Date: 08/03/2006
Source: Department Home Affairs
Title: Mapisa-Nqakula: Debate on International Women's Day, NA
Speech by Honourable N Mapisa-Nqakula, Minister of Home Affairs, on the occasion of introducing the debate to mark International Women's Day, National Assembly, Parliament, Cape Town
Madam speaker,
Honourable cabinet colleagues,
Honourable members,
Veterans of the women struggle
Women of the world
Friends!
Today the world marks International Women's Day and here at home, we should thank parliament and the Ministry of Arts and Culture for allowing us an opportunity to have this debate as part of our national celebrations.
On this day, the South African nation should express solidarity with women all over the world where women and children continue to be affected by poverty, conflict and disease. We call on the world as a whole to give a thought to women and children in Sudan and Palestine, two nations where as peoples of the world, we cannot justify our continued inaction in the face of human suffering resulting from conflict. We hope that the stalemate in Palestine can be resolved, also in the interest of woman in that country.
Having appreciated the power and impact of solidarity for our struggle here at home, the women of our country also express support for the role our government has been playing in brokering peace in major hotspots of conflict both in our continent and elsewhere in the world. We applaud these initiatives because of our understanding that women all over the world yearn for conditions of peace and stability.
The people of our country, therefore, will continue to stand behind our President as he leads this crusade for world peace, including recent initiatives both in the Congo and lately, in accepting the invitation to share our experiences for peace and stability with the people of Iraq.
Madam Speaker,
As democracy and freedom dawned on our country in the previous decade, significant strides were also being made all over the globe to place issues of women's emancipation firmly on the world agenda.
National struggles of women in different countries have culminated into a global united effort to oppose and eradicate the subjugation of women in all spheres of our society. These global efforts have mainly been responsible for the progress made by humanity in the fight against the oppression of women.
The sitting of the United Nations (UN) Conference on women in Beijing in 1995 was an important step in this regard. While it cannot be viewed in isolation from similar engagements previously, the conference done more to heighten the world's attention to the plight of women all over the world, and to develop a tangible programme of action on which the world can measure itself on progress made.
Recently, we have taken note of a further statement by the Security Council bemoaning the lack of commitment by the UN Secretary-General to ensure the representation of women in senior positions within the UN system. This development in the UN system demonstrates an anti-thesis to the UN's commitment to the Beijing Platform of Action, and compels us to join the Security Council in condemning this state of affairs.
It will be important therefore, Honourable Members, that this debate should also serve to conduct a critical assessment of the world that women are living in today, 11 years since that historic conference of the women held in Beijing. I am sure that as we conduct this assessment, we will frankly acknowledge that the world that we live in, despite the progress we have made, is still one that is not safe for majority of women. It is a world where war resulting from greed and graft has had the direst impact on the lives of women. A world where more and more continue to die of hunger and curable diseases. A world where many women live under the yoke of oppression in the name of religious bigotry and at times, veiled under the oligarchy of traditional values and ordinances.
During the year 2003, the African National Congress (ANC) Women's League and many other women organisations around the world sought to engage directly with this systematic oppression of women, by taking up a campaign to oppose the harsh sentence where a woman was to be stoned to death for breaching these religious ordinances in Nigeria. This cruel and inhuman action has been as a result of those who sought to interpret religion in such a way that they can hide behind it in undermining the rights of women.
Two things that the campaign to save Amina Lawal showed to us, was that firstly, the struggle for women emancipation is still going to be a long and tedious one, but also that where humanity stand united, without consideration of race, colour, national borders and creed, freedom can triumph over repression.
The rest of the world, therefore, will have to take up the struggle against women oppression as a struggle that goes right into the heart of saving humanity. Comrade Thabo Mbeki, as one of the ardent activist for this cause, uses the words of another distinguished activist, Olive Schreiner, to remind us of this fact. And I repeat the quote here:
"Many women have now the vote, and are parts of the governing power of their nations all will have it soon. If we need to use our power to its noblest end, we shall have to learn that the freedom of all human creatures is essential to the full development of human life on earth. We shall have to labour not merely for a larger freedom for ourselves, but for every subject race and class, and for all suppressed individuals."
Of course, Madame Speaker, in the case of South Africa and many other societies, we should also be cautious of dealing with the issue of women emancipation in a manner that suggests that women are just a homogeneous entity that is not affected by other social constructs such as class and race.
