Honouring Women’s Month: Dr. Naledi Pandor’s leadership in South Africa

August in South Africa is not just another month on the calendar.

It is Women’s Month, a time to remember the courage, defiance, and vision of the more than 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on August 9, 1956, to protest the infamous pass laws under apartheid.

It is also a time to reflect on the legacies of great women like Albertina Sisulu, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and Charlotte Maxeke, who embodied resistance and justice in their lifetimes.

In 2025, we find ourselves again at a crossroads. The struggles of these women still echo in new forms, such as femicide, youth female poverty, and chronic unemployment. Yet, in this modern battlefield, one woman stands out for her quiet but unyielding strength: Dr. Naledi Pandor.

Dr. Pandor, a South African politician, educator, and academic, continues to represent the essence of Women’s Month. She is a symbol of intellectual depth, moral courage, and political defiance in a space dominated by men and muddied by global hypocrisy.

In a world that often patronises women in leadership, she has become an unshakable force not only within the ANC but also on international stages. She reminds the world that African women are not mere footnotes to history; they are makers of it.

Her vocal opposition to Western complicity in the Gaza genocide marked a defining moment in South Africa’s post-apartheid foreign policy. Where silence would have been politically convenient, Dr. Pandor invoked the legacy of South Africa’s liberation struggle by holding Israel and its allies accountable for the atrocities in Palestine. Her stand was not just a diplomatic gesture; it was a radical act of historical alignment with the values of Madikizela-Mandela and London forces.

In confronting global power, she echoed the audacity of anti-colonial resistance and forced the ANC, still largely male-led, to take a stance rarely seen in contemporary African diplomacy: the colonised speaking truth to the coloniser.

However, what followed reveals the entrenched patriarchal fault lines in the ANC. Male ANC leaders quietly “apologised” to the United States, a cowardly betrayal that underscored the gendered dynamics of political courage in the movement. Dr. Pandor’s principled stance was met not with solidarity but with backdoor diplomacy aimed at appeasing global power rather than protecting justice.

This moment captured the essence of Women’s Month: that women still lead with integrity, while men in power too often retreat in fear. At home, the brutal realities facing young women are undeniable. South Africa’s femicide rate remains among the highest in the world. Unemployment among young females is disproportionately high, with poverty locking generations of women out of economic freedom.

These are not accidental failures; they are the result of policy neglect, male-centred governance, and a political culture that celebrates performative transformation over real structural change.

In this context, the presence of women like Dr. Pandor in leadership is not just symbolic; it is urgent. Her leadership style is not loud, but its impact is resounding. She embodies the fusion of education, diplomacy, and activism, a rare and necessary combination in an age of populist male strongmen and hollow rhetoric.

South Africa’s future depends on leaders who are capable of both vision and conviction, especially in a time when women continue to suffer the burden of inequality without the promise of safety, employment, or economic dignity.

It is time to ask obvious, difficult questions: If Dr. Pandor had been president, would the country’s stance on Palestine have been stronger and more consistent?

Would femicide be treated with the national urgency it deserves?

Would young women in rural areas be afforded not just rhetoric but tangible opportunity?

Would the United States have taken its chances in tariffs?

We do not ask these questions to flatter but to provoke a shift in political imagination. Dr. Naledi Pandor has consistently defied the gendered expectations placed upon her. She has not only carried the legacy of our fallen heroines, but she has also expanded it.

Her courage on the international stage and her intellectual authority in Cabinet make a compelling case for the kind of leadership South Africa desperately needs. She is not just a woman of August; she is a leader for all seasons.

*The opinions expressed in this article does not necessarily reflect the views of the newspaper.

DAILY NEWS