Programme director
Premier of the Free State Province Premier Ace Magashule
Cabinet Ministers present
Premiers and MECs from various provinces of South Africa
Traditional Leaders with us here today
Mayors and Councillors from various municipalities in the country
SALGA NEC and PEC Members
SALGA senior officials and senior officials from all spheres of government
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Dumelang! Avuxeni! Ndimatsheloni! Lotshani! Sanibonani! Molweni! Goeie naand! Good evening!
Introduction
It is a great honour for me to address the Women in Provincial and Local Government Summit, this evening. In the same vein, I would like to thank you for putting your commitments aside to witness this important occasion. The timing of this conference could not have come at a better time for raising the profile of women in the provincial and local spheres of government.
On 9 August 1956 over 20 000 women marched to the Union Buildings in Pretoria in protest against the extension of the pass laws to women. This struggle was a decisive turning point of a long drawn out war. Today, we celebrate 9 August as South African Women’s Day.
I stand before you this evening, in the name of these many sung and unsung heroines such as Umama Lillian Ngoyi, Amina Cachalia, Dora Tamana, Charlotte Maxeke, mamTolo Mgabela, Helen Joseph, Dorothy Nyembe, Sophie de Bruyn, Florence ‘Mam Flo’ Mkhize, Victoria Mxenge and many others, who fought tirelessly in the past for the emancipation of women in our country. It is these South African women on whose shoulders we stand today. This historical background is important in order to prepare us in facing our future.
Programme director, this evening we recognise and acknowledge the gallant strides that were made by these pathfinders in pursuit of a democratic South Africa. A new democracy free of racial, class and gender discrimination that our people have endured, not over decades, but over centuries of colonial and apartheid rule.
This evening we also honour Free State women struggle veterans who have worked alongside the above mentioned veterans. In the same breath, we also honour the former political and traditional leadership champions who have consistently supported the summit for the past six years. Nkonde nezinkondekazi, we thank the role each of you has played in this event.
The theme for this year’s summit is, “Together empowering women for development and gender equality.” It is a theme that opens up the possibility for widening and intensifying the involvement of women in development. During apartheid, the majority of women were disenfranchised, alienated, disengaged and treated as less of human beings. It was a fierce struggle for them to even fight for recognition in the place of work and families.
Although the 1994 democratic dispensation came with progressive laws aimed at addressing disparities which created pronounced disadvantages for certain groups of people, women continued to live under very strenuous conditions. Today women are still part of the majority that remains exposed to societal challenges like poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, social exclusion, environmental decay and sexual harassment in the workplace.
They are economically marginalised and have no right to own land, especially those in rural areas where the women’s right is appreciated. Given the fact that we are fifteen years into our democracy and yet women are still experiencing these disadvantages, we as a society, need to be ashamed of ourselves.
It remains my considered view that women’s struggle is not for women alone. It is one in which women and men must join together, each helping and encouraging the other as circumstances require. This partnership must be a 365 days activity.
As we interact today to discuss the strategic priorities of Women within the provincial and local spheres of government, the following programmatic themes should be at the top of our agenda:
Gender based violence
Women often represent the poorest, most exploited and marginalised sector of our society. Notwithstanding the programmes implemented by government to protect women from attacks of all kinds, records still show that women are the most affected category by contact crime in South Africa.
According to the South African Police Service (SAPS) annual report for 2007/08 financial year, the contact crimes accounted for 33 percent of the South African recorded serious crimes. These crimes involve physical contact between the victims and perpetrators and such contact is usually of a violent nature.
We therefore need to be vigilant in our fight against gender-based violence.
Some of the adverse effects of gender-based violence in our society include the following:
* It hampers women from using their skills in development activities
* It prevents women from claiming their socio-economic rights, for example, property rights and inheritance
* It leads to losses of human resource through death and maiming
* It leads to increased rates of dropping out of school and teenage pregnancies and
* It aggravates social stigma, rejection and family breakdown which lead to negative forms of behaviour like prostitution and abuse of drugs.
In order to curb these negative socio-economic effects of Gender-Based Violence, there is a need for awareness-raising on causes and consequences, increased resource allocation; and involvement of all stakeholders in a holistic framework.
