Modulasetilo le Maloko a a tlotlegang a Palamente ... [Chairperson and hon members ...]
... I am honoured and humbled to be part of this debate on the celebration of International Women's Day. International Women's Day events are observed and celebrated annually in honour of women's advancement. They also diligently remind us of the continued vigilance and action required to ensure that women's equality is gained and maintained in all aspects of life. It is a day to reaffirm our commitment to the work done by women towards economic, political and social achievement of women's past, present and future. The IWD event, as it is commonly known, is celebrated worldwide, ranging from small informal gatherings in the dusty streets of Marapyane to large, highly organised events.
Allow me to quote uTata Nelson Mandela when he said at the opening of Parliament in 1994, "Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression."
As we celebrate this day, we need to ask ourselves: Are things getting better for the rural women of South Africa or worse or are they staying the same? If things are getting worse, as a patriotic citizen of this country, I am asking: Why are they getting worse? What is it that I can do as an individual and as part of the collective to address them? If they are getting better, the question arises whether they are getting better fast enough for women who have been subjected to oppression for hundreds of years. In this case, I will align myself with the President of this country, J G Zuma, when he said, "We must work harder, faster and smarter so that we can be able to change the lives of the women of this country and the people of this country." Approximately 52% of South Africa's total population is women and, of this, almost half - 47% - are living in the rural areas. Thus, it is imperative that poverty alleviation and skills development programmes should target women in their individual capacities as the heads of households. Efforts towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals will not be credible without the full and equal participation of rural women in decision-making.
Fortunately, our country is on track in terms of women representation in Cabinet, legislatures and local government. More attention should be given to the public administration, private sector and other civil organisations.
Rural women have the greatest difficulty in accessing education, health and other basic services. Where there is no running water, they are the ones who have to walk long distances to fetch water from the rivers, to be used by entire households. They are the ones who have to go into the bushes and collect wood so that children do not go to bed on empty stomachs. They are literally keeping the fires burning and keeping families together while many rural men are working and caught up in urban areas.
As young women, we want to thank, acknowledge and convey appreciation for all the women of this country, as well as to honour the capable leadership of women such as Ms Lilian Ngoyi, Mrs Sophia de Bruyn, Ms Charlotte Maxeke, Mrs Albertina Sisulu - the list is endless. We salute all the women for their sacrifice and dedication to the struggle for a nonracial, nonsexist and a democratic society. We have seen a number of programmes, policies and initiatives that continue to give life to women out there. We acknowledge the progress we have made thus far, but much more still needs to be done.
Fa re dira mmogo, re tla fenya. Maloko a a tlotlegang a Palamente, mokgatlho wa ANC ke mokgatlho o o reetsang e bile o na le dikgatlhego tsa bomme le set?haba ka kakaretso. Fa o lebeletse mananeo a thuto a naga ya rona, a tokafetse. Re bone dipholo tsa marematlou mo ngwageng o o fetileng di re itumedisa. Re bona baithuti ba le bantsi kwa dikolong e le basetsana e bile kamogelo ya bona kwa dikolong e kwa godimo. Le fa go na le mathata a mangwe a a dirang gore ngwana wa mosetsana a seka a fetsa sekolo, puso e e eteletsweng pele ke mokgatlho wa ANC e etse seno tlhoko e bile e a se sekegela.
Modulasetilo, re rata go akgola Mme Nomvula Mokonyane fa a neile baithuti ba marematlou ba le 1705 madi a go ya go tsweletsa dithuto tsa bona pele. Gareng ga palo eo, ba le 1200 ke basetsana. Re a go akgola mme, o ka se ikotlhae. Fa o ruta ngwana wa mosetsana o ruta set?haba. Re dira boikuelo go diporofense go ralala naga gore ba dire jalo gore lehuma mo nageng ya rona le se itelekele. Re dumela gape gore mananeo a tshwana le porogerama ya TechGirls a a rotloetsang le go ngoka bana ba basetsana go fitlhelela kitso e e farologaneng kwa ditirong, a a bileng a ba rotloetsa go dira dirutwa di tshwana le dipalo le saense, a botlhokwa. Re kopa gore a atolosetswe le kwa metseselegaeng ya rona. (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)
[By working together, we can overcome these challenges. Hon members, the ANC is an organisation that listens to its people and has the interests of women and society in general at heart. Educational programmes of our country have improved. We have achieved satisfactory matric results last year and we have noted an increase in the enrolment of girl learners in our schools. The ANC-led government is taking into account the challenges that prevent girl learners from finishing their schooling and is looking at appropriate measures to deal with them.
Chairperson, we would like to congratulate Mrs Nomvula Mokonyane for awarding 1705 matric learners bursaries to further their studies. Of these, 1 200 were girls. We congratulate her. She will not regret what she has done because when you educate a woman, you educate a nation. We therefore would like to appeal to all the provinces to do likewise so that poverty alleviation can be combated through education. We agree that the initiatives like the TechGirls programme, which encourages and supports girl learners to acquire diverse skills and to study subjects like mathematics and science, are important. We suggest that these initiatives be extended to our rural areas.]
House Chairperson, although rural women are assuming an increasingly prominent role in agriculture as producers of food in developing countries, they remain the most disadvantaged in the sector. The UN Food and Agricultural Organization estimated that rural women were responsible for half of the world's food production and produced between 60 to 80% of the food in most developing countries. They find it more difficult to gain access to valuable resources such as land, credit, agricultural inputs, training and services that would enhance their production capacity. Since they are less educated, they also lack the ability to handle the bureaucratic aspects of obtaining loans.
Women's co-operatives need to be strengthened and supported so that the number of hungry people in our world could reduce by as much as 150 million and the total agricultural output could rise by up to 4%. Another challenge is the lack of a network and access to marketing facilities. Rural women are exploited in the sense that intermediaries will buy their products at low prices and then sell them at higher prices, thus making a huge profit.
Modulasetilo, re le mmuso o o eteletsweng pele ke ANC, re tsere boikarabelo go tokafatsa matshelo a batho. Re dumalane gape gore ditiro tse di maleba di tla ya kwa metseselegaeng; ra itlama gore thuto e tla fitlhelela batho botlhe go sa kgathalesege gore o wa mmala ofe le gore metseselegae ya rona e tla tlhabololwa gore batho ba fitlhelele metsi le ditsela, mabala a metshameko le maokelo. Gape re ikaelela go busa mengwaga e e fetang sekete e e tlang. [Legofi.] (Translation of Setswana paragraph follows.)
[Chairperson, as the ANC-led government we have taken the responsibility of ensuring that the lives of the people are improved. We have also agreed that important service delivery be expanded to the rural areas. We commit ourselves to ensuring that the right to receive education is extended to all the people without considering the colour of their skin; and to ensure also that rural development takes place and our people receive basic services such as water, road infrastructure, sporting facilities and hospitals. We also intend to rule for more than a thousand years to come. [Applause.]]
In conclusion, let me remind the people of this world that it is a violation of human rights when women and girls are sold into slavery or prostitution. It is a violation of human rights when women are dosed with gasoline, set alight and burned to death because their marriage dowries are deemed too small. It is a violation of human rights when individual women are raped in their own communities and when thousands of women are subjected to rape as a tactic or a prize of war. It is a violation of human rights when a leading cause of deaths worldwide among those aged 14 to 44 is the violence they are subjected to in their own homes. It is a violation of human rights when young girls are brutalised by the painful and degrading practise of genital mutilation.
If there is any one message that should echo forth from this House it is that human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights. Ladies, you are the mothers of our future world. You are precious, you are special and are the mothers of our sons and daughters. Be humble and proud because you are entitled to a lovely and vivid name. Enkosi. [Thank you.] [Applause.]