The Minister in the Presidency for Monitoring and Evaluation Dr Nkosaza Dlamini-Zuma has urged women councillors and amakhosi in KZN to use their skills, knowledge and positions to further the cause of women within the sphere of local government and the institution of traditional leadership.
Dlamini-Zuma was speaking today at a leadership summit in Durban where she addressed some 800 women councillors and amakhosi. In her address, Dlamini-Zuma encouraged women councillors to prioritise education as a tool for equipping themselves to be better able to tackle the complex challenges of local government.
“Education is a tool we all have at our disposal as women leaders. Through it, we are better able to position ourselves to lead others in the dynamic and ever-changing sphere of local government and traditional leadership. Let us therefore use education and seize every opportunity we get to acquire it,” said Dlamini-Zuma.
The event known as Women in Leadership Dialogue is a two-day conference hosted by the KZN Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and its MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube who established the initiative in 2012 to advance capacity-building programmes specifically designed for women leaders.
This year’s Dialogue dealt with pertinent issues affecting women leaders in local government and in their personal lives. Various guest speakers, who in addition to Dlamini-Zuma included Minister of Cogta Dr Zweli Mkhize, educated women on issues such as balancing work with home responsibilities and personal branding in the age of social media.
KZN Cogta has been implementing various capacity-building programmes aimed at strengthening and stabilising local government in the province. “It is my belief that in order to improve the capacity of our women councillors and amakhosi, we have to take deliberate actions which have specific outcomes, such as this Dialogue,” said Dube-Ncube.
Ends.