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Date : 09/08/2005
Source: SAPA
Title: Shilowa: National Women's Day celebrations


Address by Premier Mbhazima Shilowa at the celebration of National Women's Day

We are gathered here at the Union Buildings in Tshwane to celebrate National Woman's Day under the theme: Women united to advance the vision of the Freedom Charter. It was on this day in 1956 that 20 000 brave and determined women from all across South Africa and from all walks of life marched here to take a stand against apartheid and the oppression of women. Some came in trains and buses while others walked long distances, demonstrating their unity and determination to take a stand against the pass laws and other racist laws.

They shattered the myth that a women's place is in the kitchen. They instead showed that no amount of brutality and oppression could stop the women of South Africa in building a better future for themselves and their communities.

Forty-nine years later the day remains an important one in the lives of all South Africans, men and women alike. We should use it to pay tribute to the women of our country for their role in the struggle for freedom and democracy.

Today we remember the determination, commitment, hard work and sacrifices of our people and in particular honour the women stalwarts such as Charlotte Maxeke, Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Albertina Sisulu, Dorothy Nyembe, Amina Cachalia, Ray Alexander, Sophie Williams, Francis Baard, Bertha Gxowa and Ruth First, to name but a few.

These are the women who together with many others walked the length and breath of our contrary collecting the demands that later became part of the Freedom Charter whose 50th anniversary we are celebrating this year.

They boldly declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government could justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.

They unequivocally asserted the principle of equal rights for women and women. They called for equal pay for equal work of equal value. Defiantly they declared that these freedoms we will fight for, side by side throughout our lives, until we have won our liberty.

Eleven years into our democracy, we are still inspired by this generation. It is up to the women of today, together with men, to seize the opportunities created by the country's first decade of democracy, and in entering the second decade to further ensure that South Africa indeed truly belongs to all who live in it.

Like the women of yesteryear who marched to the Union Buildings, each successive generation, women and men alike, must strive to build on the gains of the previous generation and achieve anew. The flame of equality and respect for the rights of women must be kept alive.

Today we can celebrate the fact that democracy has brought tremendous improvements in the lives of women. Women are better represented in legislatures and in government, business and in civil society bodies in general and have better access to education, housing, social services and employment opportunities.

As we said at the Women's Dialogue on International Women's Day earlier this year, quoting the United Nations, "no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation and full empowerment of the world's women".

However, while or democratic constitution guarantees the equality of women, we still have more work to do before we can say that this has become a living reality for women in all spheres of life. We have more work to do to ensure that we realise the vision of the Freedom Charter so that we can say that, indeed, South Africa truly belongs to all who live in, including women.

Our judgement of our own progress as a people and a nation must include an evaluation of the extent to which the women of our country, young and old, have shelter over their heads, adequate food to feed themselves and their families and access to health care, decent education, clean water and electricity. We must ask ourselves whether, as a concrete expression of equal rights for women, are women, particularly black women, adequately represented in the decision-making structures of democratic governance, do women have equal access to the commanding heights of the economy, in the workplace and in civil society structures? Is the position of women improving within the home, within the family and in the community?

Within the Gauteng Provincial Government, we have gone a long way to improve the representation of women in decision making and management. Out of ten MECs, five are women, while five out of eleven Head of Departments are women.

At a senior management level, 29% are women as at December 2004. We have set ourselves a target of 50% of women in senior management by the end of our current term of office in 2009.

The same can however not be said for women. There are still too few mayors, members of the mayoral committees and city managers who are women, a fact borne out by the 2004 South African Local Government Association (SALGA) Local Government Gender Audit.

One of our important achievements as a province has been the active participation of women across the province in the Gauteng Women's Dialogues. Women came together under the banner of the Women's Dialogues for the first time in 2003, to involve women in policy and decision making. They emerged with a programme of action to improve the lives of women to be implemented by various stakeholders, including government, business and civil society structures. In August last year, we held six regional dialogues in the three local government metros and districts in the province. Over 1500 women from local communities got together and spoke about their vision of Gauteng economically, politically and socially.

