Long after the ANC’s Nasrec elective conference at which Cyril Ramaphosa emerged victorious, the president of the ANC Women’s League, Bathabile Dlamini, claims that they are still being persecuted for backing Dr Nkosazana Dlamini (NDZ) to lead the governing party.
In a no-holds-barred speech delivered at the Jacob Zuma welcome home rally in Durban on Thursday, Dlamini claimed the persecution has increased and it is aimed at silencing women into submission and stopping them from ever backing another female candidate.
Dlamini did not say who exactly is persecuting them, but she further claimed that their persecutors have resorted to using even state resources to silence them.
Dlamini is currently facing perjury charges following allegations that she lied under oath during the Sassa grants payment scandal a few years ago. At that time she was the minister of social development under the Jacob Zuma administration.
WATCH: ANC Women's league president, Bathabile Dlamini is speaking at the #JacobZuma welcome home rally in Durban. She claims that they are still being harshly persecuted for backing a woman candidate at the 2017 Nasrec conference. @IOL #ZumaPrayer pic.twitter.com/18TWjJiKvX
“Ever since the conference where we backed a woman candidate, we have been facing heavy persecution ... I have never seen a conference which passed years ago but people are still talking about it,” Dlamini told the crowd.
Still livid, Dlamini said things would be better in the country than at the present moment if a woman was leading. She insisted that they will still in the future push for a women leader to take the lead of the ruling party and the country.
“A woman can do better and she can fight corruption,” Dlamini told the crowd that included ANC members clad in her league’s regalia.
Zuma did not attend the gathering as anticipated by his supporters. Instead, his daughter, Duduzile Zuma stood in for him.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
Political Bureau