PRETORIA (Reuters):
HALF THE candidates of South Africa's ruling ANC in the March local government elections will be women, the party said yesterday, in what analysts say is a drive to curb graft and end protests over poor services.
Women already occupy plum seats in the government, including the deputy presidency and ministries of foreign affairs, health and mining, partly as a reward for their high-profile role in the campaign that ended apartheid white minority rule in 1994.
The ANC has set the empowerment of women as a top agenda item, partly to set an example after the African Union called for women's representation in local government and national parliaments to be raised to at least one-third.
"At least 50 per cent of all ANC local government public representatives will be women. The agenda is to affirm women as part of transforming the country," Smuts Ngonyama, the ANC's spokesman, told Reuters.
Analysts said perceptions that women are less corrupt and better managers had come into play in a country where several townships have exploded in violent protests against poor services and graft.
But domestic scrutiny of women in top jobs has sharpened since Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka succeeded popular but graft-tainted Jacob Zuma mid-last year as deputy president.
Mlambo-Ngcuka has come under fire after taking a partially state-funded holiday in the United Arab Emirates in December. She denies any wrongdoing.
But analysts said that pushing more women to the fore could still help the ANC at the polls.
"If women are less corrupt it would be a plus point for the ANC during the elections. Already questions about corruption and poor management at local level are major campaign issues," said Sampi Terreblanche, professor of economics at South Africa's University of Stellenbosch.
"Because of the legacy of apartheid, some of the people appointed to government have lacked the education or experience required at their level, which has harmed service delivery. It is hoped competent women could help there," he told Reuters.