The second Gauteng Women's Dialogue on International Women's Day this year took the process further, evaluating progress made in implementing the previous programme of action and in identifying further actions to empower women in the province.

The 400 delegates held intensive discussions on the successes and challenges that emerged in implementing the provincial and local programmes of action, to find practical ways to address these challenges and to identify what further steps need to be taken to further advance the position of women in Gauteng.

The women delegates identified a range of women's priorities in line with the pillars of our five year programme of action, which are to:

* Stimulate faster economic growth and drastically reduce unemployment
* Fight poverty and build secure and sustainable communities
* Develop healthy, appropriately skilled and productive people
* Deepen democracy and national building and realise the constitutional rights of people and * Build an effective and caring government.

The provincial government is committed to work together with women organisations, the private sector and civil society to implement the recommendations of the dialogue.

One of the key sources of black women's lack of empowerment is their lack of access to and participation in economic activity.

Our growth and development strategy which we released earlier this year will serve to boost our economic growth rate and create more jobs. We are keen to ensure that this also benefits women.

We are committed to improve the economic empowerment of women, particularly black women, through improving their access to and participation in economic activity.

The Gauteng Enterprise Propeller (GEP), which we set up earlier this year to promote small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs), has been launched and will play a key role in giving financial and non-financial support to women in small business and potential women small business entrepreneurs. Women are also being targeted for special support through the Gauteng Tourism Authority (GTA) which provides support to small and micro enterprises in tourism.

In terms of our broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) strategy, by 2009, 60 to 70% of all Gauteng government procurement will be done through BBBEE companies. Companies owned and controlled by women, particularly black women should receive preference in the awarding of contracts. This includes tenders for goods and services required by schools, clinics and hospitals at a local level. The provincial government is currently in the process of identifying women-owned companies to add to its database of potential service providers.

Research has been conducted to identify financial institutions which can assist emerging BEEs, particularly women-owned companies. Tender advice centres, in partnership with the GEP, will provide training for women on how to tender for government contracts. Regular information sessions on procurement processes are taking place. In this regard, further work will be undertaken to address the challenges facing women in business.

Special efforts are being implemented to give women access to business opportunities in the transport sector, particularly in the bus and taxis industries. This includes the training of women drivers and preferential access to contracts.

The annual Female Farmer of the Year Awards is a reflection of efforts to give women greater access to economic opportunities in agriculture. Among the aims is support for and promotion of women involved in small-scale farming to better access markets for their products.

The Expanded Public Works Programme seeks to empower women in the construction industry and provide them with technical skills and knowledge. In the construction sector, women are trained to successfully manage their own construction businesses. Companies that are wholly owned by women are targeted.

One of the greatest obstacles to the full realisation of women's rights remains the continued abuse of women and children, which shatters the lives of many women, young and old. This distorts our socio-economic achievements, penalises our successes and crushes our spirits. But we are starting to mobilise against this scourge. We are breaking the silence of abuse in which crimes against women are hidden and therefore perpetuated. Contempt for violence against women has spread across all sectors of society. There is a growing recognition of the need for strong partnerships between government, community organisation, faith-based organisations, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and men themselves in both preventing abuse of women and in caring for survivors.

We will defeat this scourge against women because we, as South Africans have the capacity now, as we have in the past, to do whatever needs to be done to solve the problems that we continue to face.

Together with the South African Police Services we will double our efforts to find the perpetrators of heinous crimes against women. We call on those with information on the rapists and killers of the Mbele children in Soweto to come forward so that we can close this said chapter for the family. We call on those who are sheltering Mr Nkuna who is wanted in connection with the disappearance of Constable Rasuge to hand him over. If he is indeed innocent, what is he trying to hide? Why is he on the run? To him we should say, you can run but you can't hide for ever. We will hunt you. We will find you. We will prosecute you and if found guilty we will send you to jail for a very long time. The choice is yours.

