South Africa: Mentorship Plan to Empower Women Councillors

November 11, 2007 – (AllAfrica) Gauteng's Mentorship programme is to empower women councillors to take their rightful place in the local government sphere and assert themselves. Gauteng Local Government MEC Qedani Dorothy Mahlangu will unveil the programme on Tuesday at Gallagher Estate in Midrand.

"It is important to acknowledge that women councillors are in a disadvantaged situation compared to their male counterparts, hence during the Departmental Gender Summit in 2006, I announced that there is a need to capacitate and empower women councillors in the province in order to improve service delivery.

"The issue of skills and capacity is often overlooked when looking at women in comparison with their male counterparts," said Ms Mahlangu.

Ms Mahlangu, who has been appointed gender coordinator in the province by Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa, said the second local government elections held last year, heralded a new crop of councillors, mostly women.

She said that of all more than 900 councilors elected in Gauteng, 436 are women and their primary responsibility is to serve their respective communities and for them to fulfill their roles as political leaders.

They need to be confident to do so as well as present leadership and professional etiquette in running their business as political office bearers, Ms Mahlangu said.

She said that it was important to empower women so they also implement gender programmes in their municipalities as well as carry their responsibilities aligned to their work.

Highlighting the importance for such programmes, Ms mahlangu said they should be seen in the context of skills development and women empowerment since most of the councillors assumed positions of authority without the necessary skills or abilities to be leaders in a formal and structured environment.

"They are leaders in their own right in their respective communities where processes are less structured and have a less formal approach to what their end goal in terms of leadership is.

"The issue of professionalism is a challenge for most of them sitting in a stifling environment, with many rules and regulations and expectations to which they might not have had any type of exposure before.

"It is therefore imperative to equip women councillors with the much needed skills such as financial management, human resources, management and also to ensure that they grasp the importance of being leaders and role models," Ms Mahlangu said.

The historic unveiling will be addressed by among others acting Premier Paul Mashatile, and attended by business women and women politicians including Gauteng Legislature Deputy speaker Sophia De Bruyn, Former Reserve Bank Deputy-Govenor Gill Marcus, renowned Independent Electoral Commission Chairperson Dr Brigalia Bam and about 400 women councillors.

"It is my wish to see the majority of women in our country getting involved in the highest decision making bodies of this country to ensure that their voice remain powerful as ever. We must make sure that we solidify the foundation laid by our mothers and grandmothers who marched to the Union Buildings in 1956 to protest against the brutal system of apartheid. We should do this irrespective of race, creed or religion," Ms Mahlangu added.

From:http://allafrica.com/stories/200711120019.html