Balindlela, at the transport gala dinner
25 August 2006
Programme Director
Deputy President, Ms Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Minister of Transport, Honourable Mr Jeff Radebe
MEC of Transport, Mr T Mhlahlo
Members of the Executive Councils
Members of the District Councils
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Recently we celebrated Africa Day, on that day we celebrated the
achievements and the strides Africans have made in living footprints in their
own development and democracy, the freedoms Africa has fought for and bestowed
on their own and particularly we celebrated the Africanâs women achievements in
slowly being allowed back in running their own affairs and that of the
world.
Since the crowning of the first woman President of the African Union, Ms
Gertrude Mongelo, to the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace prize,
Ms Wangari Maatha, to our ever first African female Deputy President, Ms
Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Africa and South Africa will never be the same
again.
However, Programme Director, the picture of an African woman, with a child
on the back and a water pail on her head remains one of the sore points of our
development in Africa and in our province. It is evident that womenâs transport
burdens in rural Eastern Cape are directly linked to poverty, inequitable
gender relations and violence against women and girl children. Gender equity
and poverty alleviation are tow millennium development gaols and we maintain
that in addressing and alleviating gender related obstacles to transport, we
contribute to meeting two of the millennium development goals.
Given the disturbing findings related to violence women experience,
interventions ought to be broader and sensitive than what is termed, âtransport
interventionsâ. Well known researchers such as Bamberger and Davis motivate
that one of the main factors which contribute to interventions which is meant
to ease the transport burden for women being unsuccessful, is because household
and community gendered relations are ignored.
In fact, women in the study endorsed the latter point when they said
bicycles may have advantages but also major disadvantages. One of the
disadvantages is that, it places them at greater risks of being attacked. While
recognising that education, eradication of violence, job creation and
ultimately poverty alleviation measures are the only long-term solutions,
research suggests immediate transport and non-transport interventions.
Transport interventions include the upgrade of footpaths and construction of
low level bridges, revisiting times when taxis and buses operate research and
interventions which acknowledge the links between material mortality, health
and mobility.
Today restrictions based on pass laws are no longer a feature of women, but
fifty years down the line it seems womenâs mobility is still impeded by gaps in
policies and interventions. It is time that women stand and fully take part in
determining the way forward so that 2010 transport, roads and related issues
will also bear the architecture and the vision of women. In those words
Programme Director, it is my wish to warmly welcome the Deputy President, the
national Transport Minister and everyone to the province. This is a province
which is suitable to live and work in. May this conference bear the successes
for women and the poor among other objectives set it to achieve.
I thank you
Issued by: Eastern Cape Provincial Government
25 August 2006
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za)
