Date: 09/08/2003
Source: Ministry of Communications
Title: Matsepe-Casaburri: SA Women at WSIS Forum
THE SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, DR IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI, ON THE OCCASION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN AT WSIS FORUM, Caesars, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 9 August 2003
The Chairperson
Leaders of women's organisations
Heads of portfolio organisations
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is an honour for me to address you on this important day in the calendar of our country, 9 August, Women's Day. It was on this day, 47 years ago, that South African women in their thousands rocked the foundations of apartheid by heroically staging a march on Union Buildings to protest against the imposition of pass laws on them.
This historic march, which has since found a place in our national calendar, marked a milestone in the role played by South African women in the struggle, for political and social emancipation. It was by no accident that in all the frontiers of our liberation struggle, be it underground, arm struggle, international mobilisation, mass mobilisation, that women were found in the trenches alongside their male comrades and patriots.
It is this struggle for emancipation that produced outstanding revolutionaries of the calibre of Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Dorothy Nyembe, Ray Alexander and Albertina Sisulu, to mention but a few.
Our country is a living example of the recognition and respect for women's rights as evidenced by the role they play in all spheres of government and state owned enterprises. On this score there are a few democracies in the world that can claim to be ahead of us despite many decades if not centuries of having attained constitutional democracies.
As we march towards the 10th Anniversary of Freedom guided by our national theme that "the tide has turned" we should pause and make a frank and sober assessment of the progress we have made to advance the cause of women's emancipation.
The dawning of democracy in 1994 created conditions for advancing our rights through the abolition of oppressive pieces of legislation of the apartheid regime and the introduction of new policies aimed at addressing our oppression.
The supreme law of our country, the Constitution dealt a death-knell not only to oppression under general but specifically to women's political and social enslavement. Other pieces of legislation, which empowered us as women, include the Domestic Violence Act, the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, Maintenance Act and Employment Equity Act. Despite these giant strides the challenges we are confronting today are still immense, such are challenges like:
* Violence against women
* HIV/AIDS
* Poverty
* Unemployment
* Illiteracy
* Dearth of skills
* Inequities in the workplace
* Weak organisation
Today we are living in a world where physical borders mean less and less because of development and utilisation of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). This phenomenon has facilitated the globalisation process, cutting across barriers of nationalities, cultures, religion and philosophical outlooks, etc.
The world is no longer divided between developed and under-developed based on economic indicators, but has since been split into the ICTs haves and have-nots. This information and knowledge divide has permeated the social fabric of our societies as we find women at the bottom rung of the digital divide.
The convening of this Forum came at the most appropriate moment in our history to allow us to address the challenges we are facing as women in society.
As we celebrate Women's Day, we are also preparing a South African contribution to the oncoming World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) due to be held in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003. Secondly, we have started a discussion process leading to the adoption of South African Women Charter on Information Society.
Our preparation for this international event requires of all of us to ensure that the outcome of the Summit should be truly reflective and representative of all the people of the world.
Critical elements that should be jealously guarded are:
* Language
* Culture
* Diversity of ideas, and
* Indigenous knowledge
The issues of language and culture are critical in ensuring that people retain their national identities and perpetuate their social development. The diversity of ideas is also critical to enrich human knowledge and intellectual growth to take humanity to high levels of development. Closely related to all these elements is the recognition and development of indigenous knowledge.
Any attempt to isolate these from the agenda of WSIS would perpetuate the marginalisation of other people especially those in the developing and under-developed world - the ICT have-nots.
The development of the Women's Charter on Information Society of which the draft has been produced by this gathering of South African women, represents a qualitative move towards bridging the digital and information divide. The vision and principles enshrined in the Charter will go a long way in inspiring millions of our people to shape the building of the emerging Information Society.
The Preamble of the Charter aptly captures the centrality of ICTs in human development by recognising:
* the value of using ICT experience to enhance lives in all aspects of social, economical and political spheres;
* ICTs as a powerful tool for social transformation and gender equality and reduction of poverty;
* that there is great potential for social and economic development in the rural areas in ICTs.
As you will know South African Youth have developed their own draft Charter in June this year and with the emergence of our draft Charter we can confidently say we are indeed making progress towards shaping the Global Charter on Information Society to be adopted in the second phase of WSIS to be held in Africa, Tunisia in 2005. "The tide has turned"! These two Charters would constitute some of the key inputs when we convene the meeting to develop South Africa's position on Information Society for the first phase of WSIS.
It is therefore of cardinal importance that the document should be widely canvassed and fine-tuned before it is adopted next year in preparation for the WSIS of 2005.
It is not only through the Charter that we can make an indelible mark on the global agenda of Information Society but also through active participation in engaging the WSIS process. Failure to do this will consciously or unconsciously, make us champions of other peoples' causes and agendas.
I therefore want to take this opportunity to call upon SA women to engage the WSIS process by physical participation or through online discussions and inputs. In doing this we should not lose focus that the building of an Information Society is not a sectoral issue but a matter for all our people regardless of race, gender and political affiliation.
In the true tradition and spirit of the heroines of the 9 August 1956 march against the shackles of oppression, let's work together to recommit ourselves to the noble ideals of a non-racial and non-sexist society not only here at home but throughout the entire African continent.
Malibongwe igama la makhosikazi!
