ANCWL betrays its daughters The march for President Zuma placed the ANC Women's League on the wrong side of the Womandla! revolution Gugu Ndima, The Sunday Independent, Johannesburg, 1 November 2015 A twenty-year-old woman from Azalea township, Pietermaritzburg, found herself on the wrong side of the law this month when she tried to sell her baby on line for R5 000. Self-anointed moralists gave her no sympathy, subjecting her to ridicule, humiliation and condemnation. However, worse was facing a punitive justice system that fails to delve into the socio-economic causes of people's plights. In the same week we had an announcement from the ANC Women's League (ANCWL) about a march to the Union Buildings in defence of the president and in indignation at an artist's portrayal of him. This came shortly after the world witnessed a revolution, #FeesMust Fall, led by fearless young lionesses from institutions of higher learning. The young lionesses, probably of the same age as the woman from Azalea, have been subjected to ridicule by a black male gatekeeper of white privilege in the academia, Professor Jonathan Jansen. He seems disturbed by young black people from the middle-class strata being enraged by institutionalised racism or white privilege in institutions of higher learning and taking the lead in tackling it. His utterances and those of many like him reflect a patriarchal attitude to women leading from the front. This view is that no woman can do this without the assistance of a man - yet, when men lead, no one acknowledges the women who take part and organise underground and in the trenches. What do all these issues have in common? These young women are all, in one way or another, victims of flagrant socio-economic afflictions, and to some degree involuntary inheritors of their forebears' burdens. The young woman from Azalea is a victim of patriarchy, poverty and, now, isolation from her community. While we must condemn the alleged crime and ensure justice is realised, it's imperative to address the causes. Her story reflects that of many young black women who become single parents for a number of reasons. They are victims of a system that tacitly condones and normalises being a single parent. That she could offer her baby for R5 000 tells us of her circumstances - evidently unemployed, with minimal access to public services. Poverty makes young black women and children vulnerable to exploitation by men through rape, sex work, exploitation on farms and in retail stores. At 20, the woman ideally should be in an institution of higher learning, pursuing her ambitions or life goals. If she is convicted, this would have long-term ramifications for her child, perpetuating a vicious cycle of poverty. In all this no one has asked where the father is, and why he isn't playing his role. These are just manifestations of a patriarchal system that destroys so many women so early. Where is the amplified voice representing such young women in society? All these young women are directly or indirectly descendants of ANCWL members. The burdens they carry are a reflection of encumbrances carried for centuries, by their mothers and fathers. Where is the ANCWL to defend them and, more important, support them in their fight? The ANCWL has a rich political history as an organisation that stood steadfast on issues, and as one led by women who were unapologetic about expressing their views in a volatile political arena. Now the ANCWL has exposed a political and ideological deficiency in its ranks and its diminishing ability to find resonance with society. Its absence from recent events exposes its waning value in society, and more especially among the young Lilian Ngoyis and Winnie Mandelas asserting themselves through their slogan "Womandla!". Members of the ANCWL are subject to the continuing patriarchal prejudices in our system and the ANC. Many of them take loans, getting into debt, to pay school fees, and many fend single-handedly for their children. Yet the ANCWL, in the turning tide of history and the revolution, decided to mobilise thousands of women to defend "the honour" of a man. In the face of so many glaring socio-economic discrepancies that cripple women old and young, the ANCWL thought a painting was an issue of national importance. Descendants of ANCWL members joined a march to the JSE to express their growing frustrations with white monopoly capital. They sacrificed time to take their struggle to the streets, right up to the Union Buildings, to realise the ideals of the Freedom Charter. It is the daughters and sons of the ANCWL mothers who are unemployed, subject to exploitation, smoking nyaope, rotting in prisons, and hungry and angry and engaging in service delivery protests. It is the descendants of the ANCWL who are impatient with the slow pace of transformation. The descendants of the ANCWL are crying to be heard, yet the ANCWL chooses to betray them to march in support of a man and an issue so trivial in comparison to the events we have seen. The ANCWL has chosen to be on the wrong side of a momentous epoch in history. It is failing to find expression with the Womandla generation - the generation of young women who are domestic workers, in institutions of higher learning, unemployed, working in mines, fighting hard to find space in Corporate SA, and trying to break through barriers and ceilings as entrepreneurs. The young woman who sold her baby should have seen the ANCWL as her first point of contact in seeking a solution. The women who led the #FeesMustFall campaign should have received support from the ANCWL. The socio-economic conditions that affect the youth are those that affect ANCWL members. Maybe it's time the ANC asked if the women's league must fall. . Ndima is a member of the ANC Youth League. From: http://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/ancwl-betrays-its-daughters-1.1938742 #.VjXLRrcrK00 -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
