RANJENI MUNUSAMY: There's no room for powerful women in South African politics

Since the death of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, I have been wondering whether women really have a place in politics. Madikizela-Mandela was one of the strongest characters to have walked the earth and yet politics chewed her up and spat her out. Perhaps more accurately, the male-driven political machinery, aided and abetted by other women in the ANC, drove her to the periphery and ensured she remained there till her death. Only after Madikizela-Mandela's passing was there real acknowledgement of her role in South Africa's history and the fact that she held up the liberation struggle in the way no man could have. Last weekend, former ANC MP Makhosi Khoza announced her resignation from her new political party, African Democratic Change, deciding to focus on civic activism and education projects.Her political career was of course destined to end in tears because of the way she left the ANC and established ADeC based on transitory outrage against her former party and Jacob Zuma. Khoza was...