Reverend Masondo
The leadership of Umanyano
All protocol observed
Although I have not been well, I decided that this is an event I cannot miss. This is not just because I am a member of this church, but also because I believe that it is the unity of women from all sectors that will enable us to create a caring and inclusive society that respects and promotes the rights of all its citizens.
I am encouraged by the efforts that uManyano of the City Mission is doing to contribute towards addressing the challenges facing our society. I am told that the resources that are being raised today will contribute to the efforts to spread the word of God. In addition and even more important in my capacity as the Minister for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities is the support you are providing to the home for the abused women in Pretoria. I urge you to continue with this wonderful work and together, let us provide support for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.
Programme Director, I would like to take this opportunity to present to you the mandate of the Ministry for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities and some of our programmes which aims to improve the lives of these three groups.
This Ministry was created to protect the rights and enhance development opportunities for women, children and persons with disabilities. The ministry is responsible for monitoring other government departments to ensure the mainstreaming of gender, children's rights, and disability considerations into all programmes of government and other sectors. This will help government to respond to issues of these targeted groups in an integrated and coherent manner.
We are responsible for integrating gender equity measures into the government’s programme of action and ensure that women, children and persons with disabilities can access developmental opportunities. Our consultation with stakeholders has indicated that there are varying expectations from our constituencies with regard to the work of the ministry. These expectations range from organisations requiring resources to create development opportunities for rural women groups to individual persons with disabilities who want education and employment opportunities. These expectations have and still influence our strategic direction and areas of focus.
We have covered sufficient ground in building capacity within the ministry and the department over the past 11 months. Part of this ground work has been the mobilisation of human and other resources needed for implementation of our programmes.
You may know that as ministers we have signed performance agreements with the President outlining what we will be doing over the current term of government. My agreement covers mainly two outcome areas and that is:
- Decent employment through inclusive economic growth
- Second outcome area is an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.
On the first outcome, which is inclusive economic growth, we will be focusing on ensuring that there is economic empowerment for women and people with disabilities. For this year, we are focusing on the development of Gender Equality Bill including 50/50 parity.
It is critical that we address this matter. We have made progress in women representation in national and provincial legislatures and endeavours are being made within the public service to increase the number of women at various levels. The best performing organisations in terms of increased representation of women include parastatals like the Post Office and South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC).
The reports I am receiving indicate that the situation in the private sector and in some civil society structures, women are not making the necessary headway. That is why we need a legislative framework with enforcement mechanism to make sure that women participation is enhanced at all level.
On persons with disabilities, these efforts will focus on ensuring that we meet the two percent employment equity target.
We are aware that our economy is not absorbing the number of the unemployed at the pace at which we would like it to. We are therefore working towards the establishment of the empowerment fund that should facilitate the economic empowerment and development of women and persons with disabilities.
You should expect a lot of activity by our department in the area of economic empowerment of women and persons with disabilities because that is what I have signed with the President. The second outcome area in my performance agreement as I said is development of an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.
Programme Director, this is area where we need massive mobilisation of all sectors of our society and faith-based organisations are critical roleplayers in this regard. I am sure I can count on uManyano and the rest of the Methodist Church as a partner.
In this area, we will be focusing on the implementation of review findings and recommendations on Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences Act.
We intensifying the implementation of 365 Days Action Plan and 16 Day Activism Campaign on No Violence Against Women and Children. It is under this outcome area that we are crisscrossing the country addressing various issues affecting women, children and persons with disabilities. In partnership with Free State Government and other organisations, we responded to the challenge of illegal brothels in Bloemfontein after a brutal murder of a girl who was thrown down seven floors of a flat run by an alleged drug-lord.
We have been to Beaufort West in Western Cape again dealing with the inter-linkages of drugs, human trafficking, prostitution and abuse of women and children.
We are launching a major campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of human trafficking, forced prostitution, drugs and alcohol abuse and other social ills that may increase with the hosting of FIFA Soccer World Cup. All provinces have put in place plans to increase awareness and respond to any case of abuse. We are working with Human Rights Commission and various civil society organisations to ensure that the
World Cup becomes a safe and memorable moment for women and children of our country.
Programme Director, following the gruesome murder of Masego Kgomo in Soshanguve, Gauteng during the festive season, we had consultations which indicate that more effort is needed to better understand the motives behind some of the murders and respond to them accordingly.
We need to advocate that a person who has killed and extracted body parts for muti purposes should be sentenced firstly for murder and secondly for additional violations that have been committed. Our law should punish all those involved in this criminal value chain – from those who kill and extract body parts, those who circulate them up to those who buy and use concoctions derived from human tissues.
We cannot allow anymore women and children to lose their lives through these barbaric incidents. The right to life is the most basic right we should afford to every child and woman. To highlight this challenge, together with Tshwane Metro we will be establishing a park and erecting a memorial at the spot where the mutilated body of Masego was found.
As we have done with the forced marriage of children to older men under the pretext of a traditional practice called ukuthwala in Eastern Cape, we are responding to any traditional practice that is harmful to the rights and interests of women and children. All social practices have to be within the limits of our Constitution and the rule of law.
We are finalising the review of the Children’s Rights Charter and incorporate the emerging challenges facing children. One of these problems is easy access to pornographic material for children and use of children as subject of pornographic material. We have to ensure that children are protected from these harmful publications and they are not sexually exploited. It was within this context that you might have heard us opposing the launch of a pornographic channel on Dstv. In this regard, we have to commend Multichoice for abandoning this idea.
We are also focusing on the plight of children living in the street with the aim of coordinating and consolidating existing efforts to re-integrate these children into family or move them to secure environments. This is being done in conjunction with government entities and other partners involved in this area.
As I conclude, Programme Director, let me once again raise the issue which we need to ensure that it does not lose momentum. That is the call by President Jacob Zuma for a national debate on the moral values of our society. This is an important call that I hope faith-based organisations will take forward and seek to build a moral fibre of our society.
We cannot have a society which allows for children and even infants to be abducted, raped and killed. We cannot have a society where women and children are killed and their sexual and other human organs are taken and used for imithi. It is abnormal, it is barbaric and it has to stop.
Lastly Programme Director, we are fast nearing the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup that our nation is proud to host. I am confident that we will share with the people of the world our generosity and display the spirit of Ubuntu and our faith in Jesus Christ, our lord. We must make our country and continent proud by supporting Bafana Bafana and all other African teams.
Our Lord Jesus Christ said that, "where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." I believe our Lord is with us today to give us wisdom.
Let us spread the message of love, peace, responsibility and care. It is the responsibility of each one of us to build a non-racial, non-sexist, inclusive and caring society!
To all of you, have a happy Mother’s Day tomorrow.
Thank you
Source: Department for Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities
