White men retake Cape of Good Hope

DA leader Helen Zille says her 10-member all-male Western Cape Cabinet is there to stay because she is not interested in “50 -50 bean counting”.

Zille’s national “shadow Cabinet”, unveiled yesterday, also consists mostly of men.

But the DA leader is unapologetic, despite the furore sparked by the lack of gender representivity in her provincial and shadow cabinets.

Zille said her party was not interested in “quota uber alles”, but was focused on “fitness for purpose”.

“Quotas take precedence over all matters in South Africa. We don’t believe in shell states. It’s all style, pomp, glitz and glamour … perks for families has nothing to do with the job … We had to look at who would do the best job,” said Zille.

The unveiling of Zille’s national shadow cabinet was somewhat overshadowed by the lingering war of words between her and the ANC Youth League — a war sparked by Zille’s remark that President Jacob Zuma had endangered his wives by having unprotected sex with a woman he knew to be HIV-positive.

The Youth League accused Zille of being a racist and of appointing an all-male provincial cabinet because she wanted to “sleep with them”.

The league said yesterday that it stood by its statement, despite “intimidation and threats”. ( ha ha! A bit rich coming from the chief dispensers of "intimidation and threats")

“The threats and intimidation of racist Helen Zille and DA supporters will not stop us from articulating what we decide to articulate,” said the league’s spokesman, Floyd Shivambu . (huh..? "..articulating what we decide to articulate.." How un-articulate.)

Angry Zille supporters sent SMSs to Shivambu, whose cellphone number was published by a Cape Town newspaper.

One of the SMSs to Shivambu said : “The white man will always be boss in South Africa.”

Shivambu said yesterday that Zille was a “racist girl” who did not respect women or African people, and that her “100 percent male and predominantly white cabinet was never justifiable”.

Minister for Women, Children, Youth and People with Disabilities Noluthando Mayende-Sibiya challenged Zille yesterday to “disband [her] Cabinet and reappoint, with the inclusion of women”.

“Her Cabinet is prehistoric thinking … that men are still the chief decision makers, and that power lies in the hands of men. This is irrespective of the fact that she is a woman,” said Mayende-Sibiya.

Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane also slammed Zille.

“I think the DA must realise it is going through a period that is now taking it to the grave.

“I think it is also quite shameful of women who are in the DA — for them to talk about merit and then say to themselves we are not capable, only Madame Zille is capable. But women who do these kinds of things are women who have issues with themselves because they don’t want to benchmark themselves against other women,” she said.

Zille has slammed her critics in the national government and opposition political parties, and gender activists.

“The real sin that I committed was to win an election against the ANC. I always have had regular threats from various sources and had them recently as well. Frankly, it doesn’t worry me. I get on with my job. I take precautions,” she said.

Zille argued that other political movements had no female leaders and that gender activists did nothing to help women.

She attacked the Commission on Gender Equality, a state institution set up to protect women’s rights, for “doing very little”.

“The commission does very little to advance the issues affecting most women in South Africa. Its behaviour is a slap in the face for most oppressed women.

“The small, little elite who populate bodies like the commission actually do very little, if anything,” Zille said.

Zuma, she said, had the “luxury” of choosing 62 national Cabinet members.

“When I can expand my cabinet artificially to 62 positions, as Jacob Zuma has done, then I shall be able to meet all the checks and balances, and repay all the political debts that he is repaying.

“That’s not the purpose of government and that’s why Zuma’s Cabinet will cost taxpayers a billion rands a year,” she said.

Zille’s all-male Western Cape Cabinet of nine DA and one Independent Democrats politicians is mostly white.

Of her 32 shadow Cabinet members, nine are women.

Zille said she wanted to deal with the “real issues that affect women” and had established a portfolio committee “for which I am responsible” to tackle “women’s, youth and disability issues”.

“[We will deal with] the predominant patriarchal sexual culture of South Africa, which is the greatest threat to women, gender violence [and] men who don’t pay their maintenance.

“We will deal with the real issues and not gender-head counting in the top committees, which don’t affect the vast amount of women,” she said.