« We have an ongoing challenge to change the way of thinking »

ANC's national Chairperson Baleka Mbete is emerging as the most influential woman in politics in South Africa. In Geneva, during the last IPU Assembly, the Speaker of the National Assembly of South Africa gave The World of Parliaments her views on the next IPU Assembly, to be held in April 2008 in Cape Town.

Q: Why is the IPU Assembly in Cape Town important to South Africa?
Speaker Baleka Mbete : It is important for us to feel that we can welcome the world's parliaments to our country, especially since we are new in the IPU. We are only 13 years old because democracy itself is only 13 years old in our country. It is also a gesture that shows how much we appreciate the support we got from the whole world when we were still fighting for democracy, for our freedom. Here we are, part of the world community.

Q: You are expecting a high number of legislators and personalities in Cape Town. Should we also expect a message from former President Nelson Mandela?
B.M.: This is something we are working on. We realize that it will be important for the citizens of the world. As you know, we regard him not only as ours, but as belonging to the whole world.

Q: What are the main challenges facing South Africa today?
B.M.: They are related to eradicating poverty and making sure that we can effectively deal with socio-economic imbalances in our society, which are not easy to address overnight. We are pleased that the world, through the Millennium Development Goals, has focused its attention on these matters that coincide with our own policy priorities and that the focus of the world's parliaments is to ensure that the backlog that we have been facing can be dealt with as quickly as possible.

Q: South Africa is an example of reconciliation. How do you see it today?
B.M.: We tackled it at two levels: at a symbolic level where publicly we put in place a procedure and mechanisms, and we tackled it in front of the people in a manner that showed South Africans that it is possible to talk to people who come from a community we had always thought were enemies to us. If as leaders we can agree on political prospects even though we come from different parties, we can still collectively take responsibility to symbolically lead our people to a different future where we talk about different values, different principles that guide how we govern the affairs of the country. But some of those things are easier said than done in daily life.

Q: Can you give us examples?
B.M.: When you go to a bank or a hospital, where you expect services from one member of society or another, many times, you still see that it will take much longer for our mindsets to change. We have an ongoing challenge to change the way of thinking, the way of doing things. For us, as South Africans, on a daily basis, we have to come into the new era, into democracy and we have to realize that some of these ways of doing things and the attitude that sometimes are expressed belong to the past and that there is no place for them in the present. We deal with them with the institutions we have established as part of our new democracy.

Q: South African women are very active. How do you explain that they are seen as role models?
B.M.: Many women were involved in the struggle for liberation. It is not only in the new South Africa and the democratic process that the issues of gender are coming up. We refused, during the struggle, to believe that the country only had to deal first with the question of political emancipation and then to start looking at gender emancipation. Women were victims targeted by oppression in specific ways that are unique to the social arrangements in term of the political power in every society. This had to be integrated into our strategy to emancipate the whole society. It is part of the issue of how you liberate the whole country. It is a matter not just for women. It was a matter of policy, of commitment, of both women and men. Those of us who were given mandates to go to parliament, the party - the ANC - adopted a conscious policy position that not less that a certain percentage of members had to be women. And from them on, society saw that women are capable. After that it became a matter of routine. We do it because now we have the confidence we need.

Q: Is there a law that you are proud to be associated with?
B.M.: There is a policy in parliament which stipulates that no delegation that goes out is composed of men only. Therefore I would never give permission for a delegation of men only or a delegation of women only. We sent the message that the question of gender is a sensitive matter which we must all make a conscious effort to improve.