As part of promoting the participation of all women councillors within municipalities, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) introduced a new initiative, called the Women’s Caucus.

Musina Municipality did not want to be spectators in terms of this initiative and, as a result, the local Women’s Caucus was launched at the mayor’s office last week.

The initiative comes after SALGA realised that, in the past, women were generally not holding senior positions in politics. Despite all this, as a result of being committed to community issues, women became actively involved in the struggle for freedom, despite the constraints placed on them.

The objectives of the Women's Caucus include having one voice for women in the municipality, in a coordinated manner, providing support to each other as women and influencing the programmes and agenda of the municipality. Ms Erica Mukwevho from SALGA Limpopo said the roles of women's caucuses would be to coordinate and support women in the municipalit in order to advance political and other programmes that directly affect women. “The caucus will also ensure that women are empowered and that municipal laws and policies are gender sensitive.”

She added that women caucuses would also be used as a meaningful vehicle for public participation which "also plays an important role to encourage women to participate in activities of government.”

During the launch, Mayor Carol Phiri said unless women were involved in the decision- and policy-making process at all levels of the state, changes in women’s political, social and economic status would continue to be marginal. “Local government is the level of government where women can best display their leadership skills while getting the necessary support from different stakeholders. Moreover, local governments are good training grounds for women politicians who want to reach higher levels of elected or appointed office.”