Speech presented on behalf of the Gauteng Premier, Premier David Makhura, on the occasion of the launch of the Gauteng Province Women’s Month, Constitutional Hill, Johannesburg
Programme Director,
MEC Sizakele Nkosi-Molobane MEC Faith Mazibuko,
COJ Speaker Connie Bapela Cllr Nokuthula Xaba,
MP's and MPLs,
Guest of Honour Mme Sophie du Bruin
Fatim Hajaing (Former MP),
Cde Jackie Mofokeng MPL,
Social Development HoD Shoki Tshabalala
Chriselda Kananda of Metro FM
Leaders of all women's organisations,
Gender activists,
Women public servants,
Honoured guests,
Women of Gauteng,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Malibongwe, Wathintabafazi, Bhasobha!
I bring you greetings from Hon Premier David Makhura. The Premier asked me to convey his best wishes to all women of Gauteng and a Happy Women's Month.
It is indeed an honour for me to be here with all of you today. It is a special privilege that I do so on behalf of the Premier, as part of the Gauteng Provincial Government Leadership Collective. It is as pleasing as it is overwhelming that my task is a noble one, to deliver the programme of the Gauteng Government on how we will celebrate the leaders of every facet of the South African society – its women.
South African women knew that long before they heard of the story of King Solomon and the feuding mothers that indeed: mma ngwana o tshwara thipa ka bogaleng!
It is this bravery that marked the beginning of the end of the pass laws and acceleration to the liberation struggle. When Lillian Masediba Ngoyi took to the stage of the inaugural conference of the Federation of South African Women (FEDSAW) in 1954, she spoke to brave people and they heard her. She told the gathered group of multiracial delegates: “Let us be brave: we have heard of men shaking in their trousers, but have you ever heard of a woman shaking in her skirt?”
Today we mark 59 years since the 1956 Women’s March, largely thanks to those brave words. It is those words that led yester years’ women to assert themselves and refuse to carry the Dompass, which added to a catalogue of restrictions blocking their freedom of movement.
Programme Director today is a momentous occasion because the celebrations of women’s month happens on the 21st celebration of freedom and democracy and the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter, document that crystallises the society we are building. It is appropriate therefore, that our government has put together a month long-‐programme of action dedicated to women. After all, it is the heroism displayed by our women that made this freedom possible.
Women’s Month is a tribute not only to the thousands of women who marched in 1956, but also a tribute to the pioneers of the women’s movement in this country, dating back to 1913. We recall with pride the struggle stalwart Charlotte Maxeke who in 1913, led women to the streets on an anti-‐pass demonstration.
It is this passion that spurred the Gauteng Government Executive Council (EXCO), to decided that we will celebrate the month under the theme: “Celebrating 60 Years of the Freedom Charter and Women’s Role in the Struggle for Liberation: Transformation, Modernisation and Re-industrialisation of the Gauteng City Region for Women”.
The Office of the Premier in partnership with the Department of Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation, municipalities and other departments will lead the Women’s Day celebrations on 9 August 2014 and a month-‐long programme of supporting activities.
The National Women’s Day celebrations on August 9 will be held in Sasolburg, Stadium from 9h00. The theme for the event is “Women United in Moving South Africa Forward”.
As such, some of the objectives for the Women’s Month this year include mobilising and building partnership with different sectors to ensure that women have access to available opportunities. We also aim to showcase achievements of women in art through exhibitions, film and festival and build capacity of women in business development, financial literacy, and access to procurement opportunities and managing business.
Programme Director, we champion these courses because we are undoing the bad inheritance bequeathed to us by the legacy of Apartheid. This very building is an example of how we are changing our society for the better. A cruel and historically notorious place, but we have undone all that and turned it into a remembrance site.
It has partly been turned into a museum and partly an exhibition and functions space. This we do to honour our leaders who endured harsh conditions here, including Mama Winnie Madikizela-‐ Mandela and Mme Fatima Meer who both were incarcerated within these walls.
