TITLE:
Gender and Age Demographics: The Qualitative Decline of the ANC
AUTHORS:
Vusi Gumbi
KEYWORDS:
ANC, Gender Equality, Intergenerational Mix, Ageism Governance, Youth and Women Leadership
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.11 No.11,
November
14,
2023
ABSTRACT: Pivotal characters in the struggle for freedom like Lillian Ngoyi, Albertina
Sisulu, and Winnie Mandela and the ANC Youth League of Anton Lembede, Nelson Mandela
and youth activists like Steve Biko provide examples of how women and young people
have historically been at the centre of revolutions. Over the years, however, the
ANC has not created a political environment where both women and its young cadres
are given the responsibility to lead the organisation, despite the movement
having some of the most prominent and generally accepted women and young
leaders in society within its ranks. Women in the ANC have not been viewed as intellectuals,
theorists or nationalists, despite having shaped the history of the movement. They
have continuously been reduced to figureheads such as “Mother of the Nation” or
“Mother of the Liberation Struggle”; additionally, the ruling party does not have a succession plan as most of the senior leaders
have been there since the 1991 conference and therefore there has never been a new
generation of leaders in the party. South Africa’s ruling party has been swamped
by a wide range of challenges ranging from lack of political consciousness, careerism,
ostentatious behaviour and factional tendencies. The paper argues that while the
decline of the party cannot be attributed to two things, the atrophied state of
the party, and specifically its patriarchy and ageism has been a contributing factor.
That patriarchy and ageism have made it impossible for the ANC to be a vibrant institution
through which there is an emergence of a leadership that is intellectually astute,
morally above reproach and professionally grounded, with a thorough grasp of governance.