Programme Director: MEC Lebogang Maile,
Tshwane Executive Mayor Kgosientso Ramokgopa
Honourable Members of the Executive Council,
Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature
Esteemed Traditional Leaders
Honourable Mayors and Councillors
Representatives of different women organisations,
Women of Gauteng,
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a great privilege for me to be addressing you all on this auspicious day, fifty-five years after the women of this country, both black and white, did the unthinkable of marching to the seat of government. Today, we marvel at the fact that fifty-five years ago on this day, more than twenty thousand (20 000) women from all corners of South Africa marched to the citadel of power, the Union Buildings in Pretoria, against racial segregation and the discriminatory pass laws.
Led by Lillian Ngoyi, Sophie Williams-de Bruyn, Amina Cachalia, Rahima Moosa, Helen Joseph and others, these women took the struggle for freedom and democracy to a higher level.
This commemorative gathering follows hot on the heels of the passing away of one of the heroine of our struggle Mama Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu, a great leader in her own right and the Mother of the Nation. We dedicate this gathering to her memory and to that of many other great women leaders that our struggle has produced. Especially, those women who, against all odds were prepared to sacrifice their all to confront the regime of Strydom in their quest for political freedom during that momentous march on the Union Buildings.
We need to emulate some of the character traits of these women of being humble, selfless, tenacious, resolute, focused and inspirational. We need to show a sense of dedication to a cause, like they did.
Theirs was a life born of struggle for the liberation of their people, and still is for some of them who are still alive, like Auntie Sophie de Bruyn. They were inspired by the spirit of their forebears - Sekhukhuni, the Rain-Queen Modjadji, Hintsa, Mkabayi, Manthata wa Basotho, Makana, Shaka, Moshoeshoe, Bambatha, and many others.
Today, as we pay tribute to these struggle heroines, we also pay tribute to women from all sectors of our society for the role they have played – over the many years in struggle - and still do play in the struggle to advance freedom and women’s socio-economic emancipation.
The history of South African struggle is now richer by the contribution that these women made toward the attainment of democracy and freedom. Suffice it to say, that the defining traits of their altruism and moral rectitude were part of their character.
Our decision as government to build a living monument here in Tshwane as a heritage site in honour of these women and the women of South Africa, in general, is instructive of our resolve to address gender transformation. Additionally, this is to ensure that generation after generation their feat and memory was not lost.
Programme Director,
Recently, the Gauteng province lost one of its Gender Activist, Bishop Mapula Maboea, who was active in the establishment of the Gauteng Moral Regeneration Movement as well as launching the Gauteng Chapter of the Progressive Women’s Movement. She was laid to rest on the 5 August 2011 and our sincere condolences go to the Maboea family.
Nationally the passing of Mama Cynthia Molo is also heartfelt as she contributed to the development of Women in Agriculture and Rural Development (WARD) and was the President of WARD at the time of her passing away.
Mama Molo was recently given the Baobab award by the State President for her remarkable work in advancing women farmers. Mama Molo will be laid to rest on the 14 August in the Eastern Cape.
We pass our condolences to the Molo family as well as to the Gauteng WARD for the loss of their President.
Distinguished guests,
It is worth noting, that as Gauteng Provincial Government we believe that effective women development and gender transformation cannot be fully achieved without the development and empowerment of women, both young and old.
However, the challenges that face young women today in Gauteng are more poignant. Some of these challenges include the high number of teenage pregnancies, high rate of unemployment and lack of role models.
It should be a serious concern for all of us when young women fall pregnant in their teens and schooling age because we know that they are likely to be subjected to undesirable consequences of teenage pregnancy. These consequences include the possibility of dropping out from school, possible rejection from the family and the society.
More and more young women in Gauteng are becoming casualties as they predominantly seek child support grant for the maintenance of children that they get premature to their full development and or independence. As government we need to develop strategies of taking these young women out of the vicious cycle of grant opportunism.
It is also sad that a number of young women today have allowed themselves to be used as sex object for purposes of financial and material gains.
Increasingly, young women no longer takes pride in who they are. The exchange of fast cash for their womanhood has become a norm for young women even if it means that they are exploited by men who abuse their youthfulness.
In most cases of teenage pregnancy, in an attempt to avoid such a situation, many young women have resorted to the illegal and unsafe back-street abortions as measures to terminate those pregnancies before they get noticed. Unfortunately some of them have died, whilst others are suffering permanent damage of their reproductive systems.
An issue of teenage pregnancy cannot be undermined because it has far reaching socio-economic consequences on the development of young women; in fact it is amongst those factors that contribute to the perpetuation of a vicious cycle of young women's plight including the dependency syndrome, that I have alluded to, and high levels of school dropout amongst other things.
We should accelerate our attention to family planning and women’s reproductive rights, focusing on preventing teenage pregnancy and reducing the number of unwanted babies. This should go beyond the distribution of condoms but include the promotion of other prevention options for women, young and old, and civic education.
Distinguished guests,
A country’s health performance is measured, amongst other indicators, by its maternal and infant mortality rate. A recent report published by the Human Rights Watch says that “South Africa is failing maternity care, and that a lack of oversight and accountability undermines one of its top goals.” The province of Gauteng has as one of its most important priorities the reduction in maternal mortality. We are determined to ensure that no child should have its mother dying during childbirth and we are resolved that we will dramatically reduce maternal mortality in Gauteng. We have put in place a number of strategies to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate.
One of the most effective ways to prevent maternal mortality is to ensure that pregnant women access care throughout their pregnancy, starting in the early stages and continuing right up to when they give birth.
Through the “Know your Status” campaign the community is gradually becoming aware of the importance of booking early for antenatal visits, although a lot of work still needs to be done to increase this number.
