T Didiza: Women's Month celebrations

26 August 2006

The Executive Mayor of Randfontein Local Municipality, Zeph Mhlongo
The Acting Municipal Manager, Ms Liziwe Ntshinga-Makoro
Members of the Mayoral Committee
All councillors
Our distinguished guests from the entertainment industry
Ladies and gentlemen

I am humbled by your invitation to visit the Greater Randfontein Local
Municipality. It is an honour for me to stand on the grounds of champions.
Randfontein, including the townships of Mohlakeng and Toekomsrus, are known
world-wide to have produced world champions and other stars of note, which
sadly, are all men, begging the question about the role and involvement of
women of the area. Names such as the legendary Patrick "Ace" Ntsoelengoe, Peter
"Terror" Mathebula and Bobang Phiri are synonymous with Randfontein yet the
city has got to dig in deeper to come with women sports icons, immediately
presenting the leadership of this area with a developmental challenge.

As we celebrate women's month, it is important to take stock of the
contribution of women in the development of our communities and their role in
the economy as a whole. The West Rand District Municipality, of which the
Greater Randfontein Municipality is a part, is a home to women who have
dedicated their lives to creating a better life for all. Our beloved MEC for
housing in Gauteng, Nomvula Mokonyane, still calls this place home. Her
Worship, the Executive Mayor of West Rand District Municipality, Faith
Matshikiza is an epitome of leadership necessary to inject passion among the
women of Randfontein to emulate their predecessors in the 1950s to change the
fundamentals of society for the good. Pascalina Kgoleng, Nosisi Msibi, Jeanette
Daniels, Yvodia Cindi and Terressa Kibane are among the pathfinders who
struggled to usher in the democracy and stability we seem to enjoy today.

The presence today of Mara Louw, a famous singer, entertainer and television
personality and Penny Lebyane who you all know from the world of broadcasting,
is indicative of the fact that women daily continue to make their presence
felt, yet we are slow to react to their contribution. Fifty years on, our
history continues to record their achievements only as an after thought.

This is a travesty of history because the women's march of 1956, which we
are celebrating today, must have had some catalytic effects on the advancement
of women. The 1950s saw the solidification of womens' movements as a social
force to be reckoned with. In other areas of life, apart from the politics,
women began to become more assertive. This spirit of freedom and assertiveness
was aptly demonstrated in the person of one of the daughters of Randfontein, Ms
Dolly Rathebe who became an entertainment legend, gracing the covers of Drum
and Zonk Magazines and appearing in many films. She was laying a foundation for
a generation of talented women who came after her and today are successful
artists and entrepreneurs, owning their own entertainment companies. This is
the excellence we want to celebrate today.

A stone throw away from here at old top location near Vereeniging in the
Vaal Triangle, a young woman, Adelaide, growing in this decade of organised
defiance, had her political instincts sharpened by the experiences of the
people around her who were survivors of constant forced removals under the
apartheid laws. Under apartheid, the people of Top were forcefully removed to
Sharpeville, echoing the distress of many communities in the country. As a
young bride of Oliver Reginald Tambo, she would forsake the comforts of a new
marriage, to spearhead the struggle of women even beyond the borders, carrying
the torch lit by other stalwarts.

Long before the 1956 Women's March to Pretoria, women had started rewriting
history. Therefore the historical 1956 march was a culmination of women's
efforts to contribute to the building of an equitable society. The fact that we
are here today to observe and honour their contribution to democracy indicates
that 1956 was just a milestone. It represented the end of one stretch and the
beginning of another.

The formation of the African National Congress at Bloemfontein in 1912
revealed to what extent women had been exposed to and experienced many
injustices inflicted on their men folk by successive colonial rulers and their
racism. It was the women of Free State who in 1913, rose up against incipient
signs of apartheid when they took to the streets in protest against the
notorious Land Act, in that year which sought to make African people a landless
class in their own country.

This pattern would be replicated throughout the country in subsequent
decades as women learnt to mobilise and articulate their objections, not only
to racism, apartheid and injustice, but also to the draconian pass laws which
they viewed as attacking the very foundation of society which is the family.
Again the women of the Free State occupied the front berth as they demonstrated
against the pass laws in 1955.

In the same year, ahead of the Congress of the People at Kliptown, about 140
delegates representing more than 230 000 women met at the national conference
of Women and adopted a Women's Charter as prelude to the Freedom Charter. The
Charter spelt out the demands for women with regard to their rights. Women's
struggles are recorded in history as the nucleus of solidarity and sisterhood
driven by determination to reject attempts to alienate communities, break up
families and divide the nation along racial and class lines.

The 1950's became the bedrock for women's resistance as apartheid became
intensified. Everywhere women became instant victims, directly or indirectly of
apartheid laws including the much-hated pass laws. Apart from the fact that
these laws were now extended to women, women resented that they turned their
men into migrant labours and condemned them to cities of gold.

Towns like Randfontein were the products of the gold boom at the beginning
of the 20th century and saw close collaboration between big business and the
apartheid government to deny black people their basic human rights. Women
became the worst affected. Randfontein was separated from Krugersdorp in 1929
to become a separate municipality premised on wealth generated by the
Randfontein Estates Gold Mine. The sprawling outskirts of town became native
locations, townships from which black people could watch as wealth was being
squandered past their needs.

Today like most municipalities, the Greater Randfontein must contend with
the effects of apartheid social planning and financial allocation with a
lopsided economy and a deficient social plan characterised by backlogs in
infrastructure procurement and maintenance, housing, unemployment and the high
prevalence of HIV and AIDS. Today Randfontein and many similar towns stand as
monuments, reminding us of the extent of transformation and development still
lying ahead. The work requires women too.

The fact that the gender representation at the political executive level of
the municipality has increased and is nearly at a 50/50 ratio is a progressive
milestone, and a welcome relief. However, this achievement needs to be
replicated at senior management positions within the municipality. Gender
equality needs to be accelerated as an honour not only to the women of 1956,
but in recognition of the role of women of Randfontein in building this
community. I do not agree with the history that says there are no women icons
in this area.

Women such as Angie Makwetla and Oulady Motjuwadi, who hail from here, are
today established business people, owning successful communication and
information technology enterprises, respectively, and contributing not only to
economic growth but also helping to accelerate numbers behind gender
representatives in the boardrooms of this country.

Pam Mgulwa another entrepreneur is a daughter-in-law of Randfontein and
perhaps an example of a contribution any daughter-in-law can bring to any
supportive family, where their creative views are appreciated and nurtured. The
former mayor of this area, Councillor Ntombi Mavuso is a power-house of
experience and we need to harness insights of people like her to encourage
maximum women participation in community life and accelerate the achievement of
national gender representative goals. Until we do that, we run the risk of
distorting our own history and depriving many girl children of role models. I
stand here today in support of the Plough Back Initiatives that you have
started through the Randfontein Products and Professional Forums; to identify
and recruit back to the area the prominent people who can make a positive
contribution to the regeneration of the place economically, academically,
socially, culturally and otherwise.

To the women of Randfontein, I need to remind you that you are the
beneficiaries to the will written in 1955 and 1956 in testament to your
tenacity and prowess. Again be reminded that 1956 was not the beginning but an
affirmation of the movement that is probably as old as humankind. The fact that
the role of women was seen fit to be excised from historical accounts does not
mean women were passive participants in civilisation and historical processes.
Our true contribution is yet to be fully recorded.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Public Works
26 August 2006