The African National Congress Women's League (ANCWL) 13th National Conference has been postponed to next weekend due to delegate registration delays across the country in all branches.
Initially, the conference was scheduled to be held this weekend on Friday and end on Sunday. The conference is expected to take place on July 21 and end on July 23 at the Nasrec Expo Centre. It is themed “Advancing decisive action towards the full liberation and emancipation of women.”
The ANCWL National Task Team (NTT) addressed the media on the state of readiness at ANC headquarters, Luthuli House in Johannesburg ahead of the league’s congress next weekend.
Leading the NTT, coordinator Maropene Ramokgopa confirmed that they are ready to kick off the conference. However, she shared that it was moved to allow all delegates at branch level to register for the league's conference, ensuring that safety and security-related matters were well taken of, as well as logistics.
Ramakgopa said the theme reflected the urgent need to address various things that hindered women's emancipation and equality.
She said the conference's approach was to dismantle discriminatory structures, norms, and practices that limited women's opportunities and infringed upon their rights.
Ramakgopa said true liberation and emancipation for women required incremental changes. She added that it necessitated bold and transformative action at the institutional level.
She added that their aim was to create a society where every woman can enjoy equal rights and actively participate in their destinies.
Furthermore, Baleka Mbete called on the media to ignore reports that there was any interference from the mother body. She urged people to focus on the positive side of the upcoming conference.
“Let’s judge what happens in specific interactions in those spaces and resist having generic understanding,” she said.
MaQueen Letsoha, who is part of the NTT, added that the ANCWL has its own structure and won’t allow any interference. However, she mentioned that they will always go back to the mother body to seek guidance and leadership on certain things.
The NTT further stated that about 2,9700 branches are expected to attend the conference, with an estimated 3,500 delegates present. It said a detailed report around these numbers would be issued during another briefing.
Meanwhile, the ANCWL welcomed the European Court of Human Rights ruling on the appeal of two-time Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya that she was unfairly discriminated against by World Athletics which banned her from participating in certain races due to her testosterone levels.
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