Women empowerment
Programme director, participation in decision-making is one of the key indicators of progress in women empowerment. According to 7th CEE Annual Report of 2006/07 presented to the Presidential Joint Working Group, the acceleration of women into senior positions in the workplace has shown progress, but is not convincing enough.
With regard to the representation of women in the local sphere of government, there are significant improvements, particularly from the recent period until 2006, for example:
* Local councillors from 29 to 40 percent
* Mayors from 19 to 40 percent
* Speakers from 31 to 37 percent (IEC report: 2009).
Overall, in 1999 there were only 16 percent female councillors and in 2006 we saw the increase to 36 percent female councillors (IEC: 2009). I do not see why this cannot be increased to 50 percent in our forthcoming elections of 2011. Notwithstanding these positive developments, I must confess that there are still challenges in the representation of women in local government administration. In the same period, women municipal managers have increased from 6,3 percent to 7 percent.
Currently, out of the total of nine provinces, there are five women Premiers; a significant progress indeed. But this cannot be said about the Members of Executive Councils (MECs) for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, where there is currently only one woman MEC the recently appointed MEC Comrade Nomusa Dube in KwaZulu-Natal. Clearly, this situation requires the attention of political leaders of all political parties who have a say in the election of provincial leaders as well as the appointment of senior administrators in government.
Gender equality
Gender equality is vital to the transformation of societies for political, economic and human development. There is clear evidence that gender equality reduces poverty and is a cause and consequence of economic growth (World Bank 2007).
The majority of women still experience discriminatory gender bias and prejudice which inhibits their potential. The school drop out rate among girl-children still remains high. Similarly most women lack ownership of productive resources and land.
I must also highlight the significant progress we, as government, have recorded in trying to address these challenges. For example, through the transformative leadership of our government, a number of women have changed their behavioural disposition and attitude towards work. As part of the Expanded Public Works Programme, more and more women are now engaging in hitherto male-dominated work such as road engineering, construction and maintenance.
I therefore continue to encourage women to aggressively embrace the world of entrepreneurship. Women have cultivated a culture of saving and investment through the stokvels in our townships, villages and suburbs. Indeed, gender equality can make a huge difference to individuals, to business and to our communities.
Rural development
Women constitute a large number of inhabitants in rural communities. This is part of our history, as men tend to work in urban cities and leave women behind to raise children and keep families together. There are still significant numbers of women found working on farms as labourers under vicious conditions dominated by males. The majority of them cannot read or write.
It is within this context that this fourth administration has prioritised rural development as a critical area for development. The pillar to this deliverable is the incorporation of women in rural development programmes. These programmes must be designed in a way that women will not have to spend hours walking to fetch water from rivers or collecting firewood in the forest. We need to bring water and electricity to their homes and turn their lives around for the better.
The traditional governance system under the traditional leadership would have to be reviewed to ensure that all persons are treated fairly, with respect, dignity and are regarded as equal before the law even under tribal authorities. Whether the woman is in an urban or rural area, how a woman is treated should remain the same.
This initiative will be undertaken in partnership with the Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities, women. The practice of abducting young girls, some as young as 13 years old, to be forcefully married off to strangers in the name of culture is a case in point.
Women with disabilities
Ladies and gentlemen, disability is part of human diversity. But there is no doubt that both government and the private sector have dismally failed to successfully recruit and empower people with disabilities. This can be attributed to the negative reaction to the Employment Equity Act; a belief that the Act is bound to have negative effects on business and the economy.
The past experiences of affirmative action, deep-seated beliefs that people from the designated groups do not have the necessary competencies to perform jobs previously performed by non-designated people, all contributed to the suppression of persons 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, compared to that of men with disabilities. If you look at the design of our buildings, it is apparent that our work environment is still not accessible and friendly to women with disabilities. The same goes for service delivery.
In most provinces and municipalities, there is no clearly defined programme designed for the provision of services to persons with disability. The service delivery model is somewhat generic; presenting a picture that our communities are homogeneous with a one cap fits all approach, which is a fallacy. I therefore urge all of us to prioritise the empowerment of people with disabilities in our workplaces. We should set an example by achieving the 2 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 aimed at making people with disabilities independent. Government has to make sure that the disabled in our society do not live on handouts; they must be made to feel that they are indeed an important part of the broader society. In this sector, we must strive for disability confident organisations that are genuinely embracing inclusively of people with disabilities, especially women. Managers must recognise the business relevance of employing people with disabilities and commit to placement strategies that diversify the workforce accordingly.