It is fitting therefore, that we launch Women’s Month here at the Constitution Hill. It was known as Number Four, where prisoners were forced to endure painful and humiliation, which often included the stripping of women inmates.
A rolling calendar, which will be accessible through various provincial government websites from today, will list most the planned activities of provincial and local governments. Some of the key highlights include the following:
- Constitutional Hill Women’s Service Delivery Fair and Exhibition;
- National Women’s Day celebration;
- Memorial Lecture to honour the veterans of the struggle;
- Regional Women’s Service Delivery Fair in five municipalities;
- Unveiling of the Bertha Gxowa statue; and
- Ministerial Panel Discussion on services to women.
The development and empowerment of women remain one of the priorities of government. Since its inception 21 years ago the democratic government has introduced a raft of legislation, policies and programmes which have contributed to the development and empowerment of women.
The constitution guarantees the rights of women and all discriminatory law have been repealed and replaced with the ones that actively promote the development and empowerment of women.
The following are some of the key achievements that represent progress in empowering women:
- Women occupy key positions in decision-‐making structures of state and government as well as civil society;
- Women’s social needs are being addressed through expanded access to housing, education, health care, employment, social security grants and other services;
- More women are now active in the economy as entrepreneurs, thanks to a range of policies including preferential procurement, co-‐operatives development, small business promotion and skills development
- Large numbers of girl learners are enrolling in subjects such as mathematics, science and technology.
The Gauteng government has adopted a bold vision to transform the province into an integrated, sustainable and economically inclusive globally competitive city region.
A number of initiatives have been undertaken by the government to promote the economic empowerment of women. Government departments and entities have consistently surpassed the 30% target set for procurement of goods and services from women owned companies. The Gauteng mentorship programme is a step in the right direction towards increasing the meaningful participation of women in the Gauteng economy.
Government has assisted many women to start their own businesses and access the market both in the public and private sectors. The Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, which was formed in 2005 to give financial and business development support to SMMEs, has assisted over 400 women owned companies in the province.
Skills development
The comprehensive Gauteng Human Resource Development Strategy, which was completed in 2006, provides a framework for the development of the skills the Gauteng city region needs to drive economic growth and social transformation. Women are key beneficiaries in the development of skills.
By the end of 2006, the Gauteng Provincial Government had achieved its 2009 target of 8% of its eligible workforce in learnerships and internships, with 5 381 young people participating in internships and learnerships. Of these, 99% were black and 68% were women.
Women and housing
Great strides have been made by Gauteng in provision of housing to poor women and as well as basic services through the indigent policy. In the area of electricity provision, Gauteng has achieved sustained progress over time and it currently exceeds the national norm.
The Municipal Productivity Index (MPI) revealed Gauteng municipalities’ score of 55.4 outperforms the Western Cape’s average of 52.6, bolstered by the combined strength of Gauteng’s three metros, namely Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.
With a few exceptions (notably in Westonaria), more than 70% of respondents – and in some parts over 80% – were satisfied or very satisfied with publicly provided dwellings, water supply, sanitation and waste removal). While provision of basic services has improved, service delivery protests occurred at a rate of almost one every second day in Gauteng in 2013. However this data is not disaggregated by gender.
Gauteng is outperforming the country as a whole with 82.4% of the households in the province having adequate access to food (well above national average of 78.1%). Gauteng has increased the
number of female beneficiaries who gain from job creation initiatives. The nutritional interventions at schools and Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres have also assisted in mitigating hunger in children from food insecure families.
However for those who do not benefit from economic opportunities, government provides immediate relief to the most vulnerable, particularly women, children, elderly, people with disabilities and people infected and affected by HIV and Aids.
The Gauteng Social Development Strategy plays a key role in empowering women. Our approach is to ensure people-‐centred and sustainable development through working in partnership with communities and NGOs to support and empower people who are unable to work and have special needs, such as the most vulnerable, women, youth in distress, children, the elderly and those affected and infected by HIV and Aids.
A comprehensive and integrated food security programme has been introduced focusing on increasing local food production through supporting farmers, especially black and women farmers, and food gardens.
