By Zweli Martin Dlamini

When Parliament Speaker Jabulani ‘Buy Cash’ Mabuza made a ruling that grounded Members of Parliament(MPs) during the Regional Women MPs nominations on Friday evening,I was analyzing the political characters of both the Speaker and Deputy Prime Minister(DPM) Thulisile Dladla with regards to the dynamics of gender equality in politics.

It was Mandla Tshauke, the Minister of Agriculture who consistently suggested that, the counting of nomination ‘votes’ must be conducted transparently to enhance the credibility of the election process and mitigate irregularities that could have been avoided.

Both Minister Tshauke and the Speaker were not only concerned about the conclusion of the process but, they wanted the process to be credible even if it takes time.

But the Deputy Prime Minister(DPM) Thulie Dladla wanted a short cut, she appeared to be in a rush to have the elections concluded while overlooking the fact that, the process was conducted LIVE for the world to see.

Well,let me analyze the conduct of the DPM in a positive way because the context of this article is to emphasize the importance of gender equality in leadership positions or politics.

Thuli Dladla appeared to be a leader who understands the importance of time, she wants things to be done and concluded now.

This is a skill that is needed in political leadership but of course, this skill of rushing things while disregarding possible irregularities might backfire in the future,that’s where the Speaker through the consistent advice of Agriculture Minister Mandla Tshauke came-in, to ensure that the election process was conducted transparently to maintain its credibility.

Now,let’s come to the importance of gender equality, here we have a DPM who is a female, women by their nature wants to see things done, they don’t think twice if they want something done.

Women work hard to ensure that they achieve what they want and problems if any, will be sorted or corrected later.

But in politics or public administration,it’s not only about achieving the political goals but the process must be fair, credible and in accordance with the law or the basic principles of public administration.

This means in politics, we need women like Thuli Dladla, who will ensure that projects and development strategies are implemented timely but on the other hand, we also need the Speaker Jabulani 'Buy Cash’ Mabuza or Mandla Tshauke who will analyze things or decisions beyond what is happening now and prevent possible blunders.

In context, if you have only men in political leadership, projects are likely to be delayed for years, men analyze too much, sometimes they fail to even realize that, it’s time to implement but as mentioned, this is a skill that is important in public administration.

Women are quick to implement and this means if you have hardworking men and women in political leadership or corporate sector, working collectively to achieve a common goal, then you are likely to see development.

Gender equality in the context of political leadership is not about elevating women to be like men, it’s about empowerment to enhance diversity of ideas for social and economic development.