacle that should have died by now. She doesn't need to respond to them because anyone with even half a brain will shake their heads in disbelief at what the ANCYL had to say, and those that listen to the ANCYL aren't going to hear anything she has to say anyway.

Everything she said in this letter is spot on. It's a mature response to the gender equality debate but no one who supports the ANCYL will read it anyway...

I just want to move on from this.
She has a pale male cabinet.
She defended it badly.
The issues she brings up now are real, but this isn't the time to be debating it.
imo
 
why move on?

we constantly complain about the government and how no one stands up to them, now, when someone does stand up everyone is screaming shut up and sit down???
 
RetroBok said:
Dude! She took an hour out of the day to write a letter. That's an hour she could have spent building shacks, connecting electricity, having a quickie ith her cabinet and having a quick smoke after each one.

She's lazy!!! :D

PS: I'd like to a letter as well written as this one coming from the government, preferably from Zuma :-)
Click to expand...

you should do stand-up comedy, it seems to come naturally with you
 
Just got this in the mail, certainly gets my thumbs up:

TO: THE SUBSCRIBERS OF MY WEEKLY NEWSLETTER, SA TODAY.

FROM: HELEN ZILLE, LEADER OF THE DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE

I have had a number of queries around the background of the stand-off
between me and the ANC.

The issue started when various spokespersons of the ANC-tripartite
alliance accused me of sexism. I wrote the following letter in reply.
The Sowetan pulled out one sentence to pursue their established
agenda. This got the whole controversy going.

I therefore enclose the full letter below, so that you can judge it
for yourself, in context.

Helen Zille
Leader of the Democratic Alliance

Letter to the Editor of the Argus. From Helen Zille

Minister Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya, whose party, the ANC, has just
dropped a woman from the Deputy President position, has a nerve to
attack me over the gender composition of the DA and ID Western Cape
Provincial Cabinet (Cape Argus 11 May 2009).

The ANC, in all its 90 years of existence, has never elected (or
deployed)a woman as its leader. The DA has done so within the first
ten years of its existence. In fact, until recently, both the DA's
national leader and Parliamentary leader were women.

The ANC's alliance partners, the SACP and COSATU, are also led by men.
And,
more significantly, the ANC's leader, Jacob Zuma, is a self-confessed
womanizer with deeply sexist views, who put all his wives at risk by
having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman. Even after this
the ANC women's league strongly endorsed his Presidential campaign.
Their professions of support for women's rights ring hollow indeed
against this background.

While some of the ANC's senior women achieved their positions on
merit, others are well known "quota appointments". The ANC can
therefore pretend to be serious about women's rights, while actually
patronizing women who want to be recognized for their ability.

Jacob Zuma is able to make all his quota and politically expedient
appointments because he has extended his Cabinet (including deputy
Ministers) to a ludicrous 62 members -- at taxpayers' expense.

In contrast, Provinces are confined by law to 10 MECs drawn from the
list elected to the provincial Parliament.

Zuma's expanded cabinet will cost an extra R19 million in salaries
alone, before adding the cost of all the staff and perks to which they
are entitled. But the real power remains firmly in the hands of the
'big men'.
This is blatant hypocrisy. When women are appointed to meet a quota,
it is an insult to every woman who has achieved her position through
adding value, such as women in the DA.

By paying lip-service to the empowerment of women, the ANC is also
promoting the mindset that only women can care about the issues
affecting women, or do something about them. The same applies to the
ANC's warped logic regarding race, which says that only black people
can care about black people, that only whites can care about whites
and so on. This is racist nationalist thinking which goes against the
letter and spirit of our constitution. It is also something that
every intelligent South African should reject.

In the DA we believe that human beings can care for each other
regardless of race or gender. The real test of democratic equality is
how well services are delivered to everyone, on an equatible basis,
not the colour or gender of the people delivering them.

Helen Zille
Premier of the Western Cape
 
Pitbull said:
Kenya and Zimbabwe the same place ? :confused:
Click to expand...
maybe you not aware of the existence of a zimm style unity gov in kenya?
the incumbent lost elections & refused to accept the outcome resulting in a compromise where he retained the presidency while Railla Odinga became PM?
 
Sackboy said:
Oh, Helen. This soapboxing stance is futile. Just shut up and get on with your job. You have enough to do without aggressively responding to idiots. Your campaign manager/spin monkey must have told you that. If he hasn't then get another one.
Click to expand...

You claim that she should not respond to idiots, but expect her to respond to you. Isn't that a bit hypocritical?
 
Tassidar said:
You claim that she should not respond to idiots, but expect her to respond to you. Isn't that a bit hypocritical?
Click to expand...
That's a leading question if ever there was one.
Even Helen wouldn't call me an idiot. She's far too wise to do that :p
 
Sackboy said:
Oh, Helen. This soapboxing stance is futile. Just shut up and get on with your job. You have enough to do without aggressively responding to idiots. Your campaign manager/spin monkey must have told you that. If he hasn't then get another one.
Click to expand...

This is Helen Zille's open letter addressed to DA supporters, if you don't like it, don't read it.

In case you have forgotten she is still leader of the DA as well as Premier.
 
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Serqet said:
Very well said actually. She handled the entire matter very maturely and i respect each of the points she made.

Perhaps we should also be a little more aware of how the media will take a sentence out of context to create a stir and sell newspapers and not see everything the media feeds us as simple fact.

Thanks for sharing this timgaul.

I am objective on all grounds. I don't fight for the DA and i don't fight for the ANC. I fight for what i feel is right based on my moral background.
Click to expand...

Its just a pity this wasn't her original response, it would have served to lower tensions but still have got the point across.
 
joelus said:
:rolleyes:
Move on Helen, honestly...
We're sick of hearing you complain. We get it.
Before the elections it was understandable for you to vocally criticize the ANC over and over again, but now it's time to get on with job and focus on what the DA is doing, not what the ANC did or didn't do...:mad:
Click to expand...

Have you told the ANC and its lackeys to move on?
 
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