Chairperson and hon members, I am standing in for the hon Ditshetelo, who has had a bereavement and has had to fly back home. This is a department that seeks to ensure that all South Africans, in accordance with the dictates of the Constitution, are equal.
The UCDP welcomes the strides made to bring the department to an even keel after it floundered on the rough seas immediately after being established. While some women are living themhigh life as executives in the corporate world, there are others in the countryside that cry out for help as they are left to suffer from hunger, neglect and ill-treatment invariably disguised as culture.
The UCDP holds the view that nondiscimination and nonsexism should not only be preached, but also practised. No woman should be coerced into a matrimonial relationship, or any relationship for that matter, without her consent. We hope the Ministry will agitate for the tightening of legislation on this matter, so that equal should be equal, and some should not be less equal.
We note and accept that women have been deployed to participate at operational levels of the United Nations and on African Union peacekeeping missions of the SA National Defence Force, the SANDF. We also note the concerted efforts mounted by South Africa to consider gender balance, when nominating teams to assist with mediation and/or reconstruction and development in conflict-ridden countries.
The UCDP condemns, in the strongest possible terms, the Ganyesa madness of yesterday that resulted in the death of a woman in labour because protesters had barricaded the road, and thus an ambulance could not reach her to take her to the clinic. Discontent about a road should not result in the death of two innocent souls. We hope this will be followed up, and that those responsible will be brought to book.
The UCDP calls on the Minister to ensure that Article 3 of the African Union Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, which focuses on the prohibition of recruitment of child soldiers and the abuse of girl-children as wives and sex slaves in violation of their rights, as enshrined in the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, is observed.
The "ukuthwala" [forced marriage]practice should be fought against with all available resources as it deprives young girls of their youthfulness. That it is tradition is neither here nor there. People cannot eat their cake and have it. If people accept democracy with its concomitant appendages, they cannot go back and cling to culture and tradition when it suits them.
We respect the slogan of the people living with disabilities, which says: "Nothing for us without us." We hope more and more opportunities will be given to these people, some of whom are brainy and talented and are an asset to this country. The likes of Oscar Pistorius, Steve Kekana and some hon members in this Parliament, who are Sponono debaters, are just simple examples that come to mind. The UCDP supports the Budget Vote. [Applause.]