National Women’s Day to be celebrated in the Free State
This year’s National Women’s Day will be celebrated in Sasolburg, Free State, on August 9, 2015. To commemorate this historic day, about 20 000 women from all 9 provinces will take part in a historic rally in Sasolburg under the theme: “Women united in moving South Africa forward.”
The rally, which is part of the build-up towards the 60th celebration of the 1956 Women’s March, will highlight the challenges that women continue to face, while taking stock of significant advances made since the dawn of democracy.
On 9 August 1956, about 20 000 women of all races marched to the Union Buildings to protest against the discriminatory pass laws which had restricted the movement of black people in the country. This march has been celebrated since 1995 as Women’s Day, to recognise the important and significant role that political activism by women played during the struggle for liberation against colonisation and apartheid.
As part of Women’s Day celebrations, the President of the Republic, Jacob Zuma, will release the first Status of Women Report. It was compiled by the Department of Women after hosting dialogues between the months of March and June 2015, across the country in a bid to assess the current status of women.
This year’s Women’s Month – celebrated throughout the month of August - is taking place against the backdrop of 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter this year, and the Women’s Charter in 2014.
This year’s national celebrations are all the more significant because the African Union has prioritised women empowerment by declaring 2015 as the “Year of Women Empowerment and Development towards Africa's Agenda 2063.”
“It is welcome that the National Women’s Day celebrations will take place in the Free State, a Province which determinedly continues to prioritise women empowerment in all spheres of life”, said the Premier of the Free State. “This becomes pertinently evident in the current makeup of our Executive Council. Out of ten MECs, five are strong capable women, and this goes to show that as we celebrate 60 years of the Freedom Charter, South Africa has indeed changed for the better.”
Details of the event are as follows:
Date: Sunday, 9 August 2015
Time: 8h00
Venue: Harry Gwala Multipurpose, Sasolburg (Free State Province)
Enquiries:
Gino Alberts
Communications Manager
Tel: 016 973 8458
Cell: 082 459 0228 or 073 500 0693
Email: gino.alberts@metsimaholo.gov.za
Pulane Tsupane
Media Liaison Officer
Cell: 071 302 2595 or 073 195 6558
Email: Pulane.tsupane@fspremier.gov.za
