Women's Month

“I want education to get back to basics”

Politics is a bumpy and sometimes uncertain road. The story of Ciska Jordaan is a testament to this. Following the May 2024 elections Jordaan was elected as a Member of Parliament and now serves as a member of the Basic Education Portfolio Committee.

However, her journey into politics began much earlier. During her days at the University of Pretoria, she noted how active student politics was, but at the time, she had no interest.

“I didn't want to participate in that because there's a lot of stereotypes. Someone just assumes you have certain values and beliefs because you look a certain way. So, for me, I didn't immediately fall in love with politics.”

It was only in the 2012 elections that Jordaan started to consider entering the political arena. “In the first election where I voted, I think this was in 2012. We went to the voting station in Centurion, and I saw this table with two DA ladies sitting outside. I went to talk to them because I thought it was part of the voting process. On our way home, my brother told me I would be good for politics.”

Though she still didn’t embrace the idea, two years later, she found herself as a DA activist in her community. “I had a friend who really was my foot in the door into the DA. He told me to come join him, and there I was, door-to-door campaigning. That’s how it started.”

The pressure of being ward councillor

In 2016, she became a ward councillor, a job that most politicians call “real politics” in the South African context. Reflecting on her journey, she says it was an “incredibly stressful” time in her life.

“There’s a lot of pressure to perform as a DA ward councillor, not necessarily from the party, but from the people who put all their hearts and dreams into you to provide really, basic services that municipalities are responsible for. So, in the town where I come from, the DA was very active in terms of community interaction and making sure that we were very responsive to the communities that had elected us.

But the town also had incredible service delivery problems, like hundreds of billions of rands in debt towards Eskom and, by now, probably over a billion rands in debt towards Randwater. There were dilapidated roads and poor infrastructure all around, making it a generally difficult space to try and get people to do things.”

In 2021, she was re-elected as a councillor and served as Impact Chairperson. However, just five months into the role, she was removed by a motion of no confidence. Jordaan then applied to become part of the DA’s Leadership and Development Office, where she supported and trained public representatives of the party, a role she says she “enjoyed thoroughly.”

Let’s fix basic education

Now, a few years later, Jordaan is a Member of Parliament and a member of the Basic Education Portfolio Committee. She says she is hopeful for the sector after the appointment of the DA’s Siviwe Gwarube as Minister.

“I’m very hopeful, seeing as we have a DA-minister there, someone who’s really proven that she’s quite capable and competent in managing that office. She really has a deep care and understanding that the work she does affects the lives of people out there.”

Jordaan says she wants the sector to focus on the basics, fixing what is broken, and giving learners and teachers dignified environments. “We see so many children, and we’ve heard so many stories over the last three days of schools where teachers are saying, ‘Please keep at least one pit toilet as you eradicate the others because we don’t have water.’ Sometimes, you know, we just want to go to the bathroom in a dignified way. So just addressing all of those challenges and being a part of creating an equal playing field for kids to go out into the world, whether it be work or higher learning, is something that I consider a great honour.”

The South African government recently formalised early childhood development and incorporated it into basic education. Jordaan says this is fundamental, and she is excited to make it work. “Early childhood education is only now becoming a competency of the Department of Basic Education, and it’s such a critical and important phase of childhood development that I really think needs strengthening.”

Women in Politics

On women in politics, she says, “It’s not always easy being a woman in politics, but it’s also not always easy being anybody in politics. It’s a difficult and challenging environment to work in, but I can say being a woman in the DA in politics is a lot easier than being a woman in any other party. The DA really puts a lot of effort into ensuring gender equality amongst our ranks.”

Equality for Women

On women’s rights, she states, “Until they make sanitary products free, like they make condoms free, I will not be convinced that women are equal to men in this country. I don’t think we’ve come far enough as a country in terms of women’s rights and equal opportunities. The gender pay gap is something that very much exists. Maybe economists will tell you something different, but there is very much a cultural implication and expectation from society that the space for women is to be nurturers. This puts a lot of extra pressure on you as a woman—just trying to make things work, having your own ambitions and dreams, but even at a more basic level, just trying to put food on the table.”

According to Jordaan, women still have to carry the burdens of households, making the playing field unequal. “Very often, you would find in common households in South Africa, women would be responsible for going to work during the day, coming home, cleaning the house, taking care of the kids, bathing and feeding them, putting them to bed, and being exhausted when they go back to work, which already puts them at an unequal footing in terms of finding opportunities and progressing in their careers.”