The ANC Women’s League is putting up a fight for at least half of all state-owned institutions to be run by women.

In a terse statement issued on Tuesday evening, the league’s secretary-general Meokgo Matuba dismissed what she called “deliberate entrenched maleocracy in the top echelons of the state-owned enterprises”.

The statement came after public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan announced that Andre De Ruyter, the outgoing CEO of Nampak, will takeover power utility Eskom.

There have been mixed reactions to De Ruyter’s appointment as head of the troubled entity. A tentative leadership structure of the ANC Youth League questioned his appointment, while the ANC itself threw its weight behind the appointment.

“The ANCWL is of a firm belief that this is a conscious patriarchal agenda to disregard skills and experience of women, in particular black women, in South Africa - partriachists' beliefs that men have inherent right to be CEOs of SOEs,” said Matuba.

She said the country had highly skilled and experienced women, yet almost all SOEs are run by male executives.

“The ANCWL will without fear or favour unapologetically fight entrenched maleocracy in the high echelons of the SOEs. We demand that [a] minimum of 50% of the SOE CEOs be women."