Chairperson, I move without notice:
That the Council -
1) notes that South African women played a central role in the struggle for freedom from as early as 1913, when scores of women took part in the anti-pass campaign of 1913-1919 and were imprisoned in the old Kroonstad Women's Prison, which became the national prison for women freedom fighters, who later moved to the new Kroonstad Prison, where women like Dorothy Nyembe, Thandi Modise and others were incarcerated;
2) further notes that women were frog-marched by police on horseback from different towns in the Free State to the Kroonstad Womens' Prison, where they were detained in communal and single cells and also in solitary confinement for extended periods of time;
3) acknowledges the perseverance and tenacity of these women prisoners, who braved the horrific conditions in the old Kroonstad Womens' Prison until finally the Orange Free State Provincial Administration gave in to their demands and scrapped the pass laws in 1919;
4) recognises the central role that South African women played in the painful history and century-long, difficult struggle for freedom and democracy in our motherland; and
5) calls on the President of the Republic of South Africa to declare the Kroonstad Prison, just like the Robben Island Prison, a national monument.
Motion agreed to in accordance with section 65 of the Constitution.