Message by DDG Thandeka Mxenge on behalf of Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana on the occasion of the launch of a Project to Empower Women Entrepreneurs
Programme Director,
Dr Syed Sadiq, Deputy Representative and Officer-in- Charge, UN Women Multi-Country Office,
Dr. Agostino Zacharias, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative;
Ms Vukani Magubane, Director of Public Affairs & Communications, Coca-Cola South Africa;
Masabatha Mthwecu – Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Hand in Hand Southern Africa Representatives of the Coca Cola company,
Officials from the Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities,
Distinguished guests and Members of the media.
Kindly receive greetings and sincere apologies from Minister Lulu Xingwana who desired to come and witness the birth of this great initiative, however, due to Parliamentary duties, she is unable to be here.
It was former president Nelson Mandela, who, 20 years ago, during his inaugural State of the Nation Address, asserted that ‘freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression’ and are empowered to intervene in all aspects of life as equals with any other member of society.
This assertion has placed on us (as government, civil society and the private sector) a responsibility to ensure that we accelerate efforts towards the capacitation of women so that they are indeed freed from all forms of oppression.
Progress has been noted in many areas in particular addressing the economic empowerment of women through establishment and creation of women cooperatives, support of women in agriculture and farming, in energy particularly in green economy projects and solar energy, mining, Expanded Public Works Programmes, grants and funds through partnerships between government, the private sector and international and regional stakeholders.
However, despite the progress made, poverty still wears a feminine face as many women remain excluded from participation in the mainstream economy which further perpetuates gender-based violence. One of the challenges of advancing empowerment remains the limited resources especially in middle income countries where traditional donors are scaling down their support.
To address this challenge we need more unique partnership such the one we are witnessing today where UN Women, Coca-Cola South Africa and their NGO partner, Hand in Hand, have joined hands to reach out to economically marginalized women at micro level whose effort to empower themselves ought to be supported in order to accelerate their empowerment.
The partnership is unique in that it brings together an international organization, the private sector and an NGO who will be able to leverage their different yet complementing strengths and bring innovation to the methods applied in empowering women. We can never over emphasise the critical role that social actors play in supporting government policies and initiatives in the advancement of the national development agenda.
This project resonates with our government’s objective of ensuring that women are economically empowered, to gain the socio-economic independence they deserve and among others, liberate themselves from the bondages that sometimes lend them succumbing to gender-based violence.
We congratulate UN Women and the Coca-Cola Company for taking the initiative to contribute to the empowerment of women globally and choosing South Africa as one of the three pilot countries together with Egypt and Brazil.
I am aware that in South Africa, the project is designed to target women retailers at the micro level of business, by focusing on developing capacity in business and life skills, to empower entrepreneurs to succeed in growing and sustaining their businesses. This will see many women entrepreneurs being empowered to break into the economy. We are hopeful that the project will also seek to mainstream gender and disability considerations into business.
As a department, therefore, we are excited about this initiative and we look forward to the success stories that will come out of this partnership. We are also encouraged by the display of responsible corporate citizenry on the part of Coca-Cola and Hand-in-Hand. Indeed government cannot do it alone.
We are confident, Programme Director, that the 25 000 women entrepreneurs that will be capacitated over a period of three years will go on to improve their socio- economic circumstances and, in turn, promote empowerment of their families and communities in different spheres of life.
In conclusion, I am pleased to report to you that following the South African government’s adoption of the 50/50 gender parity principle our department has since introduced the Women Empowerment and Gender Equality Bill.
The Bill was tabled in Parliament in November 2013 and is currently undergoing parliamentary public consultative processes. Once enacted, the WEGE Bill will become a powerful instrument to advance the objectives of gender equality and women empowerment and enforce compliance on the empowerment of women on the existing legislative framework both within and outside the public service.
I thank you!