The struggle for women's emancipation therefore, should be seen as a micro entity in the struggle to transform society as a whole.
The Women's Charter called for equality. It expressed this equality as the single principle that underlines all the other claims in the Charter. In the context of the broad social movement for the transformation of our society, equality could never be fully achieved in narrow procedural terms. Not when there are others who still can not have access to basic conditions conducive for a decent quality of life. The emancipation of women, therefore, should also entail the eradication of inequality within society and indeed inequality amongst women. The two should never be separated.
Honourable Members and Friends,
Fifty years since the great women's march of 1956 and 12 years into our democracy, we need to enquire as to how well we are doing as a nation in this regard. Plainly put, are we still on track?
The past decade has seen great strides by South African society to address this issue of equality both with specific reference to women and within the broader context of our society. The extent, to which we have made progress in this regard, has made it possible for us to boldly declare that, as our country enters the Age of Hope, so are women marching along with the rest of our nation. This age of hope, premised on the firm acknowledgement that ‘today is better than yesterday’, has a meaning for women too.
Despite the strong institutional mechanisms that we have put in place, women have also experienced first hand the benefit of social delivery programmes.
Under the democratic government led by the ANC, women have been direct beneficiaries of our policy regime, which has also ensured greater protection for women. Chief amongst these has been the direct intervention in fighting the scourge of domestic abuse.
Within this context, Madam Speaker, we need to add our voices in condemning the actions of some of the protesters who demonstrating in front of the High Court in Johannesburg at the rape trial of our former Deputy President.
It is despicable in the very least that some of these demonstrators have sought to abuse a complainant who has come out to seek society's protection as an alleged victim of abuse. Without going into the merits of this case, society should be able to give her this support. It is unacceptable that after spending years fighting for the right of all individuals to express themselves freely, we should again be the ones who vilify someone who seeks to exercise this right.
I must reiterate our position that the right of our Deputy President to be regarded innocent until proven guilty should be respected, while at the same we give our support to the woman at the centre of this trial during this difficult time.
We should continue to defend the gains that we made in both the emancipation and the protection of women and as a nation; we have the duty to ensure that such gains are never reversed.
These gains have been as a result of a conscious and deliberate plan informed by the significant importance the democratic government attaches to this matter.
Madam Speaker,
For us in the ANC, there has always been an established link that places the struggle for women's emancipation as an integral part of our objective of building a South African society that is free, democratic, non sexist, and non racial. It is for this reason that together with the rest of the South African society, we join the rest of the women of the world in marking this day.
As we mark this day, we are also launching our programme for the celebration of the 50 years anniversary of the women's march in 1956. We honour the many women heroes who have made a selfless contribution to the attainment of freedom and democracy in our country.
This is also the day when women register an important achievement through the launch of the national Steering Committee for establishment of the national women's movement. The establishment of a national movement will be a culmination of years of consultation by women from all walks of life who have united beyond sectoral differences to put in place a viable vehicle to enhance the struggle for women's emancipation. We should congratulate women on this epoch making achievement.
Honourable members will remember that a few weeks ago, we reemphasised the ANC's commitment to ensure 50 percent women representation of all local government councillors after the March 1 elections. Although the ANC had pushed for this trajectory, it is now said based on the list of all parties, the election results show that just over 39 percent of women shall become councillors in local government.
Maybe it is high time that this House considers taking a bold move to ensure that all of us do not pay lip service to the issue of increasing the role of women in decision making.
As we characterised the world that we live in beyond 1956 and beyond 1995, it is clear that we have a real challenge to further advance the gains that we have made. Most importantly, we need to do this so that those who are still not covered by some of these gains are able to equally enjoy the benefits of the progress we have made together in emancipation of women and the transformation of our country.
Our Programme of Action for the second decade of freedom in the emancipation of women is fully integrated in all eight priority areas of focus for Government. It highlights all our programmes that are integral in all these objectives. These objectives include a commitment to use the second decade of our freedom to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment, as well as to secure the safety and security of our people. Given the progress we have registered so far, we are sure that we shall succeed, and in this way we shall ensure that indeed, "tomorrow shall be better than today."
I thank you.
