South Africa gets its first taste of a female president

The president of South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa, today has been scheduled to visit Harare, Zimbabwe, to attend the 44th Ordinary Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

President Ramaphosa landed in Harare on Saturday morning to attend the Summit, which will be held under the theme “Promoting Innovation to unlock opportunities for sustained economic growth and development towards an Industrialized SADC”.

While away, Defence and Military Veterans Minister, Angie Motshekga, would stand in as South Africa’s acting head of state.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Ms Angie Motshekga to serve as Acting President today, Saturday, 17 August 2024,” said the Presidency in a brief statement on Saturday, as reported by the South African Government News Agency.

This move is coming a couple of months after the idea of having a woman in South Africa’s presidency was dismissed.

In South Africa’s 30 year long democracy, the thought of having a female president has been elusive. This is despite women’s significant contributions to South Africa’s development.

To this effect, an exclusive by DW highlighted the fact that the South African elections in 2024 sidelined women from the highest seats in the country’s political clime.

The subject has been extensively discussed with some noting that women in South Africa have to form their own parties before they can get their names on the national ballot papers. This is notwithstanding the fact that South Africa has one of the highest female representation in politics across Africa, with only Rwanda and Senegal ahead.