Deputy Minister Speaking Notes: 2023 Public Service Women Leadership Retreat, Warriors Hall (Sun City Convention Centre)
Programme Director,
Mayor of Moses Kotane Municipality - Councillor Nketu Nkotswe HOD of NW Province Adv Mogohle
DGs & Senior Officials especially
Linda Mafa on behalf of UNDP SA Representative Representative of Google SA Abongile Machele
Partners especially Client Relations Executive for Metropolitan Health - Ms Taki Maumela
Distinguished Delegates,
Programme Director, it is with great pleasure that I extend a warm welcome to each one of you to this inaugural Public Service Women Leadership Retreat. It is during the month of August that we commemorate the legacy of the historic march to the Union Building in Pretoria and reflect on the struggles for women of South Africa. It is during this time that we celebrate what it means to be a woman in South Africa. Women gallant fighters and warriors or a women on whose on shoulders we stand. Our heroins. “ Mme wa ngwana o tshwara thipa ka bogaleng” The intension of this gathering is to reflect over the next three days on socio-economic opportunities towards empowerment of women. By gathering here, we are committing ourselves to being the instruments of the change we want and begin to chart a course towards a brighter future for generations to come. We must over the next three days commit ourselves to lower vacancy rate in public service to afford South Africans, especially Young South African Women jobs reducing the high level of unemployment that impacts negatively on the lives of women resulting in feminized poverty. We must over the next three days commit ourselves to creation of entrepreneurial opportunities to increase the pool of women who actively contribute to South Africa’s economy that has slowed down due to global recession.
The engagements over the next three days should serve as a beacon of hope, that offers a platform for meaningful and tangible solutions towards empowerment of women. The 2022 statistics compiled by Statiscs South Africa indicates that , there is close to half a million fewer jobs than at the end of 2019, with women and youth persistently more impacted. Inequalities between men and women in South Africa remains among the highest in the world as we continue to celebrate a few women who have gone through the ranks to lead top offces in different institutions in this country. Take someone with. The kick the ladder syndrome must be a thing of the past. The same statistics estimated 63% women living below poverty datum line. It is against this geni-coefficient that I would like us as leaders and senior management to reflect on our role in government and the extent to which we contributing to changing socio-economic imbalances that impact negatively on the lives of women.
A catalytic approach is required to expeditiously develop practical interventions for advancement and inclusion of women in all trade and business driven departments and state institutions such as energy & mining, agriculture, tourism, human settlement, manufacturing, information communication technology etc towards economic inclusion of women that will in general accelerate economic growth with improved GDP for a better life for all. These interventions require bold, innovative and decisive leadership at your level that must be accompanied by workable policy determinations and directives as lead by DG of Public Service and Administration. Lets allow progressive change for women with the power that lies in our hands.
Government alone cannot manage to change the status quo and totally eradicate all forms of discriminations against women that retards growth. The importance of Public Private Partnerships cannot be over-emphasized. This is why the government of the Republic of South Africa has through policy determinations and certainty created an enabling environment to attract investors or multinational businesses that should thrive and create job opportunities especially amongst young women who have been adversely affected by unemployment. I would like to acknowledge in our mist companies government partners with. I look forward to engaging with Google SA, a multinational company I am reliably informed that it wishes to have a women development focused partnership with government of RSA that will also result in creation jobs for women. More importantly, the various interventions by Google to empower women in the technology space has not gone unnoticed. As a government we look forward to more women driven investment by Google in South Africa.
Programme Director, I would also like to acknowledge the partnership South Africa has with all UN agencies in the country including United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) that is always represented in most of the events. The partnership needs to be strengthened. The government of SA also annually actively participates in UN Women coordinated process of a UN CSW that assesses country specific, how far governments have gone in complying to commitments made to the BPFA. On behalf of the government of South Africa I wish to continue to pledge our commitment to fostering a sustainable and impactful partnership with UNDP.
We appreciate the support you are giving the sixth (6th) Administration under the leadership of His Excellency President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa that recognizes the need for strategic and decisive interventions towards building an ethical, capable and developmental state that manages to fast track service delivery to meet the basic needs of the people of South Africa.
The African Union’s emphasis on accelerating human capital development on the continent is certainly not misplaced. Human capital development is a determined effort to grow the knowledge, skills and capabilities of all the citizens in society as these efforts have the potential to bring about wider societal benefits such as creating a positive climate for social and economic development through increased productivity and quality of work.
Together, we can revolutionize growth and development of our country, South Africa. Your participation in the development and funding of the Professionalization of Public Service Framework cannot go unrecognized.
It is during such deliberations that we should remember women on whose shoulders we stand, While we pay homage to these stalwarts of our struggle, we cannot remain oblivious to the struggles of women such as gender based violence as declared a pandemic by President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa over COVID19, landlessness and dispossession,
feminized poverty, skew economic participation and exclusion of women, negative media stereotype that haunts women, continued harsh realities about the destiny of girl children, limited opportunities to good health and education, environmental degradation that negatively and directly impacts on the lives of women and their children, unfriendly labour markets that absorbs more men than women – that is according to Statistics South Africa, 54% women as compared to 64% men . Even worse, amongst the 54% of women who participate in the labour market, a large percentage of them occupy low paying jobs compared to males. We need to use August month for women and Public Service September month to recommit ourselves to correct these discriminatory practices. May you be inspired by the stories that will be shared over this retreat and may we create a community of women that will inspire the next generation.
As I conclude, I wish to encourage the leaders of Public Service of SA to begin the retreat by recognizing and unearthing debilitating challenges this country is expriecing that are a hindrance to development. Let me mention but a few without going into detail about possible interventions to be embarked on:
Population explotion Filth and litter
These challenges include:
- declining public confidence and trust in government performance on matters of service delivery and accountability;
- uneven service delivery to citizens across the Public Service and the three spheres of government; and
- Under confidence levels of ethics in the public and private sectors.
As a caring and responsive government, we acknowledge that these national challenges must be addressed as priority areas. We should do so remembering the struggle legacy of our torch bearers Lillian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Sophia de Bruyn, and Rahima Moosa, Winnie Madikizela Mandela and Albertina Sisulu,
I THANK YOU.
