Date: 17/08/2008
Source: Department of Provincial and Local Government
Title: SA: Hangana: Women in Provincial and Local Government Summit Address by Deputy Minister of Provincial and Local Government N Hangana at the Sixth Women in Provincial and Local Government Summit, Rustenburg Civic Centre, North West
Programme Director,
Honourable Premier of the North West, Ms Edna Molewa,
All MECs present here,
Deputy Minister for Arts and Culture, Ms Ntombazana Botha,
Traditional Leaders; South African Local Government Association (SALGA) NEC and PEC Members,
Deputy Vice President of the National Association of Local Authorities in Ghana and member of the United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLGA) Women's Commission, Ms Janet Nyame,
Mayors and councillors from various municipalities of South Africa,
Senior officials from all spheres of government,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen
It is an honour for me to be part of this opening session of the sixth annual Women in Provincial and Local Government Summit.
Before I begin, I would especially like to acknowledge the presence of the Deputy Minister for Arts and Culture, Mama Ntombazana Botha, whose brainchild this summit was when she was still Deputy Minister for Provincial and Local Government.
The theme for this year's Women's Month is: Business Unusual- All Power to Women! Programme Director, this theme tells us that with the power of women unleashed, with women's potential given impetus to flourish, we can be assured of a brighter and a better future for all our citizens. As government, we have laid the necessary enabling environment by way of adopting and ratifying regional and international instruments that seek to eradicate gender inequality and promote the empowerment of women. We have put forth a Constitution that outlaws discrimination on, the basis of gender and we have also developed a variety of policies that give direction on the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment. As we speak, women in the SADC region have been working tirelessly mobilising for the adoption of the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development by the SADC Heads of State when they meet in South Africa this week.
The local government agenda:
Ladies and gentlemen, this summit is very crucial in terms of taking us to the next level of gender transformation. We need to strive to balance the achievement of gender representation with the transformation of the local government environment to be an empowering and an enabling one that accommodates the multiplicity of roles that women play. As providers of basic services, we need to routinely apply a gender lens so that our services remain relevant and empowering to men and women, but in particular to women who always bear the biggest brunt of challenges resulting from service delivery backlog.
Tuesday's commission deliberations should steer us to a common goal. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the goal of speeding up the process of achieving gender equality in provincial and local government and ensuring that women in communities enjoy the fruits of our democracy. We need to find solutions to obstacles that impede efforts towards the realisation of gender equality and women's empowerment.
Women with disabilities:
The Public Service Commission's Gender Mainstreaming Report published in 2007 indicates that the representation of women with disabilities in senior management positions is significantly below what it should be. It is much lower compared to that of men with disabilities. In light of this, questions we need to ask ourselves are: At present, how do we measure across all employment categories? How far do we still need to go and how soon? We have to be reminded of our duty to make our work environment accessible and friendly to women with disabilities for them to fully enjoy being part of local government. The same call goes for service delivery aspects. Noting that the African decade for disabled persons ends next year, we should aspire to mark its end with notable progress as far as achieving the two percent disability employment target and ensuring that the lives of women with disabilities in our communities change for the better. Also important would be to establish and support facilities and programmes helping people with disabilities in our society. If we fail in this task, the burden of caring for disabled members of our society will not cease to disproportionately fall on women.
Violence against women:
Ladies and gentlemen, we recently launched the 2007 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children Campaign Report. I am appealing to you all to continue with the fight against violence against women and children. We need to step up our efforts and institutionalise the campaign by developing 365 days plan of action for "No Violence against Women" in municipalities and spread the word in our communities. We are two months away from the start of the 16 Days campaign period for 2008 and I urge all municipalities to join hands with the community to reach the most deprived areas. It is noteworthy that the 16 Days Secretariat has developed a toolkit that will help municipalities with practical tools for embarking on the campaign. I therefore appeal to you to support and participate in the process when it starts next month.
HIV and AIDS:
The 2008 United Nations Global AIDS Report recently released indicates that there was an estimated 33 million people living with HIV in 2007 globally. Women account for half of all people living with HIV worldwide, and nearly 60 percent of HIV infections in sub-Saharan Africa. Although the infection rates are reported to be stabilising in South Africa, it is estimated that 5,7 million South Africans were living with the epidemic in 2007 making this the largest epidemic in the world. Last week, I read with horror and shock the news that a 37 year old woman, (Nokuzola Mfiki) from Mtambalala Village, Lusikisiki, in the Eastern Cape killed herself and her four children due to the fact that there were rumours about her being infected with the virus. This tragic incident occurred two days before Women's Day and it coincided with the International Conference on HIV and AIDS held in Mexico. This graveheightens the challenge for us to accelerate our efforts in fighting the disease and the stigma that would drive someone to suicide just because they are rumoured to be HIV infected.
Local government has outlined its response to addressing challenges presented by the epidemic in the Local Government HIV and AIDS Policy Framework we launched last year. Likewise action! action! action! and more action! is required to give meaning to it. Let us not let these policies and frameworks gather dust on our shelves; let us put them into action. Local government action will in turn make a contribution towards the achievement of the objectives of the National Strategic Plan for HIV and AIDS.
Tolerance and diversity
We have as a country dealt with the blow relating to attacks against brothers and sisters from other African countries. South African citizens also died during these attacks. We are all well aware of the effects of these on women and children. These attacks, ladies and gentlemen, are actions that pose a threat to the gains we have made in fostering a culture of respect for human rights and diversity. We all need to unite and take a stand that condemns acts of intolerance since there is no excuse for them. It is important that such condemnations should also come from municipalities themselves and not just be restricted to the national and provincial governments.
As we mark the sixth Women in Local Government Summit we are also celebrating the 1956 Women's March. We need to honour many women - heroines - who have made selfless contributions to the attainment of freedom and democracy in our country. These are the contributions of women such as Sophia de Bruyn, Bertha Gxowa, Amina Cachalia and many others I have not mentioned.
It is in these women's spirit that we call on all young women or girl children across the country to emulate the actions of these heroines of our struggles. Their involvement in social endeavours to free our society completely cannot be over emphasised. This must be the defining character of this struggle across the ideological and political divide.
Finally, I wish you a very successful summit and hope that all the resolutions that you will adopt would be followed by action and commitment from all of us in our differing capacities.
I thank you all!
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