As the number of Numsa members captured on the new computer membership system approaches 100 000, we are starting to see who and what our members look like.

The majority of Numsa members whose details have been entered, are married and in the age group 30 – 39 years old. But KZN and Eastern Cape are two exceptions – those that are married and those that are single are almost equal.

And in Western Cape and Eastern Cape , younger members form the biggest category of members. As far as the touchy subject of gender goes, just more than 15% of members that have been entered are women. Those regions with the highest proportion of women members are Northern Cape/Free State with 33,8% women and Eastern Cape with 23,6% women.

Mpumalanga scores last in the gender stakes where just 3% of their members are women. Numsa’s MEMS department will be updating statistics as the congress approaches to ensure that regions’ delegations to the National Congress coincide with their regional gender breakdown! So watch this space.