Women have benefited from government programmes to widen access to essential services for poor households as well as the provision of free basic services such as electricity, water and sanitation and through municipal indigent policies. The provision of social infrastructure through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) programme has been key in this regard.
Women and education
Significant progress has been made in the education of the people of Gauteng. Today, more girls are completing their secondary and tertiary education in Gauteng than before 1994. We have witnessed high levels of enrolment of girls in primary, secondary and tertiary education. Educating women has been linked to a host of positive outcomes including improvement of educational attainment of
their children, higher probability of being employed, less educated mothers tend to have less voice in decision-‐making at all levels, less control over reproductive health and choices, and lower life expectancy, to mention just a few.
Improvements have been recorded in increase of female principals, deputy principals and Heads of Departments but a lot more still needs to be done particularly at high school level. Strides have been made in education from Early Childhood Development (ECD) level all the way to Higher Education (HE) where numbers have doubled between 1996 and 2011 including females pursuing studies in the Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST) fields, with some Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) having more female than male students.
Access to higher education in the form of making bursaries available has been extensively used across departments and women have tended to benefit as much from bursaries as men.
ABET participation rate is skewed with 63% of learners being females. This is a step in the right direction as it addresses the past exclusion of females from formal education.
Women and Health
Health services have also been prioritised over the years, and great strides have been made in making Gauteng women healthier. Here are some of our health achievements:
Progress in maternal health care includes the decrease in the ratio of maternal deaths in institutions from 167.7/100,000 live births in the period 2005-‐2007 to145/100,000 live births for the period 2008-‐2010.
The rate of antenatal visits before 20 weeks is up from 24.7% in 2009 to 46.6% in 2013, management of obstetric emergencies has improved and family planning measures intensified. Anti-‐Retroviral Treatment (ART) for pregnant mothers now shows 80.5% HIV positive pregnant women were on ART by 2013, up from 60.2% in 2010/11.
Termination of pregnancy at hospitals and community health centres has resulted in decrease in deaths due to back street abortions, and 52 facilities were now providing these services.
The provision of post-‐exposure-‐prophylaxis (PEP) for victims of sexual violence is available at 54 facilities, with 56% of these facilities opening for 24 hours. Since 2006, the PEP programme had benefited more than 40,000 people, of which 47% (18,800) received ARVs since 2002. Between 2006 and 2012 there were a total of 90,827 PEP dispensed.
The number of women giving birth in Gauteng health facilities almost doubled between 2002 (78.6 %) and 2009 (134.2 %). While the statics suggest progress, a substantial percentage of women (17%) are not attended to by skilled personnel during delivery.
The provision of Nevirapine to babies since 2006 has led to the reduction of infant mortality. The Nevirapine dose to baby coverage rate has increased from 17.9% in 2006 and 46.3% in 2009, to 72.8% in 2013, and to date notable progress has been made in the prevention of mother to child transmissions, with a decrease from 8% in 2009/10 to 1.9% in 2012/13.
Approximately eight out of 10 pregnant women (80.5%) who were HIV-positive were placed on long-‐term antiretroviral therapy (ART), as they were severely immune-compromised.
The immunization coverage for infants under 1 year was 118.3% in 2013 (up from 90% in 2004 and 96.7% in 2006). Coverage has been extended to disadvantaged areas.
Preventative breast cancer screening has been made available only at Helen Joseph Hospital, thereby raising the issue of coverage and access.
Women and safety
Recent research by the Medical Research Council and Genderlinks shows that more than half of the women in Gauteng have experienced some sort of violence at the hands of their intimate partners and about 80% of men disclose having perpetrated such violence. However, the recently released crime statistics revealed a substantial decrease of 12.2% in sexual offences for the period 2013/14 in Gauteng.
Other achievements made towards the safety of women in Gauteng include:
- Establishment of 137-‐victim empowerment/support services in regions and police stations by 2012/13, up from 98 in 2003/4 providing support services for over 50,000 victims. Thirty-‐two community safe houses (Green Doors) and 23 shelters for abused women (serving over 600) and their children were also established;
- Enhancement of services at Ikhaya Lethemba (IKLT) to encompass additional forensic medical and medico-‐legal services which served over 8,000 adults and 2,380 children, victims of sexual and/or domestic violence;
- Strengthening of gender-‐based forums family justice support, forensics, conviction rates, FCS support, 70 Men as Safety Promoters (MASP) groups with 2,450 men,
- Establishment of 135 youth desks for social crime prevention and skills development (over 400 young people trained) and establishment of two new cure facilities for children in conflict with the law and an increased number of and uptake of services at Child and Youth Care Centres (CYCCs).
This is clearly narrower than provisions in the Violence Against Women and Children (VAWAC) Strategy.
Furthermore, the Thuthuzela Care Centres linked to Sexual Offences Courts provide the most effective services to survivors of sexual assault but they are insufficient to meet the need.
The Sixteen Days of No Violence against Women and Children is well known amongst women (78%) and men (83%) and this has contributed to the reduction of violence against women and children. However, the adequacy of the Gauteng response is compromised by the fact that a comprehensive Violence against Women and Children (VAWAC) Strategy that was developed is not being implemented.
Women and democracy
Up to the end of 2009/2014 cycle - participation of Gauteng women in decision making at political level exceeded the 30% quota suggested by the United Nations in that:
- Six of the province’s 10 Members of the Executive Council are women.
- There are mechanisms in place to enhance participation of ordinary women of Gauteng in democratic governance processes.
Service delivery to women
Access to basic services has been steadily increasing in Gauteng. During the five-‐year period (2008 to 2012), women receiving services increased from 2.4 million in 2008 to 3.0 million in 2012. The single highest municipality increased service delivery over 2008–2012 period was recorded by the City of Tshwane (from 558 510 consumer units in 2008 to 940 997 consumer units in 2012). The increase in electricity provision by municipalities has enabled many communities to have this facility in their houses for the first time.
Solid waste management services to consumer units went up from 7.5 million in 2008 to 8.1 million in 2012, with municipalities in Gauteng recording the largest increase (from 2,4 million in 2008 to
2.6 million in 2012). The percentage of households connected to the mains electricity supply has increased relatively consistently from 77.1% in 2002 to 85% in 2012.
However, connectivity actually decreased in Gauteng over this period, and only 2.4% of Gauteng households were dissatisfied with the quality of water provided by the respective municipalities. With a few exceptions (notably in Westonaria), many people are satisfied or very satisfied with publicly provided dwellings, water supply, sanitation and waste removal in Gauteng.
Women in governance
Steps have been taken to ensure that public servants reflect the demographics of the province. In this regard the provincial government made a commitment to ensure that by 2009, 70% of provincial government senior managers are black and 50% are women.
There are seven female Heads of Department and a growing representation of women at senior public service management level.
Gender policy
The Gauteng Gender Policy is comprehensive and is based on the current trends in gender development and women empowerment, taking into account the Millennium Development Goal statement “development if not engendered is endangered”.
The following strengths have been identified in the Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (GEWE) Policy of Gauteng:
- It highlights areas where gender is to be mainstreamed, i.e. education; skills development; ECD; economic empowerment; poverty eradication; sports arts culture and recreation; public health; safety; participatory decision making.
- The GPG policy has both external focuses to the citizens of Gauteng as well as an internal focus to GPG as an employer.
- An attempt has been made to establish a baseline at the beginning of the 2009-‐2014 cycles, a situation that would bode well for tracking progress and later on for determining impact if all departments complied by providing accurate baseline data.
Conclusion
This year’s celebration coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Freedom Charter and in the continued spirit of celebrating the Freedom Charter; we will complete the Women's Living Heritage Monument in Tshwane.
It is my view that all of these activities aimed at improving the socio-‐economic status of women will not have an adequate impact without the support of the media. I therefore appreciate your presence here as we launch this month.
I also hope you will join us as we host other activities that will be happening during the month of August.
Malibongwe! Thank you!
