The first woman elected president in Africa urged other women leaders not to lose touch with the grass roots.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, in South Africa for celebrations for former President Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday, addressed about 100 prominent South African women Friday at an event called "Dialogue for Justice."
Graca Machel, the wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela and an influential voice on children's rights and other issues, told Sirleaf, "You have broken the walls for us _ you have even broken the ceiling for us, and we really take pride in this."
Machel proposed that South African business women like those at the event should invest in Liberia and empower women there. Sirleaf made her own call for investment at a dinner later Friday with South African business leaders, men and women.
Mamphela Ramphele, a South African writer, academic and former World Bank official who spoke at the dinner, called Liberia under Sirleaf "a shining example of Africa's infinite capacity to turn adversity into an opportunity for excellence."
Sirleaf, who inherited a war-torn country and a devastated economy when she was elected in 2005, said at the breakfast that her approach to healing Liberia has been to embrace ordinary people and "move the Cabinet to the people" to keep in touch with problems there.
Sirleaf said women in politics need to "carry the grass roots" with them.
"The young people in Liberia perhaps have spent more time in war than in school," she said. Repairing infrastructure in Liberia is easy compared with "being able to repair values, family values," which is the real challenge, she said. "And we still haven't found the answer."
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said that problem is relevant in South Africa, despite the progress it has made since the fall of apartheid. "Fourteen years down the line, we have xenophobia in South Africa," she said, referring a wave of anti-foreigner attacks in May that left 62 people dead.
Madikizela-Mandela divorced Mandela in 1997 and has remained an influential force in South African politics.
Madikizela-Mandela asked the women why they were so successful in business, yet did not venture into politics. "My own concern is what future government are we going to have in 2009?" she asked.
Without specifying her concerns, she said she is not "very, very proud" of the direction in which South Africa is likely headed. Many South Africans have expressed concerns about Jacob Zuma, the head of South Africa's African National Congress and likely candidate for the presidency.
Zuma faces a corruption trial and was acquitted of rape but testified during that trial about his belief that a shower could protect against AIDS, raising questions about his judgment.
South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka challenged the women to engage with ordinary people, and not remain so aloof as to neglect the needs of the vast majority of the country.
"We don't need to shift the paradigm, we need to recreate it," she said. "We are just not taking enough responsibility, and we're not holding the government accountable enough."