Issued by: Department Home Affairs
8 March 2006
Source: Department Home Affairs
Title: Mapisa-Nqakula: Debate on International Women's Day, NA
Speech by Honourable N Mapisa-Nqakula, Minister of Home Affairs, on the occasion of introducing the debate to mark International Women's Day, National Assembly, Parliament, Cape Town
Madam speaker,
Honourable cabinet colleagues,
Honourable members,
Veterans of the women struggle
Women of the world
Friends!
Today the world marks International Women's Day and here at home, we should thank parliament and the Ministry of Arts and Culture for allowing us an opportunity to have this debate as part of our national celebrations.
On this day, the South African nation should express solidarity with women all over the world where women and children continue to be affected by poverty, conflict and disease. We call on the world as a whole to give a thought to women and children in Sudan and Palestine, two nations where as peoples of the world, we cannot justify our continued inaction in the face of human suffering resulting from conflict. We hope that the stalemate in Palestine can be resolved, also in the interest of woman in that country.
Having appreciated the power and impact of solidarity for our struggle here at home, the women of our country also express support for the role our government has been playing in brokering peace in major hotspots of conflict both in our continent and elsewhere in the world. We applaud these initiatives because of our understanding that women all over the world yearn for conditions of peace and stability.
The people of our country, therefore, will continue to stand behind our President as he leads this crusade for world peace, including recent initiatives both in the Congo and lately, in accepting the invitation to share our experiences for peace and stability with the people of Iraq.
Madam Speaker,
As democracy and freedom dawned on our country in the previous decade, significant strides were also being made all over the globe to place issues of women's emancipation firmly on the world agenda.
National struggles of women in different countries have culminated into a global united effort to oppose and eradicate the subjugation of women in all spheres of our society. These global efforts have mainly been responsible for the progress made by humanity in the fight against the oppression of women.
The sitting of the United Nations (UN) Conference on women in Beijing in 1995 was an important step in this regard. While it cannot be viewed in isolation from similar engagements previously, the conference done more to heighten the world's attention to the plight of women all over the world, and to develop a tangible programme of action on which the world can measure itself on progress made.
Recently, we have taken note of a further statement by the Security Council bemoaning the lack of commitment by the UN Secretary-General to ensure the representation of women in senior positions within the UN system. This development in the UN system demonstrates an anti-thesis to the UN's commitment to the Beijing Platform of Action, and compels us to join the Security Council in condemning this state of affairs.
It will be important therefore, Honourable Members, that this debate should also serve to conduct a critical assessment of the world that women are living in today, 11 years since that historic conference of the women held in Beijing. I am sure that as we conduct this assessment, we will frankly acknowledge that the world that we live in, despite the progress we have made, is still one that is not safe for majority of women. It is a world where war resulting from greed and graft has had the direst impact on the lives of women. A world where more and more continue to die of hunger and curable diseases. A world where many women live under the yoke of oppression in the name of religious bigotry and at times, veiled under the oligarchy of traditional values and ordinances.
During the year 2003, the African National Congress (ANC) Women's League and many other women organisations around the world sought to engage directly with this systematic oppression of women, by taking up a campaign to oppose the harsh sentence where a woman was to be stoned to death for breaching these religious ordinances in Nigeria. This cruel and inhuman action has been as a result of those who sought to interpret religion in such a way that they can hide behind it in undermining the rights of women.
Two things that the campaign to save Amina Lawal showed to us, was that firstly, the struggle for women emancipation is still going to be a long and tedious one, but also that where humanity stand united, without consideration of race, colour, national borders and creed, freedom can triumph over repression.
The rest of the world, therefore, will have to take up the struggle against women oppression as a struggle that goes right into the heart of saving humanity. Comrade Thabo Mbeki, as one of the ardent activist for this cause, uses the words of another distinguished activist, Olive Schreiner, to remind us of this fact. And I repeat the quote here:
"Many women have now the vote, and are parts of the governing power of their nations all will have it soon. If we need to use our power to its noblest end, we shall have to learn that the freedom of all human creatures is essential to the full development of human life on earth. We shall have to labour not merely for a larger freedom for ourselves, but for every subject race and class, and for all suppressed individuals."
Of course, Madame Speaker, in the case of South Africa and many other societies, we should also be cautious of dealing with the issue of women emancipation in a manner that suggests that women are just a homogeneous entity that is not affected by other social constructs such as class and race.