Issued by Ministry of Communications
9 August 2003
Source: Ministry of Communications
Title: Matsepe-Casaburri: SA Women at WSIS Forum
THE SPEECH BY THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, DR IVY MATSEPE-CASABURRI, ON THE OCCASION OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN AT WSIS FORUM, Caesars, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 9 August 2003
The Chairperson
Leaders of women's organisations
Heads of portfolio organisations
Ladies and Gentlemen
It is an honour for me to address you on this important day in the calendar of our country, 9 August, Women's Day. It was on this day, 47 years ago, that South African women in their thousands rocked the foundations of apartheid by heroically staging a march on Union Buildings to protest against the imposition of pass laws on them.
This historic march, which has since found a place in our national calendar, marked a milestone in the role played by South African women in the struggle, for political and social emancipation. It was by no accident that in all the frontiers of our liberation struggle, be it underground, arm struggle, international mobilisation, mass mobilisation, that women were found in the trenches alongside their male comrades and patriots.
It is this struggle for emancipation that produced outstanding revolutionaries of the calibre of Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Dorothy Nyembe, Ray Alexander and Albertina Sisulu, to mention but a few.
Our country is a living example of the recognition and respect for women's rights as evidenced by the role they play in all spheres of government and state owned enterprises. On this score there are a few democracies in the world that can claim to be ahead of us despite many decades if not centuries of having attained constitutional democracies.
As we march towards the 10th Anniversary of Freedom guided by our national theme that "the tide has turned" we should pause and make a frank and sober assessment of the progress we have made to advance the cause of women's emancipation.
The dawning of democracy in 1994 created conditions for advancing our rights through the abolition of oppressive pieces of legislation of the apartheid regime and the introduction of new policies aimed at addressing our oppression.
The supreme law of our country, the Constitution dealt a death-knell not only to oppression under general but specifically to women's political and social enslavement. Other pieces of legislation, which empowered us as women, include the Domestic Violence Act, the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, Maintenance Act and Employment Equity Act. Despite these giant strides the challenges we are confronting today are still immense, such are challenges like:
* Violence against women
* HIV/AIDS
* Poverty
* Unemployment
* Illiteracy
* Dearth of skills
* Inequities in the workplace
* Weak organisation
Today we are living in a world where physical borders mean less and less because of development and utilisation of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). This phenomenon has facilitated the globalisation process, cutting across barriers of nationalities, cultures, religion and philosophical outlooks, etc.
The world is no longer divided between developed and under-developed based on economic indicators, but has since been split into the ICTs haves and have-nots. This information and knowledge divide has permeated the social fabric of our societies as we find women at the bottom rung of the digital divide.
The convening of this Forum came at the most appropriate moment in our history to allow us to address the challenges we are facing as women in society.
As we celebrate Women's Day, we are also preparing a South African contribution to the oncoming World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) due to be held in Geneva from 10 to 12 December 2003. Secondly, we have started a discussion process leading to the adoption of South African Women Charter on Information Society.
Our preparation for this international event requires of all of us to ensure that the outcome of the Summit should be truly reflective and representative of all the people of the world.
Critical elements that should be jealously guarded are:
* Language
* Culture
* Diversity of ideas, and
* Indigenous knowledge
The issues of language and culture are critical in ensuring that people retain their national identities and perpetuate their social development. The diversity of ideas is also critical to enrich human knowledge and intellectual growth to take humanity to high levels of development. Closely related to all these elements is the recognition and development of indigenous knowledge.
Any attempt to isolate these from the agenda of WSIS would perpetuate the marginalisation of other people especially those in the developing and under-developed world - the ICT have-nots.
The development of the Women's Charter on Information Society of which the draft has been produced by this gathering of South African women, represents a qualitative move towards bridging the digital and information divide. The vision and principles enshrined in the Charter will go a long way in inspiring millions of our people to shape the building of the emerging Information Society.
The Preamble of the Charter aptly captures the centrality of ICTs in human development by recognising:
* the value of using ICT experience to enhance lives in all aspects of social, economical and political spheres;
* ICTs as a powerful tool for social transformation and gender equality and reduction of poverty;
* that there is great potential for social and economic development in the rural areas in ICTs.
As you will know South African Youth have developed their own draft Charter in June this year and with the emergence of our draft Charter we can confidently say we are indeed making progress towards shaping the Global Charter on Information Society to be adopted in the second phase of WSIS to be held in Africa, Tunisia in 2005. "The tide has turned"! These two Charters would constitute some of the key inputs when we convene the meeting to develop South Africa's position on Information Society for the first phase of WSIS.
It is therefore of cardinal importance that the document should be widely canvassed and fine-tuned before it is adopted next year in preparation for the WSIS of 2005.
It is not only through the Charter that we can make an indelible mark on the global agenda of Information Society but also through active participation in engaging the WSIS process. Failure to do this will consciously or unconsciously, make us champions of other peoples' causes and agendas.
I therefore want to take this opportunity to call upon SA women to engage the WSIS process by physical participation or through online discussions and inputs. In doing this we should not lose focus that the building of an Information Society is not a sectoral issue but a matter for all our people regardless of race, gender and political affiliation.
In the true tradition and spirit of the heroines of the 9 August 1956 march against the shackles of oppression, let's work together to recommit ourselves to the noble ideals of a non-racial and non-sexist society not only here at home but throughout the entire African continent.
Malibongwe igama la makhosikazi!
Issued by Ministry of Communications
9 August 2003
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