Sameera Casmod | sameerac@radioislam.co.za
25 July 2023 | 08:29 CAT
2 min read

Picture: EWN
The ANCWL 13th National Conference was held between 21 and 23 July 2023 at Nasrec Expo Centre, Johannesburg

The ANC Women’s League held an election at the weekend to select new leadership. Sisisi Tolashe was elected as the president of the league, taking Bathabile Dlamini’s place at the helm. Tolashe, who is also a deputy minister in the Presidency, was elected with 1 756 votes from a total of 2 962. The former president of the league garnered a total of 170 votes, spelling a dismal result for Dlamini.

At the conference, Lungi Gcabashe was elected as the new ANCWL deputy president, Nokuthula Nqaba as the new secretary-general and Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae as the new treasurer-general. Former Communications Minister Dina Pule was elected for the position of deputy secretary-general. Pule was the only one nominated from the floor.

President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a speech following the declaration of the new ANCWL leadership on Sunday, urged the league to tenaciously defend the rights of women. He emphasised the importance of primary and tertiary education for young women in South Africa, as well as equal and easy access to financial resources. He also encouraged the ANCWL to promote the accessibility of improved employment opportunities for women in South Africa.

Tolashe, the ANCWL’s new president, hails from the town of Komani, Kwa Mlungisi township in Eastern Cape. Her membership of the Congress of South African Students marked the beginning of her activism career, and during her time as an anti-apartheid activist, she was detained without trial for five years. Between 2001 and 2008, Tolashe served as a member of the Eastern Cape Provincial Legislature and served as secretary-general of the ANCWL under President Angie Motshekga from July 2008 until August 2015. In 2016, she was sworn in as an ANC Member of Parliament where she participated in the Portfolio Committees on Labour, Communications, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries until 2018. Tolashe then went on to become the Executive Mayor of the Enoch Mgijima Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape.