Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities has spoken out against the way the public hearings on the Traditional Courts Bill have been conducted. She expressed her concerns when she delivered her Budget Speech to the National Council of Provinces on Friday.
“In some hearings, women were rudely interjected and silenced. In some provinces, women were told they were not invited and should not be there”. In this way, she said, women’s right to self-representation had been denied. She added: “This behaviour cannot be allowed to persist in a democratic South Africa”.
“As a department, we shoulder a responsibility to ensure that women can freely interact and exercise their right to be heard in all democratic processes”. TheMinister said she would work with the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development to ensure that the concerns of rural women are taken into consideration regarding this Bill.
Women have already raised serious misgivings about the Bill and questioned its constitutionality. Women hold the view that the Bill will not pass the constitutional test. “Women are concerned that this Bill will strip them of their democratic rights to choose Magistrates Courts if they so wish. There is a concern that women, including widows, have already suffered abuse such as evictions from their homes and land by the largely all-male traditional courts”.
Furthermore, the Bill does not prohibit harmful traditional practices, such as ukungenwa, ukuthwalwa, etc. “South Africa has made commitments through the Constitution, various pieces of legislation and international conventions to respect, promote, protect and advance the rights of women”. She said that South Africa had a duty and obligation to honour these commitments. “I call upon all South Africans to defend government’s progressive positions on the rights of women, children and people with disabilities”.
“As a department, our interest is to ensure that this Bill does not reverse the gains that women have made towards empowerment and gender equality in the past twenty years”. The Minister further commended progressive men who had spoken out during the public hearings in defence of women’s rights.
Minsiter Xingwana also raised concerned about current attempts to reverse the Constitutional gains made by the country relating to the rights of gays and lesbians. “These homophobic tendencies, which in some instances have led to the killing of gay men and rape and murder of lesbian women, must be condemned by all South Africans. These rights are entrenched in our Constitution and all attempts to reverse these gains must be rejected.”
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Minister Xingwana speaks out against the Traditional Courts Bill
