One could argue ‘better late than never’ after the ANC finally ordered disgraced former social development minister Sisisi Tolashe to resign as an MP and also as head of the ANC Women’s League (ANCWL).
Yet it is frustrating that the party dragged its feet for so long before acting against the senior politician, who had for so long blatantly disrespected the entities she had been entrusted to lead.
President Cyril Ramaphosa fired Tolashe from her ministerial post earlier this month, while the ANC top leadership structures on Tuesday ordered her to relinquish her position as ANCWL president and MP, after being found guilty on four counts by the party’s integrity commission.
Tolashe has been found to be an unscrupulous freeloader who for years has enjoyed the many perks of being a minister and the head of the ANCWL, while showing little commitment to improving the lives of the vulnerable and disenfranchised.
Her exit from the political landscape is way overdue.
Free cars for the kids aside, the exposure by Daily Maverick of her treatment of her parliamentary “food aide” has probably been the most distasteful example of her unethical behaviour. The employee, who was paid by the state, was reportedly made to work as a nanny for Tolashe’s daughter Kanyisa in East London — and had to pay half her salary back to Kanyisa to contribute towards household expenses.
She is a living example of why cadre deployment doesn’t work. Like many government appointees she was there for self-enrichment rather than self-sacrifice and dedication to the betterment of our democracy.
Tolashe has held various government positions over the past 25 years, since she was sworn in as a member of the Eastern Cape legislature in 2001. She is a living example of why cadre deployment doesn’t work. Like many government appointees she was there for self-enrichment rather than self-sacrifice and dedication to the betterment of our democracy.
Last year the Sunday Times revealed how she blew R3m on a taxpayer-funded trip to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York. She was part of a seven-person social development delegation that flew business class and splashed out on a five-star Manhattan hotel, where some rooms cost over R100,000 a night.
She has also been found to have bypassed key staffing procedures and has contradicted herself in parliament so many times that her nose must have grown by at least an inch. Her claim that she gave two luxury vehicles, donated to the women’s league, to her children “for safekeeping” against possible future debtors was laughable.
So goodbye and good riddance. We hope that Tolashe’s replacement at the ANCWL will espouse the original ethos of the organisation — to mobilise women, challenge the patriarchy and advance gender equality.
The past decade has seen a dramatic slide in the organisation’s impact, most noticeable under Tolashe and her predecessor, the equally questionable Bathabile Dlamini. While the women’s league still wields substantial political sway within the ANC, its reputation has increasingly become that of an empty vessel, lacking depth and substance, happy to float along on the tide of political patronage.
What it most needs now is a young, dynamic leader who can inject a dose of energy and purpose into the organisation, and rally the troops to make a real and meaningful difference in the lives of women across South Africa.
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