INLSA
Shameen Thakur Rajbansi
The Minority Front will not be “eaten up by other parties” its new leader Shameen Thakur Rajbansi promised yesterday.
Although her election to the leadership position came as no surprise, it appears the party could be in for a shake-up after the “Tigress” announced several new changes in the way the party would operate.
On the cards was a review of the MF’s constitution which was “outdated”, while her leadership style would also differ from that of her husband and former leader, Amichand Rajbansi, who died in December.
Conservative
Thakur Rajbansi said Rajbansi had possessed “adaptability skills” and
was a situational leader.
“I’m a bit more conservative… when I can prove it on paper, I can translate it into practice.”
She said the party would continue with the vision left by her husband, “but with new leadership will come new blood and different ideas”.
At a media conference held in Durban yesterday, she said the best way to ensure there were good leaders was to train them. Her husband had been the leader of the party since its formation in 1994.
Many of the MF’s critics have predicted its demise after Rajbansi’s death, but Thakur Rajbansi said the party would survive as long as SA was a multiparty democracy.
Yesterday she confirmed that she was “unanimously” elected through “general consensus” during a party meeting on Monday.
However, all this was going to change as the party would now ensure there was an exit strategy and a succession strategy in place.
“We couldn’t discuss leadership before because our leader was alive,” she said.
These strategies would not be as complicated as those in big parties and the MF would “devise unique methods”.
She said she would relinquish her position as the head of the MF Women’s League. She would also take up the matter of a leadership role in the provincial legislature where she already serves.
Thakur Rajbansi said four people had been identified to take over her role in the legislature, but they had until April to make that decision.
Some of her long-term goals included lobbying for the establishment of a minorities commission and a minorities ministry.
Asked how she was coping with the loss of her “husband, mentor and friend and leader”, Thakur Rajbansi quoted the Tiger saying: “In politics you have to leave your emotions at home and deal with what’s in front of you.”
