The EFF in eThekwini is demanding that issues affecting both men and women be given equal importance.
Durban - The EFF in eThekwini is demanding that issues affecting both men and women be given equal importance.
EFF councillor and Executive Committee member Thabani Miya fought hard during an Exco meeting yesterday, and managed to “block” a report on gender issues because it only prioritised women’s issues.
The matter came up to during a discussion of a report on a proposal to establish the eThekwini Municipality’s Multiparty Women’s Caucus.
Miya called for the report to be amended.
The report said the eThekwini Municipality’s Multiparty Women’s Caucus aimed to formalise the collaboration of women in council, as the collaboration by women from all political parties was done without any formal structure to guide, and inform initiatives and programmes.
The report said, “formally establishing and launching a Women Multiparty caucus will help improve relations and foster solidarity among different political parties. Secondly, it will ensure smooth implementation of meaningful programmes that mitigate the impact of gender-based violence.
“The rationale behind the establishment of the Women’s Multiparty Caucus is to provide a platform for other political parties that constitute the council to voice their opinions with regards to issues pertaining to women.
“The proposed eThekwini Municipality Multiparty Women’s Caucus, will facilitate and ensure progress with regards to gender mainstreaming within the municipality, foster the implementation of measures to mitigate gender-based violence as well as devising strategies that will come with sustainable programmes to alleviate poverty that women are faced with,” it said.
The proposal envisaged the caucus becoming the voice of the women of eThekwini across all races, and influencing planning and implementation of programmes that addressed women’s issues.
But Miya said it was important that when addressing the issue of gender, efforts are made to address the issues affecting both men and women.
Miya said that the recommendations should be changed to speak of support for all genders.
“We can’t approve something that says prioritise women’s issues only, it needs to be inclusive of all genders, let us do the right thing,” he said.
Miya also took issue with the fact that the matter was being handled by the mayor’s office saying people in charge should be dedicated to it.
DA councillor Yogis Govender raised a concern that the report had not been processed properly and called for it to be sent back to the committee that had dealt with it.
ANC councillor Nkosenhle Madlala said: “We must agree that the item is sent to the committee for the matter to be processed, taking on board what councillor Miya is suggesting.”
Deputy city manager for the governance cluster Sipho Cele said the caucus would deal with all gender issues.