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ANC Women's League 'ready for female president'

Johannesburg – The ANC Women's League on Thursday reiterated it was ready for a female president.

Speaking at a press briefing at Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand, treasurer general and Minister of International Relations Maite Nkoana-Mashabana said they needed to pressure "our own for them to realise that we are in the majority in the country".

"I also do know that it is women who come out in their numbers who vote for the ANC," she said. "We think the time has come for women leadership to be acknowledged in the ANC.

"So we are not asking. The time is right. We will lobby and we will campaign. We will work for it in our branches."

Nkoana-Mashabana also said South Africa was a far better country to live in, in comparison to others.

"I was speaking to colleagues in Washington and I said that I don't know of any South African that wants to risk crossing the Atlantic or the Indian Ocean to go somewhere because they have lost hope with their own country."

Nkoana-Mashabana said women and children in South Africa had received some attention, although not enough.

She said 2016 gave the party another opportunity to engage with communities. "We will also focus on socio-economic transformation."

ANCWL NEC member Toko Xasa said the league's main purpose was to ensure that the ANC won the 2016 government elections.

"The women’s league is very conscious that the task at hand is to ensure that the ANC wins the elections. We will be part of the structures and the lead up to the 2017 elections."

Xasa said there were more than 800 000 women in the ANC.

"The president of the ANC, be it a male or a female, becomes the president for the entire organisation. So talking of a woman president, structures have to be ready to give a mandate. We have a fresh mandate from the 12th national conference to say that women are ready for a woman president," Xasa said.

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