The provincial government has a variety of programs aimed at preventing violence against women. In addition to Victim Empowerment Centres across the province, we have set up the iKhaya Lethemba centre, which is a one-stop centre for victims of domestic violence and abuse.

It provides services to victims that include access to the criminal justice system, medico-legal support, and counselling. It is also a temporary shelter for women who need residential services overnight.

Its aim is to prevent the secondary victimisation of women and secure successful convictions in court.

Due to the critical role of women, our health services are biased towards women. Women are targeted because of their role in the family as caregivers of children and in ensuring the well-being of their families. Health programmes are aimed at the promotion of healthy lifestyles and prevention of diseases. A particular focus is given to pregnant women before delivery, during delivery and after delivery, with an emphasis on reducing maternal deaths.

Other interventions include the early detection of cancer programme. Screening for cervical cancer for women aged 30 to 60 is provided. Four units at Chris Hani-Baragwanath, Helen Joseph, Ga-Rankuwa and Pretoria Academic hospitals have mammograms to locate breast cancer and remove lumps.

There is also support to rape survivors. The teams include a doctor, nurse, psychologist, social worker and a police officer, to assist the victim with support and to collect the necessary evidence for convictions. Survivors are offered post exposure prophylactics to help prevent them from contracting HIV.

Women are offered contraception and are educated on sexual illnesses and health centres offer women the option of terminating a pregnancy as well as counselling.

Progress made in implementing the comprehensive program against HIV and AIDS continues to make a difference in the lives of women, including through the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV and AIDS, the rollout of anti-retrovirals and the distribution of female condoms.

Attention is being paid to the empowerment of girls at school, including, the Dinaledi programme to encourage girls to do subjects such as maths, science and technology that were previously seen as the sole preserve of boys. The initiative to put computers in schools will also help improve the skills of young women and improve their prospects in getting further education and in accessing economic opportunities.

Women educators are targeted through the Bofenyi programme, which aims to give them skills in leadership and governance.

The Born to Read project encourages young mothers to see the benefits of literacy from an early age, while there are a range of programmes which seek to increase women's participation in and performance in sport and recognise their achievements.

Social development and poverty alleviation

The homestead food gardens programme is aimed at alleviating poverty and helping the poorest and most vulnerable women to put food on the table. Emphasis is placed on assisting families affected by HIV and AIDS as well as child-headed households. The food security programme provides infrastructure and training to groups of people who are unemployed and indigent and have access to land.

To assist widows in needs, a Gauteng Widow's Forum has been established to provide counselling services for widows. Widows are assisted through legal advice centres and given advice on issues such as the status of their marriage and inheritance.

A school uniform manufacturing cooperative has been set up to assist women to make an income through establishing cooperatives to sew school uniforms as part of the provincial government's Bana Pele programme.

Bana Pele, which provides a package of free services to the poorest children in Gauteng, has provided welcome relief to women who are the ones who have to struggle to make ends meet. One of the Bana Pele services is to provide free school uniforms to Grade 1 children in the poorest schools.

In addition to programmes targeted specifically at women, which I have mentioned, a range of other programmes and services are making a difference in the lives of women. This includes the provision of social and economic infrastructure, the upgrading of informal settlements and provision of housing, improved policing and the development of an integrated, affordable and accessible public transport system.

As we unite to advance the vision of the Freedom Charter in the context of celebrating gains made by women in the past eleven years of democracy, we also rededicate ourselves to work together in a people's contract to build a better future for all.

Since the dawn of South Africa's democracy in 1994 government has created an environment conducive for women to take a leading role in the struggle for a better quality of life.

Government is working hard with police and communities to stamp out any abuse or violence against women and children at work, at school, in communities and at home. Victim support centres have been set up throughout the province. Women and young girls can now turn to the authorities to stop domestic violence and child abuse.

We call on women, young and old, to work together with government in a people's contract to create work and fight poverty.

Igama Lamakhosikazi Malibongwe!

Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
9 August 2005
Source: SAPA
   

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