The struggle for women's emancipation therefore, should be seen as a micro entity in the struggle to transform society as a whole.
The Women's Charter called for equality. It expressed this equality as the single principle that underlines all the other claims in the Charter. In the context of the broad social movement for the transformation of our society, equality could never be fully achieved in narrow procedural terms. Not when there are others who still can not have access to basic conditions conducive for a decent quality of life. The emancipation of women, therefore, should also entail the eradication of inequality within society and indeed inequality amongst women. The two should never be separated.
Honourable Members and Friends,
Fifty years since the great women's march of 1956 and 12 years into our democracy, we need to enquire as to how well we are doing as a nation in this regard. Plainly put, are we still on track?
The past decade has seen great strides by South African society to address this issue of equality both with specific reference to women and within the broader context of our society. The extent, to which we have made progress in this regard, has made it possible for us to boldly declare that, as our country enters the Age of Hope, so are women marching along with the rest of our nation. This age of hope, premised on the firm acknowledgement that ‘today is better than yesterday’, has a meaning for women too.
Despite the strong institutional mechanisms that we have put in place, women have also experienced first hand the benefit of social delivery programmes.
Under the democratic government led by the ANC, women have been direct beneficiaries of our policy regime, which has also ensured greater protection for women. Chief amongst these has been the direct intervention in fighting the scourge of domestic abuse.
Within this context, Madam Speaker, we need to add our voices in condemning the actions of some of the protesters who demonstrating in front of the High Court in Johannesburg at the rape trial of our former Deputy President.
It is despicable in the very least that some of these demonstrators have sought to abuse a complainant who has come out to seek society's protection as an alleged victim of abuse. Without going into the merits of this case, society should be able to give her this support. It is unacceptable that after spending years fighting for the right of all individuals to express themselves freely, we should again be the ones who vilify someone who seeks to exercise this right.
I must reiterate our position that the right of our Deputy President to be regarded innocent until proven guilty should be respected, while at the same we give our support to the woman at the centre of this trial during this difficult time.
We should continue to defend the gains that we made in both the emancipation and the protection of women and as a nation; we have the duty to ensure that such gains are never reversed.
These gains have been as a result of a conscious and deliberate plan informed by the significant importance the democratic government attaches to this matter.
Madam Speaker,
For us in the ANC, there has always been an established link that places the struggle for women's emancipation as an integral part of our objective of building a South African society that is free, democratic, non sexist, and non racial. It is for this reason that together with the rest of the South African society, we join the rest of the women of the world in marking this day.
As we mark this day, we are also launching our programme for the celebration of the 50 years anniversary of the women's march in 1956. We honour the many women heroes who have made a selfless contribution to the attainment of freedom and democracy in our country.
This is also the day when women register an important achievement through the launch of the national Steering Committee for establishment of the national women's movement. The establishment of a national movement will be a culmination of years of consultation by women from all walks of life who have united beyond sectoral differences to put in place a viable vehicle to enhance the struggle for women's emancipation. We should congratulate women on this epoch making achievement.
Honourable members will remember that a few weeks ago, we reemphasised the ANC's commitment to ensure 50 percent women representation of all local government councillors after the March 1 elections. Although the ANC had pushed for this trajectory, it is now said based on the list of all parties, the election results show that just over 39 percent of women shall become councillors in local government.
Maybe it is high time that this House considers taking a bold move to ensure that all of us do not pay lip service to the issue of increasing the role of women in decision making.
As we characterised the world that we live in beyond 1956 and beyond 1995, it is clear that we have a real challenge to further advance the gains that we have made. Most importantly, we need to do this so that those who are still not covered by some of these gains are able to equally enjoy the benefits of the progress we have made together in emancipation of women and the transformation of our country.
Our Programme of Action for the second decade of freedom in the emancipation of women is fully integrated in all eight priority areas of focus for Government. It highlights all our programmes that are integral in all these objectives. These objectives include a commitment to use the second decade of our freedom to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment, as well as to secure the safety and security of our people. Given the progress we have registered so far, we are sure that we shall succeed, and in this way we shall ensure that indeed, "tomorrow shall be better than today."
I thank you.
Issued by: Department Home Affairs
8 March 2006
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