An Uprising, And Then A League Of Silly Women

Last week university students across South Africa rose up in protest against a hike in fees for the 2016 academic year.

Barring the few incidents of violence and destruction of property, it was a sight to behold. Never has the government of this country been shaken as much and by mere students, unified across racial, gender, socioeconomic and political divisions.

So frightened were the ruling politicians, that they caved in last Friday and announced a zero percent increase in fees for the next year. This week however, students at some institutions were still not satisfied, and continued protesting, mostly for the complete abolition of fees for tertiary education.

If students could rattle the ANC government this much, imagine what a unified South Africa could do. I think these are troubling times for the fat-cat rulers and their cozy futures doesn’t look so bright any more. Finally the ANC’s disdain for the citizenry has reaped a whole lot of detest.

Meanwhile, one of the embarrassing ineffectual wings of the ANC (the other being the Youth League), The Women’s League has decided this week to march on the Union Buildings to protest the “denigration of the image of President Zuma by so-called artists.” In other words (so they insist) they’re marching to protect the dignity and honor of the President, all  because an artist had the foresight temerity to paint a picture of His Loathsomess in an er, uncompromising but accurate position.

These women should be ashamed of themselves. Scratch that. They’re proud supporters of patriarchy after all. Seems it hasn’t occurred to them that you can’t protect the honor of a man who has none.

Oh well, back to the students.

For many people in this country who had given up hope of ever holding this government to account, our young generation have shown quite conclusively that it is possible. Thank you all for coming in from the cold.

On the not-worth-talking-about scale

A 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck South Africa today around lunch time. Originating in Orkney in the North West Province, the tremors were felt in large parts of the country and even in neighbouring Botswana and Mozambique.

I felt it in my office while on a conference call and just looked up at the ceiling. I’ll bet many others looked up at the ceiling too. Probably a normal reaction, that. It’s being reported as one of the biggest to hit South Africa. Seems there wasn’t too much damage, except for the unlucky guy who died after a wall apparently collapsed on him.

Up here on the Reef, we live directly above working mines and tremors from mining activity is quite normal. Sometimes in the dead of night, I can swear I hear the locomotives running deep underground in the mine tunnels. But this was a real quake, albeit not much worth talking about when compared to the recent disaster in China.

In other not worth talking about news, I discovered today that there’s a random dude from South Africa who’s following my blog. What’s not worth talking about though is his blog which spews the kind of bigotry I rant about here on my own blog. Seems he’s a homophobic, patriarchal, anti-feminist, religious ANC supporter.

Not sure I want his kind following my blog. Get thee gone bigot.

And finally, it’s being reported that the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) is losing its relevancy. That to me is not entirely correct. Presided over by Angie Motshekga, this woeful organization lost its relevancy a long time ago. They were merely going through the motions of being constituted, whereas all they were doing was supporting the puerile ambitions of power-hungry ANC men, and furthering the patriarchal agenda.

It is widely said that Motshekga single-handedly destroyed South Africa’s education system. Perhaps a bit of an exaggeration, but she most certainly played a huge role in dumbing it down, and still does. And her feats of maladministration in the Education Ministry are now legendary.

The cremation of the ANCWL will not come soon enough, and hopefully we won’t have to suffer the presence of Angie in Education much longer too.

Go figure! Women who support patriarchy

You’d think that women would be averse to supporting patriarchal attitudes, but it would seem that’s not the case when it comes to religion and politics. There’s probably a fairly unpalatable number of women all over the world who see no problem in rationalizing the acceptance of patriarchy when it conflicts with their religious, political and cultural beliefs.

And we have them right here in South Africa too. The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL), who for all intents and purposes function merely as the ANC’s cheerleaders, are adamant that the time is not right for a female leader of the party, and by extension, President of the country. Why?

Well according to the League leaders, it’s against processes, traditions and does not support continuity and healing of a visibly broken organization.

So that makes it alright to continue supporting a male leader who is without doubt one of the worst (in all possible areas) that South Africa has ever had the misfortune to have as a President. And believe me, this guy makes some of the apartheid era Presidents and Prime Ministers look positively angelic.

But does the ANC have the calibre of women in their ranks who could become a future President? According to Jen Thorpe writing in Thought Leader, the pickings are mighty slim, and if one looks at the track record of ANC women in key government positions, the picture is dismal indeed. There are however one or two who have done quite a good job at running their portfolios, but would they be up to running a country?

The only way to find out is to give them the opportunity. Hell, I sincerely doubt they could do a worse job than the sod who’s currently lauding it over his subjects… even if they tried.

But, it seems that they will have to wait until processes and traditions change, and the ANC heals itself. You know as well as I, that that is not going to happen until Jesus returns.

It therefore leaves women with just two more options if they want to see a female President. Either vote for the opposition Democratic Alliance or Agang, both parties having fairly strong women leaders.

And since female voters probably outnumber male, that is quite an appetizing prospect, one that South Africa sorely needs.

In Women’s Month: Selling Women Down the River

Men are taught to apologize for their weaknesses, women for their strengths. – Lois Wyse

It was bad enough that the President committed the dreadful blunder of patronising women on national television during Women’s Month in South Africa. It’s then really lamentable when an organization that is supposedly in place to promote equality and women’s rights, supports this patriarchal madness.

The ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) which is headed by Angie Motshekga [remember this inept woman who doubles as the Education Minister?], today defended the atrocious comments by President Zuma, claiming that they were taken out of context, because he was referring to his daughters only. Judge for yourself if these statements were misconstrued:

I was also happy because I wouldn’t want to stay with daughters who are not getting married, because that in itself is a problem in society. I know that people today think being single is nice. It’s actually not right. That’s a distortion

You’ve got to have kids. Kids are important to a woman because they actually give an extra training to a woman, to be a mother.

League spokesperson Troy Martens’ attempts to rationalize these absurd statements is a disgrace. She performs a huge disservice to women everywhere. How is that out of context when Zuma clearly refers to it being a problem with society?

The ANCWL continues to emphasize what a toothless organization they really are. Their only function seems to be as cheerleaders for their “ruler” and the other incompetent ANC Ministers in government.

Considering this, shouldn’t the ANCWL be renamed ANC Woman in League with Hypocrisy, Patriarchy, Misogyny and Dirty Politicians?