Women in ward committees
Ward committees are structures which advise ward councillors on critical issues that affect communities in local government. They act as a link between local communities and the elected ward councillors, providing elected representatives with valuable information on residents’ needs. I often refer to these structures as the most basic unit of governance in society.
It is my firm view that there is therefore a need to review the selection criteria to include gender representation as a separate category. The profiling of ward committees should also incorporate the audit of women and people with disabilities in each and every ward.
We should have a road map of each and every ward reflecting vulnerable groups and the audit should also filter down to street committees and village committees at ward level.
Women and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS)
Our communities have often totally abandoned African thought in favour of the western thought introduced by colonial rulers. The current literature does not provide an opportunity for our communities to relate to their African traditions.
The contemporary systems are biased towards the Western doctrine at the detriment of African indigenous knowledge systems. This practice may erode our history as African people, unless drastic measures are employed to integrate the two.
Women play an important role in this regard as the primary caregivers and transmitters of knowledge to children. If this knowledge is not captured and re-injected into the lived experiences of our people, we are bound to lose it completely.
A significant example of how indigenous knowledge can benefit communities is the new locally produced “Midi Tea”. The new brand of “Midi Tea” is being produced on the Tshivhase Tea Estate near Thohoyandou. It is 100 percent South African and is named after a local traditional leader, Thovhele Midiyavhathu Tshivhase, who is also a pioneer in the discovery of this proudly South African tea.
The tea is grown only in the Vhembe district. You will not find it grown anywhere else in the whole world. The production of “Midi Tea” project was made possible by the provincial department of agriculture which injected R24 million to the plantation (Sunday Sun, 2 August 2009).
Programme director, sadly enough, it is also disappointing that this important story was not picked up by the mainstream media, but was only covered in a small corner by the often overlooked Sunday Sun newspaper. We can simply guess that it was due to the fact that the article attached importance to the expertise and integrity of an indigenous traditional African knowledge system, and is not imported from the developed world.
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs intends forging partnerships with all departments to ensure that there is a window of coordination on matters of Indigenous Knowledge Systems. We will also engage Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on matters of the protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and indigenous languages to ensure that the rights of the custodians of indigenous knowledge are not violated simply because these knowledge experts reside in traditional villages and are not proficient in English.
The need to patent this knowledge in indigenous languages, ideas, medicines, health management and a way of life cannot be overemphasised. We must ensure that these ideas are subjected to enough discussion, testing and scrutiny as well as criticism by a wider section of our society. We need to document and integrate this knowledge in our research initiatives in all spheres of government and root out charlatans and chance-takers that bring suspicion to these indigenous systems of knowledge.
Poverty eradication
To intensify government’s efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, the government has declared a war against poverty. The poverty war room needs to be sealed to ensure that the feminisation of poverty does not persist.
It is indeed correct that women are hardest hit by poverty. It is for this reason that government has resolved to increase the number of women who have access to social grants, housing, education, economy and other basic services.
The impact of these measures will, undoubtedly, bring improvement in the quality of life of all South Africans, especially the most vulnerable groups such as women. Remember, if you empower and support a woman, you empower and support the whole village!
HIV and AIDS
The 2008 United Nations Global AIDS report 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. Local government action will make a very significant contribution towards the achievement of the National strategic plan for HIV and AIDS objectives.
Conclusion
Programme director, today, I am making a commitment to act as a public voice of support for all those working to empower women for development and gender equality.
Let us join our voices together and help to build the country we want for ourselves and meet the challenges of our shared future. I wish to once again congratulate all the women of our country on this auspicious occasion.
I further reaffirm government’s commitment towards the attainment of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Finally, there is a Chinese proverb that is literally interpreted as, “Women hold up half the sky.” This is a provocative proverb calling our attention to the fact that for nations to achieve their goals, they need to recognise and advance women. While deeply involved in all facets of life, women have generally been left out of the history books and records of achievements. This is a situation we have to address together for the sake of our nation, for the sake of our children.
Malibongwe!
Issued by: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs
18 August 2009
Source: Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (http://www.thedplg.gov.za/)
