Date: 12/05/2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: E Molewa: South African Women Entrepreneurs' Network gala dinner
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY NORTH WEST PREMIER, MS EDNA MOLEWA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE SAWEN GALA DINNER ORGANISED IN HER HONOUR, 12 May 2004
Programme Director
The Chairperson of SAWEN North West, Dr Fidelia Maforah
Representatives from various business
organisations of women
Honoured Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am truly humbled by the honour bestowed on me this evening by the South African Women Entrepreneurs' Network (SAWEN) in the North West Province.
I also accept with all humility my appointment as the Patron of this glorious organisation of women in business, SAWEN.
As I accept this honour, I do so satisfied that as a country and as a province we have made massive strides in our endeavour to promote gender equality and women empowerment.
Indeed over the past ten years, a lot of work has gone towards putting in place a progressive legislative and policy framework aimed at promoting gender equality and women empowerment.
This we did in order to give practical meaning to the pledge we made during our struggle for liberation that; we will not consider our mission complete and our liberation achieved, if the women of our country are not freed from all forms of oppression.
As a result of our work in the past ten years, we are today able to say boldly that; we have succeed in bringing dignity to many women of our country.
Equally, we are able to say that; we have laid a firm basis upon which we can begin the process of changing the lives of women for the better.
Today, more women that ever before have access to opportunities to improve their lives as many of the barriers that prevented them from reaching their dreams have been brought down.
We continue to create opportunities for women to acquire skills, to manage businesses and generally to become active participants in the ongoing effort to reconstruct and develop our country.
We are proud of the progress we have made thus far to affirm women particularly in government and in parastatals.
In particular, we draw great courage from the fact that women occupy over 24% of senior positions in the provincial government. Although there is still a lot of work to be done in this regard, we are convinced that we are on course towards reaching the 30% target we had set for ourselves.
Equally impressive is that the most senior civil servant in our province, the Director General, is a woman.
We also count among our many successes the fact that we have dramatically increased the representation particularly of black women in the employment profile of our provincial government.
We continue to support women's access to economic resources and business opportunities. This we are doing in partnership with organisations such as SAWEN and through strategic initiatives such as Khula Enterprises and Ntsika.
Through these and many other initiatives we continue to make it possible for women to have access to technical skills, start-up finance and markets in order to facilitate their participation in all sectors of the economy.
This includes those sectors that were previously the exclusive domain of men, sectors such as mining, commercial agriculture and construction.
The resounding success of women empowerment projects such as the Depudi Project in Kgalagadi and the Mamepe Honey Production project bear testimony to the impressive progress we are making in bring women into the economic mainstream.
Furthermore as government, we are seized in the task of ensuring women's equitable access to government contracts. In this regard, businesses owned by women received over R28 million out of a total of R448 million worth of government contracts in the financial year ending March 2002.
It is our intention to significantly increase the number and value of government contracts awarded to businesses owned by women.
This we will do as part of our effort to ensure that the empowerment of women is at the centre our initiative to promote broad based black economic empowerment.
As we make these advances in our endeavour to promote women empowerment, organisations like SAWEN have an important role to play in ensuring that our initiatives are not only sustainable, but also have the desired impact on the quality of life of the women of our country.
In addition, organisations such as SAWEN have a responsibility to be part of efforts aimed at encouraging the private sector to embrace the noble objective of women empowerment.
It is also the responsibility of organisations such as SAWEN to encourage and support initiatives by the private sector to, among others, appoint women into senior positions and to mentor and form partnerships with women in business.
It is only when all of us, as various stakeholders, act together that we can be able to score new victories in the ongoing effort to advance the cause of women empowerment.
Acting together, we have made decisive advances over the past ten years, we have laid a solid foundation and indeed our goal of building a truly non-sexist South Africa is now firmly within reach.
On this important day, we must pay tribute to all those in our country and province who continue to occupy the front trenches in the struggle against gender inequality and women oppression.
Equally, we must make a solemn pledge that: as we enter the second decade of freedom, we will accelerate the offensive on gender inequality. Building on the solid foundation laid by those who came before us, in particular the out gone Premier Dr Popo Molefe, we must recommit our selves that we will not tire nor give in until we have achieved complete gender equality and women empowerment.
Guided by our Provincial Integrated Gender Strategy we will continue to affirm women in the public sector and ensure that they take part in the reconstruction and development of our country, an issue they are passionate about.
We also need to move swiftly towards the implementation of our learnerships programme, which should also benefit the women of our province.
Given the importance and the impact that the learnerships programme can have on the objective of empowering our people and creating jobs, it is important for us to have detailed information, both qualitatively and quantitatively, about how this programme is unfolding in our province.
There is also a need for us to strengthen our procurement policies, to bring them in line with our objective of increasing the participation of women in the economic mainstream.
On this important day we wish to make a clarion call to all stakeholders in our province to work together towards the promotion of women empowerment.
As government we are looking forward to forming lasting partnerships with organisations of women in business such as SAWEN in order to advance the cause of women empowerment.
We wish to make the point that acting alone none of us can do all the things required for the attainment of effective gender equality and women empowerment.
We must summon our collective strength and wisdom as we confront the challenge of building a better life for all, including the women of our country and province.
Once more, thank you for honouring me in the way that you have. I am deeply humbled.
I thank you!
