If the African National Congress’ Women’s League (ANCWL) genuinely wants a female president for the governing party, they should then “work for it”, said Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma who is the rumoured preferred candidate for the top post as President Jacob Zuma’s successor.

After initially avoiding the question, Dlamini-Zuma the chairperson of Commission of the African Union later opened up during an impromptu press briefing on Monday with local and international media on the sidelines of the Africa Editors Forum in Pretoria.

“That is not on [African Union’s] Agenda 2063. You don’t seriously want me to discuss rumours. But what is on Agenda 2063 is that women need to take their rightful place in society. They need to be in leadership, the economy, the academia, and the judiciary,” she said.

“As a principle, if the Women’s League wants a female president – let them work for it. Let us work for it. Why not? Women are part of this country, so if the Women’s League wants that, I don’t see anything wrong.”

In September, the ANCWL said it will not back down on its campaign to have a woman elected as the next ANC president.

“We are not backing down on our mandate that the next president of the ANC must be a woman,” league secretary general Meokgo Matuba told journalists after a meeting of the national executive committee of the ANCWL.

Asked why the league was now reviving its call for a woman president, ANCWL president Bathabile Dlamini said a capable woman would unite South Africa and the party.

“The reason we are announcing that we still want a woman president is that we don’t want anyone to be confused. Much as we are threatened, we are still committed to having a woman as the president,” Dlamini said.

“A woman who is going to be able to unite firstly the country, to unite the ANC, and be very decisive – to take action where she is supposed to take action. We think there are many women in the ANC who are equal to that calibre.”