“We are elected by the people and therefore what is there is the will of the people,” she told SABC correspondent Sherwin Bryce-Pease.

He had asked Dlamini, also the Minister of Women in the Presidency, to respond to her inclusion given criticism on her performance in government.

Dlamini was attending the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York.

She seemed unfazed by the question.

“I want to congratulate every woman who made it to the top 10 because I know it is not easy,” she told Bryce-Pease.

She said women were capable and “implementers”.

“Most of the time, when men find all sorts of ways of removing women and being ruthless, it is because they see capacity.”

She urged all female voters to carefully scrutinise the manifestos of all political parties. She said the ANC’s manifesto came from different structures and sectors of society.

News24 earlier reported that only three women made the top 10 on the party’s national list.

Top of the list are president Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President David Mabuza and party chairperson Gwede Mantashe. Also on the list are Ronald Lamola, Fikile Mbalula, Zweli Mkhize and Bheki Cele. The three women who made it into the top 10 are Nomvula Mokonyane, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Lindiwe Sisulu.

The ANC defended its decision to include members who have been implicated in alleged corruption.

ANC secretary general Ace Magashule defended Malusi Gigaba, Nomvula Mokonyane, Bathabile Dlamini and Mosebenzi Zwane, saying they had done nothing wrong.

Magashule said the party looked at what the law said and emphasised that none of the members was facing any criminal charges for any offences.

The Constitutional Court slammed Dlamini last year for her handling of the social grants debacle in which the livelihoods of millions of people were threatened.

The court said she was “reckless” and “grossly negligent” and instructed the National Prosecuting Authority to consider perjury charges against her for lying under oath.

DM