THE ANC Women’s League new president, Sisisi Tolashe has been around the block, politically.
It was no surprise that she crushed her rivals for the top position as she was the favourite from the beginning.
Tolashe received a whooping 1 729 votes from the 2 962 delegates at the 13th national conference held at Nasrec Expo Centre, south of Joburg at the weekend.
Thembeka Mchunu, wife of water and Sanitation Minister Senzo Mchunu, came second with 1038 votes.
Former Women’s League leader, Bathabile Dlamini, shockingly received a mere 170 votes.
Dlamini stood for the position despite having a criminal record. She was convicted of perjury in March l2022 after the Constitutional Court found she had lied under oath during the 2018 inquiry into the grants payment debacle at the South African Social Security Agency.
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Tolashe (63) was born in kwaMlungisi township near Komani in the Eastern Cape.
She is the stalwart of the liberation movement and has served in different positions and levels in government.
She joined Ramaphosa's cabinet as deputy minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities after the 2023 reshuffle.
Before then, Tolashe was the mayor of Enoch Mgijima Municipality in the Eastern Cape.
She cut her political teeth in student politics as a member of the Congress of South African Students (Cosas).
Her activism as a young woman attracted the attention of the apartheid police and she was subsequently arrested.
Lungi Gcabashe has been elected as deputy president, while Nokuthula Nqaba, former Young Communist League leader, has been elected the new secretary-general of the league.
Former minister of communication Dina Pule is the new deputy secretary-general, while Free State MEC for Community Safety, Roads and Transport, Maqueen Letsoha-Mathae was elected treasurer-general.
The league is expected to announce 40 additional members late on Monday, 24 July.