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
12 May 2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: E Molewa: South African Women Entrepreneurs' Network gala dinner
ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY NORTH WEST PREMIER, MS EDNA MOLEWA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE SAWEN GALA DINNER ORGANISED IN HER HONOUR, 12 May 2004
Programme Director
The Chairperson of SAWEN North West, Dr Fidelia Maforah
Representatives from various business
organisations of women
Honoured Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am truly humbled by the honour bestowed on me this evening by the South African Women Entrepreneurs' Network (SAWEN) in the North West Province.
I also accept with all humility my appointment as the Patron of this glorious organisation of women in business, SAWEN.
As I accept this honour, I do so satisfied that as a country and as a province we have made massive strides in our endeavour to promote gender equality and women empowerment.
Indeed over the past ten years, a lot of work has gone towards putting in place a progressive legislative and policy framework aimed at promoting gender equality and women empowerment.
This we did in order to give practical meaning to the pledge we made during our struggle for liberation that; we will not consider our mission complete and our liberation achieved, if the women of our country are not freed from all forms of oppression.
As a result of our work in the past ten years, we are today able to say boldly that; we have succeed in bringing dignity to many women of our country.
Equally, we are able to say that; we have laid a firm basis upon which we can begin the process of changing the lives of women for the better.
Today, more women that ever before have access to opportunities to improve their lives as many of the barriers that prevented them from reaching their dreams have been brought down.
We continue to create opportunities for women to acquire skills, to manage businesses and generally to become active participants in the ongoing effort to reconstruct and develop our country.
We are proud of the progress we have made thus far to affirm women particularly in government and in parastatals.
In particular, we draw great courage from the fact that women occupy over 24% of senior positions in the provincial government. Although there is still a lot of work to be done in this regard, we are convinced that we are on course towards reaching the 30% target we had set for ourselves.
Equally impressive is that the most senior civil servant in our province, the Director General, is a woman.
We also count among our many successes the fact that we have dramatically increased the representation particularly of black women in the employment profile of our provincial government.
We continue to support women's access to economic resources and business opportunities. This we are doing in partnership with organisations such as SAWEN and through strategic initiatives such as Khula Enterprises and Ntsika.
Through these and many other initiatives we continue to make it possible for women to have access to technical skills, start-up finance and markets in order to facilitate their participation in all sectors of the economy.
This includes those sectors that were previously the exclusive domain of men, sectors such as mining, commercial agriculture and construction.
The resounding success of women empowerment projects such as the Depudi Project in Kgalagadi and the Mamepe Honey Production project bear testimony to the impressive progress we are making in bring women into the economic mainstream.
Furthermore as government, we are seized in the task of ensuring women's equitable access to government contracts. In this regard, businesses owned by women received over R28 million out of a total of R448 million worth of government contracts in the financial year ending March 2002.
It is our intention to significantly increase the number and value of government contracts awarded to businesses owned by women.
This we will do as part of our effort to ensure that the empowerment of women is at the centre our initiative to promote broad based black economic empowerment.
As we make these advances in our endeavour to promote women empowerment, organisations like SAWEN have an important role to play in ensuring that our initiatives are not only sustainable, but also have the desired impact on the quality of life of the women of our country.
In addition, organisations such as SAWEN have a responsibility to be part of efforts aimed at encouraging the private sector to embrace the noble objective of women empowerment.
It is also the responsibility of organisations such as SAWEN to encourage and support initiatives by the private sector to, among others, appoint women into senior positions and to mentor and form partnerships with women in business.
It is only when all of us, as various stakeholders, act together that we can be able to score new victories in the ongoing effort to advance the cause of women empowerment.
Acting together, we have made decisive advances over the past ten years, we have laid a solid foundation and indeed our goal of building a truly non-sexist South Africa is now firmly within reach.
On this important day, we must pay tribute to all those in our country and province who continue to occupy the front trenches in the struggle against gender inequality and women oppression.
Equally, we must make a solemn pledge that: as we enter the second decade of freedom, we will accelerate the offensive on gender inequality. Building on the solid foundation laid by those who came before us, in particular the out gone Premier Dr Popo Molefe, we must recommit our selves that we will not tire nor give in until we have achieved complete gender equality and women empowerment.
Guided by our Provincial Integrated Gender Strategy we will continue to affirm women in the public sector and ensure that they take part in the reconstruction and development of our country, an issue they are passionate about.
We also need to move swiftly towards the implementation of our learnerships programme, which should also benefit the women of our province.
Given the importance and the impact that the learnerships programme can have on the objective of empowering our people and creating jobs, it is important for us to have detailed information, both qualitatively and quantitatively, about how this programme is unfolding in our province.
There is also a need for us to strengthen our procurement policies, to bring them in line with our objective of increasing the participation of women in the economic mainstream.
On this important day we wish to make a clarion call to all stakeholders in our province to work together towards the promotion of women empowerment.
As government we are looking forward to forming lasting partnerships with organisations of women in business such as SAWEN in order to advance the cause of women empowerment.
We wish to make the point that acting alone none of us can do all the things required for the attainment of effective gender equality and women empowerment.
We must summon our collective strength and wisdom as we confront the challenge of building a better life for all, including the women of our country and province.
Once more, thank you for honouring me in the way that you have. I am deeply humbled.
I thank you!
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
12 May 2004
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