The hospitals are implementing the 10 Recommendations of the Saving Mothers Report, which capture the most important steps to prevent maternal deaths. Two provincial committees have been established to advise the department on methods and interventions to reduce maternal, neonatal, infant and child morbidity and mortality.
These committees will ensure rigorous monitoring and analysis of maternal and infant mortality in 2011/12. In addition, all district, regional and central hospitals, including specialised hospitals, conduct morbidity and mortality meetings each month to investigate every death and improve management of hospitals.
In addition, the province is currently appointing district clinical specialist teams comprising of an obstetrician, paediatrician, midwife and a family physician based at the district level to strengthen maternal and child health care and reduce mortality. These teams will form part of the primary health care strategy of taking services to the people.
As a matter of emphasis, we have taken a conscious decision this year that during Women’s Month we will focus on the promotion of women’s health, including reproductive health rights.
The promotion of women’s health will ensure heightened interventions on HIV, Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign to mobilise women to know their status. It will also encourage pregnant women to attend ante-natal clinics as early as possible to reduce incidences of maternal and infant mortality.As government, we have become more proactive on maternal and child health, especially with regards to HIV and Aids.
The country’s new universal approach to HIV stipulates that all pregnant women living with HIV must be treated with anti-retrovirals when their CD4 count drops below 350. Also, prevention of mother to child transmission now starts at 14 weeks gestation instead of 28 weeks as previously practiced.
Statistics show that for every one young man of 15 to 24 years old, there are three young women or girls with HIV and Aids within the same age category. These and other related attitudinal trends or behavioural patterns would require a more scientific approach to drastically change the socio-economic situations confrontingwomen in the current political landscape. A lot still needs to be done to change these attitudes and behaviours.
In general, even though women now have increasing opportunities to access treatment, care and support, HIV and Aids continues to affect women the most. There is however, a tremendous progress in preventing mother-to-child transmissions. In fact more children are born without HIV in the province.
Programme Director,
We acknowledge that violence against women and girls has become a scourge, not only in our province but in the entire country. The high incidences of rape cases, including the so-called corrective rapes, as well as other forms of physical and psychological abuse of women and girls are evidence of this.
There are concerted efforts towards addressing this challenge through legislation, policy, positive measures, increased policing and the provision of services to victims. The Criminal Justice and Safety and Security systems are now beginning to deal with this crisis in a gender- sensitive manner.
A roundtable discussion of all stakeholders in the Gender Based Violence (GBV) sector was held during the 16 Days of activism campaign. The purpose for the roundtable was to ensure improved coordination of work in response to the needs of the GBV victims.
During this Women’s Month we will launch the Domestic Violence Prevention Forum. The forum will ensure the coordination of services and management of Gender Based Violence cases in order to fast track the finalisation of GBV cases.
To date two cases of corrective crimes have been reported in the Kwa Thema area. The Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) as part of the Women’s Month programmes will undertake an awareness campaign on the rights of Lesbian, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans- gender (LGBT) community.
As part of the programmes run by The Department of Community Safety we will forge ahead with the promotion of rights for LGBT as well as involving the LGBT organisation in the GPG Domestic Violence Prevention Forum.
Furthermore, the Department of Community Safety will continue with its responsibility of providing social crime prevention programmes which includes the reduction of violence against women and children. Through the Ikhaya Le Themba one stop centre, multi disciplinary services are provided to victims of abuse.
Distinguished guests,
We are aware that poverty also remains a major problem for women in South Africa. The systematic and socially-engineered location of women in rural areas, and the underdevelopment of infrastructure in these areas, has been directly responsible for the poor conditions under which the majority of South Africa’s rural communities live.
In line with this year’s theme: “Working together to enhance women’s opportunities to economic empowerment,” the Gauteng government has given priority to promoting women’s access to economic opportunities.
Year 2011 was declared a Year of Job Creation by the President of the Republic Jacob Zuma during the State of the Nation Address, and it is, therefore, critical that the job creation efforts incorporate the direct benefit for women of Gauteng.
It is in that spirit that we in Gauteng are paying attention to improving women’s access to job opportunities.By the end of the current financial year 2011/12, over 34 000 women will have benefited from the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
In addition, the Gauteng province will ensure that during this Women’s Month, women as the majority of voters (52%) gain access to more job opportunities created in the province in order to contribute to their economic empowerment.
To date a total of 408 cooperatives are currently being contracted in the production of school uniform. The plan is to expand this to 425 by end of the current financial year. Of the 408, 395 established women sewing cooperatives are appointed to manufacture the school uniform, nine jersey cooperatives have been appointed to manufacture school jersey’s and four shoe manufacturing cooperatives are appointed to produce school shoes.
The GPG departments are also required to ensure that spending on procurement prioritizes small medium and micro enterprise’s and Women owned business. The BBBEE target of 30% remains compulsory in awarding business to women-owned companies and has to be implemented beyond the Women’s Month.
It is also instructive to note that, over 200 women’s cooperatives continue to benefit from job opportunities such as producing and supplying linen, fresh produce to government institutions as well as supplying government with school uniform for children from no-fee paying schools.
Programme Director,
In conclusion, allow me to quote one of the women’s struggle veterans, uMama Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu, when she said these words,” We are required to walk our own road- and then stop, assess what we have learned and share it with others. It is only in this way that the next generation can learn from those who have walked before them… We can do no more than tell our story.”
As women, I believe that we have come thus far because we have learnt to be advocates of our own fate and have learnt from those that came before us. As women we need to have more conversation with ourselves and the rest of society so as to understand ourselves as well as be understood by society as a whole.
As women, we must continue to take charge of our destiny in every facet of our lives in order to own and cherish success which awaits us in future.
Malibongwe!
Igama Lamakhosikazi!
Dankie
Ngiyabonga.
