Speech by KwaZulu-Natal Premier Sibusiso Ndebele during Pan African Women's Day, Durban

Last week our province launched a series of commemorative programmes geared towards celebrating a significant event in the life of KwaZulu-Natal and the women of our province. It is more than 130 years this year since a group of young women who were part of the Ingcugce Regiment refused to marry the Dloko Regiment in 1876.

The Dloko Regiment was a decommissioned group of Zulu warriors who as per tradition were to be married en masse to Ingcugce, a younger group of women. For the first time in the history of this country the women refused to be married off to men they had not chosen.

They declared: "Ucu Alulingani! The love necklace does not fit our necks". This act for the freedom of choice was not just a blow on behalf of the people of KwaZulu-Natal or of South Africa. This was an act on behalf of the women of Africa, of the women of the entire world for their right to determine their own destiny and to fashion their own futures. For this act of defiance the young women paid the ultimate price, death.

Today's event celebrates the women of Africa on the continent and the Diaspora. We must therefore recall the heroic acts of the women of the Ingcugce Regiment as part of a long tradition which saw women assert their right to be treated as equals.

The struggle for the human rights of women is part of the broader struggle for the liberation of both men and women. The liberation of women cannot be divorced from the freedom of the entire body of human beings.

The struggle against patriarchy is a struggle against the continued justification of the right of men to choose for women their partners. It is a fight for women to choose where they can work, to choose where they can walk at night.

Today's event must reassert the right of women in Umlazi to choose whether they want to wear pants and be free to walk the streets of our townships. It is not acceptable that today a group of self-styled appointed cultural vigilantes are terrorising our women in Umlazi and unleashing violence against them, simply because they are wearing pants.

We are reasserting today the right of the women of Africa to be safe from rape and other forms of violence which continue to be unleashed on them on a daily basis around the world.

According to United Nations violence against women encompasses, a wide range of abuses. These are "physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family and in the general community, battering, sexual abuse of children, dowry-related violence, rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices harmful to women, non-spousal violence and violence related to exploitation, sexual harassment and intimidation at work, in educational institutions and elsewhere, trafficking in women, forced prostitution, and violence perpetrated or condoned by the state."

We are asserting the right of women to be safe from genital mutilation. The African Parliamentary Conference on "Violence against Women" declared in 2005 that an estimated three million women suffer the violence of genital mutilation every year. The United Nations says genital mutilation affects 130 million women around the world.

In commemorating the Ingcugce Regiment we want to remind ourselves that the women of KwaZulu-Natal and the world have not been mere beneficiaries of the strides we have made in the betterment of their condition.

* The women of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa and Africa have for years been making waves and transforming traditions, institutions and movements.
* The liberation of women in South Africa, which is today enshrined in the Constitution, is a long journey in which African women have been leaders and not just beneficiaries.
* Women's collective power must be used to challenge the remnants of gender discrimination in our society.
* We must harness this collective historical wisdom to find solutions to the pressing challenges of our time such as teenage pregnancies, HIV and AIDS, contact and property crime such as rape, cell-phone theft, etc.
* As the government of KwaZulu-Natal we want to place women at the centre of our development programmes. This is because we are certain that, if we did this, we would quicken our success in dealing with Poverty and Unemployment.

Women in government

1. National

Addressing a Women's Empowerment gathering in Durban not too long ago our Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said:

* South Africa prides itself with having a Cabinet consisting of 43% women representation. Four of the nine provinces are led by women Premiers.
* Our parliament has more than 30% women representation. This is also being translated to local government level as well where women representation stands at 40%.
* South Africa is rated number 10 out of the 130 parliaments in the world in terms of women's advancement in governance.

2. Province of KwaZulu-Natal

The contribution of women inspires us to continue with our commitment to the goal of a better life for the women of this country and our people as a whole. In this regard, as government, since 2004 we have taken deliberate steps to place more and more women in positions of effective power.

When we were mandated by the electorate of KwaZulu-Natal to lead the provincial government, circumstances were such that we only had one woman in the Executive Council.

* Today we are happy to say we have four women out of a total of ten MECs that is close to 50% of our cabinet.
* Out of 14 provincial departments, half of them (seven) are headed by women.
* Out of a provincial budget of R49,9 billion these women are managing 59% of the budget which translates to R29,6 billion.

Women in business

On the side of business, the following statistics are relevant:
* Small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) constitute about 95% of all enterprises in the country.
* SMMEs currently absorb between 50% and 60% of the formally employed labour force and at present, contribute 30% to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
* Women comprise 83% of the informal economy, of which 61% are African women.

One of the lessons we learn from this is that women represent a growth area as business people and leaders in the community and various sectors of our lives. This, therefore, means we need to double our efforts at providing for the advancement of our womenfolk, going forward.

Mkabayi ka Jama

In addition to commemorating Izintombi zeNgcugce, we will also, over the coming month, celebrate some of Africa's heroic women or women who exercised immense political power. This we will do by paying tribute to the life of our own Princess Mkabayi ka Jama, sister to King Senzangakhona, who was Shaka's father.

For decades Princess Mkabayi was the power behind the throne during the reign of successive Zulu Kings including King Shaka. Today she is buried in Vryheid at Kwa Sgwegwede here in KwaZulu-Natal.

In doing this we will also pay tribute to the well-trained army of women in the West African kingdom of Benin/Dahomey which was reported to be vastly superior to that of men. Soldiers in this army continued to undermine and sabotage the new French colonisers even after Dahomey's official defeat at the end of the 19th century.

Mkabayi also ranks alongside Yaa Asantewa, the Asante Queen Mother, who galvanised the Asante of Ghana by leading a revolt against the British in the 1900s. In recognition of Mkabayi's singular importance the government of KwaZulu-Natal is looking at establishing a Heritage site around the life and death of this remarkable individual.

* As part of this festival today we are commemorating the Pan-African Women's Day.
* On 9 August we will commemorate national Women's Day at the Mkabayi kaJama Homestead.
* During the month of September we will commemorate the Heritage of KwaZulu-Natal and on 15 October we will host International Rural Women's Day.

We hope that the above events will put under the spotlight the challenges, violence, poverty and unemployment. We will also focus on the girl child whom we believe will help us deal with some of the challenges we face such as teenage pregnancies, HIV and AIDS, etc.

We will also focus on encouraging a buy-in from men and boys to rid KwaZulu-Natal of all these challenges we face today. As girls and boys, men and women, of Africa and KwaZulu-Natal we will emerge victorious and together we will build a better province, country and continent.

Masisukume Sakhe!

Let us arise and build a better future for all.

Thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
31 July 2007