Programme Director
Honourable Premier, Ms Noxolo Kiviet
MEC for Rural Development,
MEC for Economic Development, Environmental Affairs & Tourism
Executive Mayor
Heads of Departments
Women in Business
Ladies and Gentlemen
Today we are in the last few days of the national women’s month, which we are commemorating under the theme: “56 years of women united against poverty, inequality and unemployment”. I was happy to note that the theme of this seminar today, also speaks to the need to address unemployment, poverty and inequality, in an effort to build a progressive future for women.
In this month of August, we are reconciling all our efforts, programmes and activities, to come up with sustainable and long term interventions that will be implemented throughout the year, to help the women of South Africa achieve a better life for themselves and their families. This seminar, Programme Director, is going to form a very important part of general government interventions that have been done during this year’s women’s month.
After the women’s month has ended, the results of this seminar should continue to benefit the women of the Eastern Cape in such a way that they will look back and agree that this seminar was a cornerstone of their empowerment in the various businesses and projects that they are involved in.
Therefore, I would like to thank the King Sabata Dalindyebo Municipality for extending an invitation to me to form part of this seminar. It is my pleasure to be here and I would like to also say that as a department, we are welcoming this noble initiative that seeks to create a progressive future for women of the Eastern Cape.
Ladies and gentlemen, there are two ways in which women in this country should be economically empowered. The first way is for women to get fair opportunities in the workplace in both government and the private sector, so that they can rise in the corporate sector and occupy influential positions where their contribution will help our country’s economy to grow. The second way is for women to take initiatives and start self-sustainability projects and businesses, where they will be able to play a role in the growth of entrepreneurship and community development.
These are the women who must own businesses, make revenue, employ people and grow their businesses to benefit their respective communities and the country. The question on many people’s lips therefore, is, what is government doing to help these two groups of women. This question is even more directed to us as a department responsible for women. The answer is that we must first eliminate the legacies of the past that continue to make it difficult for women to achieve economic emancipation.
Historically, the laws of this country were formulated to ensure male domination in many aspects, and this led to the majority of companies implementing policies that discriminated women. The same challenge was also a reality in the sector of business. Many sectors, from agriculture to commerce, manufacturing, services, retail, and others, were male dominated from the onset because women were not considered for business opportunities, and were not regarded as capable business people.
As government, we could not have been able to economically empower you as women, without first eliminating these challenges and bringing in new transformation in an environment where there are no institutional, historical and legislative restrictions. Standing before you today, I am delighted to inform all the women gathered here today, that our efforts as government are beginning to yield positive results. Although in the eyes of many people, things have been slow, we are nevertheless delighted that the historic walls that have been restricting and suppressing our women, have started to fall down.
Ladies and gentlemen, you will be pleased to hear that the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill will be tabled before Cabinet during the 2012\13 financial year. This will help enforce compliance in both government and the private sector. The effective implementation of this Act will also help to fast-track the accomplishment of the Millenium Development Goals.
Secondly, my department is currently working to ensure that the New Growth Path and the Green Fund are gender responsive. We are working together with other national government departments to facilitate opportunities for women in rural, peri-urban and informal settlements to participate in green economy projects such as solar energy, water purification, agriculture, construction, waste management and tourism. As a department we are not only facilitating these opportunities for women, but we are also going to monitor the extent to which women benefit through the preferential procurement system in government.
We are also continuing to encourage companies and organisations owned and managed by women, to register on government entities and supply chain databases in order to be beneficiaries of the opportunities I have mentioned. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to also announce to this gathering here today, that last week my department entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development. As part of our agreement in this Memorandum of Understanding, the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development has made a commitment that 50% of the 411 recapitalised farms on their list, must be given to women. Malibongwe igama la Makhosikazi!
They will also ensure that policies and budgets on land reform and rural development are responsive to the rights of women; this means that the process of women acquiring land will be prioritised. To prove that we are indeed committed to making these agreements come true, we have set a condition that our agreement will be reviewed every two years to see if we are really delivering what we agreed on.
Programme Director, this should serve to encourage all of us, because with this agreement, we are going to facilitate women’s access to land because without land, how are women going to establish projects and small businesses? Without land, how are women going to implement their rural development efforts? How are women going to embark on self-sustainability and food security initiatives?
We are also facilitating financial support and training for women farmers and women’s co-operatives with our national and international partners. We are painfully aware that financial dependency on husbands, fathers, partners and family members has increased women’s vulnerability to domestic violence, rape, incest, abuse, and murder. We remain convinced that empowering women will help us win the war against poverty, inequality, unemployment and abuse.
I mentioned to a certain audience in Gauteng last week, that women’s poverty is a central manifestation, and a direct result of women’s lesser social, economic and political power. In turn, women’s poverty reinforces their subordination and constrains their enjoyment of every right. Poverty exacerbates and deepens the inequality of members of already disadvantaged groups, especially women and children.
Poverty perpetuates women’s under-representation in all spheres of life and impacts on their ability to claim and enforce their rights. The living conditions of the majority of ordinary women have undergone significant qualitative change as a result of our policies and programmes that started in 1994. However, despite the progress we have made, more intractable problems of transformation are apparent.
Socio-economic indicators of inequality suggested that the lives of the majority of women have not improved substantially since the inception of democracy. Even with evidence of material gains for some, overall the picture is of deepening gendered and class-based poverty and inequality. This District Municipality of O.R Tambo is known to have one of the highest rates of poverty in the country. This problem can effectively be solved by opening up opportunities for women, because we know that when you empower a woman, you are empowering the whole community.
I want to encourage the women of O.R Tambo District Municipality, and particularly younger women between the ages of 20 and 40, to make use of government information in order to know where opportunities lie and what is needed to access those opportunities. Knowledge is a very important ingredient of economic empowerment. You cannot do anything if you do not have knowledge about what is happening. The province of the Eastern Cape will be saved by younger women because they have easier access to information and also have energy and strength on their side.
If young women do not rise to the existing challenges, older women will not have the required strength to save our beloved province of the Eastern Cape, because they have already used much of their years and energy in the fight for liberation. I am calling upon young women in their thirties and twenties to step forward and get involved in business researching and information gathering.
As young women, you need to gather information and knowledge on what is needed to start a business in agriculture, mining, retail, manufacturing, ICT and others. Once you have the information and understanding, your path will start to look clearer and you will know where to go for help.
Government is opening up opportunities, but these opportunities still need to be seized by hardworking and determined individuals and groups. Let us rise Makhosikazi, so that government can be able to meet us halfway.
I thank you.
