Programme director,
Acting HoD,
Members of Executive Management,
Senior Management batalion,
Organised labour Nehawu and PSA,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good morning,
Malibonngwe igama lamakhosikazi malibongwe!
I take this opportunity to salute all of you for turning up to our departmental women’s day celebrations. Before I go any further, we have not had an opportunity to meet as ourselves like we are today. I would therefore like to start on a congratulatory note and praise each one of you for a job well done. I am talking here about the good news that we received from the Auditor–General that our Department, CoGHSTA, has received the most sought after clean bill of health, the clean audit. It is your daily efforts that have led to this status and I want to urge you keep it up and defend this feat with all that we have. We have again found that formula that saw us receive the clean audit back to back a couple of years ago.
Keep the momentum please!
August is women’s month and it would have been an injustice for us as a department if we did not join the rest of the country in commemorating one of the enduring landmarks of our country’s history. I am glad we have assembled to affirm the wisdom and farsightedness of those who declared in that historic march in 1956 that: “Wathint’ abafazi, wathint’ imbokodo, uzokufa”
In this department, the MEC is a woman, the acting HoD of department is a woman but we know that the legacy of oppression still weigh heavily on women. That is why we must gather like this every August to remind each other of the gaps that still exist when it comes to women empowerment in this country and what we need to do as a department to contribute in addressing this apartheid legacy. We can’t afford to have a society where the most disrespected, unprotected and most neglected person is a woman. We must use this month to take a trip down memory lane to that historic march on 09 August 1956 and understand why women had to risk everything to take on the then apartheid prime minister Johannes Strijdom. One thing is certain; the march was not a walk in the park. So are the challenges we face today.
Delivering his address on Women’s Day of August 1996 in Pretoria, the late former President of our country, Nelson Mandela spoke about the dangers of looking down upon women and said: “As long as women are bound by poverty and as long as they are looked down upon, human rights will lack substance. As long as outmoded ways of thinking prevent women from making a meaningful contribution to society, progress will be slow. As long as the nation refuses to acknowledge the equal role of more than half of itself, it is doomed to failure”
In being true to the efforts of the 1956 women, we must as a department continue to implement policies that seek to empower our women in a manner that will restore livelihoods. We know that much has been achieved since those humble beginnings of women ‘struggle for emancipation. Women have ascended to senior positions in various sectors of our society. Today women occupy significant positions in government, private sector and in other mass based organisations. The employment equity is one of the many national policies that we must pursue in terms of implementation in order to increase the number of women who must actively take part in decision making more especially in Senior Management positions. We were at some point at 47% and now we dropped to 40% of women in SMS level. The target is 50% and anything less than will not be speaking to emancipation and empowerment.
The women who took part in that iconic march against pass laws and injustices against women will not agree with us if we do not achieve the 50/50 gender equity in our strategic leadership positions. It is important to note that gender equality does not mean women ruling over men, but it rather guarantees a level playing field absent of all forms of discrimination that prevail against women. This should be crucial for our department as we continue to celebrate and recognise the role of women in various spheres in the development of our country and the continent.
If women played a significant role in the fight against oppression, they can equally play a remarkable role in the fight against poverty, unemployment and inequality. Women have the capacity to organise themselves and their resources as widely evidenced in 1956 and must help in dealing with the contemporary challenges of our communities. The political emancipation has been achieved and it is time for men and women to enter the new phase of economic empowerment and the fight against poverty.
We must remember that we still have many female headed families with no source of income, living below the poverty line. It is our responsibility as women to stand up and give those families the necessary support moving forward. We are commemorating women’s month under the theme “20 years of democracy: moving women’s agenda forward through socio-economic transformation”.
This theme tells us that as much as we can have educational power, political power, we must in addition to these powers have economic power. In order to ensure wealth creation and prosperity for all as envisioned in the NDP, building partnerships is a matter of urgency and of utmost importance. To take one example, partnership in small business development between men and women is a foundation for community empowerment to enhance marketing and competitiveness. Women’s contribution in social, political and economic spheres should not only be solicited, but should be deliberately promoted for equitable and sustainable development.
That is why I urge you to ensure that in our allocation of contracts to build low cost housing, we do as the Minister of Human Settlements has instructed. That is making sure that 30% of the contracts go to women. Our women should no longer be seen players of roles such as housekeeping and child minding but as people who are actively involved in the various economic activities in this country. It is very important that we change our attitude by embracing unreservedly the new role of women in a modern democratic society such as ours. We must be seen as partners in economic development with capacities and abilities. We must be judged in terms of what we bring to the development table and in terms of competences rather than the gender orientation.
We must unite in the fight against various socio-economic challenges such as wide spread child and women abuse. Our society should display courage just like our trailblazers did in 1956. We must say in one loud voice that we can’t continue to have such inhuman actions meted out at our loved ones.
As we commemorate the Women’s Month, let me take this opportunity to welcome the launch of the Departmental Gender Forum. The forum is to be chaired by Ms Noma Sithole, assisted by Ms Audrey Ndlovu. I understand it is the first of its kind in the department just like the Departmental Youth Forum that we launched during the Youth Month. When people get organised in this fashion, it helps in processing issues of concern faster in an engaging manner just like the women of 1956 who organised themselves to resist inhuman laws.
We expect the forum to champion gender issues for the sole realisation of gender equality. We wish them luck. We expect you to work harmoniously in order to achieve the goals you have laid down for the forum.
Let me conclude by extending my best wishes to all the women. This is your month. I call upon all women and men of CoGHSTA to work together in partnership in order to address the challenges of poverty and move into a transformed and prosperous era. I urge you to keep in mind all the pronouncements we made in our recent Budget Vote and ensure that each and everything that we promised to do is done. We must not carry anything over to the next financial year as the next financial year will come with its set of pronouncements for our people. I am confident that you are more than ready to meet the challenges of development and empowering one another wherever you are.
Together we move this country forward.
Malibonngwe igama lamakhosikazi malibongwe!
I thank you.
