S. Africa ready for a woman president: minister
Xinhua, May 7, 2014 Adjust font size:
With a much higher woman representation in the government and Parliament than many countries in the world, South Africa is ready for a woman president, a cabinet minister said on Tuesday.
Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities Lulu Xingwana echoed the view of President Jacob Zuma who said on Monday that South Africa could see a woman president sooner than expected.
Xingwana said Zuma's remarks are consistent with the agenda of empowering and advancing women that the government has been pursuing since 1994.
"Indeed we agree that the country is ready for a woman president," Xingwana said in a statement one day before voters go to the polls to elect the next National Assembly and provincial parliaments.
"South African women have more than proven that they are capable to handle any leadership position that comes their way," Xingwana said.
She said the country has had two female deputy presidents before -- Pumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka and Baleka Mbete, and South African women continue to hold key leadership positions in regional and international structures such as Chair of the African Union (AU) Commission Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who is the first woman leader in the history of the organization.
"Today the representation of women in Parliament is 44 percent and 42 percent in Cabinet. We have 55 percent women Premiers, 38.2 percent Women in Local Government, and 39 percent in Senior Management ranks in the Public Service," Xingwana said.
In his Monday press briefing in Johannesburg, Zuma said he would support the selection of a woman president.
The Mail & Guardian reported last month that Zuma and his supporters had indicated an interest in promoting either his ex- wife and chairperson of AU Commission Dlamini-Zuma or African National Congress (ANC) chairperson Baleka Mbete to succeed him as ANC president in 2017, and the country's president in 2019.
Both Mbete and Dlamini-Zuma have accepted nominations as ANC representatives in Parliament after the May 7 general elections.
