Sihlalo, oNgqongqoshe, amaPhini oNgqongqoshe, amaLungu ePhalamende ahloniphekile, ikomidi kanye noMnyango oholwa nguKhabazela, izethameli zethu, izivakashi kanye nabangani, ngivumele Sihlalo nami ngibhodle emswaneni.
Sibuhlungu kakhulu ngokulahlekelwa iqhawekazi lomzabalazo wethu okokuqala lapho elwela inkululeko yesizwe nalapho elwela inkululeko yabesifazane. Ukudlula emhlabeni kukaMama Sisulu kusishiye sikhathazeke kakhulu. Siyazi sonke ukuthi umama uSisulu ubehlezi ehamba phambili kuzo zonke izinhlelo nemikhankaso yokulwela amalungelo abesifazane kanye nokuphakanyiswa kwesithunzi sabo.
Njengoba sigubha igalelo laleli qhawekazi lakithi, kumele sizibophezele ekuthini amalungelelo abesifazane okulingana makabe uhlelo lokuqala kuzo zonke izinhlaka zikahulumeni ngokunjalo namabhizinisi azimele nakulawo aphethwe nguhulumeni. Sicela ukuthi Inkosi ize imuphe umphumlela wafuthi. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[Ms M D NXUMALO: Chairperson, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, hon Members of Parliament, the committee and the department led by Khabazela, our audience, visitors and friends, allow me also pay my last respects.
We are heartbroken to have lost our struggle heroine, as she fought for the freedom of the nation and also for the freedom of women. The passing away of Mrs Sisulu leaves us totally devastated. We all know that Mrs Sisulu was always at the forefront of all plans and campaigns to fight for women's rights and the promotion of their dignity.
As we celebrate the role of this heroine of our land, we must commit ourselves to ensuring that women's rights to equality should be the first priority in all spheres of government, as well as in the private sector and state-owned enterprises. We the Lord to give her eternal peace.]
Chairperson, our greatest scourge and blight in the country is that of violence against women and girls. The government of the ANC is very vocal in this regard and upfront and blatant about South Africa's high rates of sexual violence and abuse. Women must tell government where they would like to see this Ministry going with regard to addressing the issue of violence against women and girls.
The SA government has been part of the launch of the United Nation's Secretary-General's campaign on ending violence against women from its inception. In 2008, during the 52nd Session of the UN Commission the Status of Women in New York, the secretary-general utilised the International Women's Day commemoration to blow the whistle on violence against women and girls in a global way. He also announced the creation of a global database on violence against women. This database was launched in March 2009.
Together with the campaign to unite to end the violence against women, this database assists in raising awareness on a large scale and will definitely result in intergovernmental collaboration on a greater scale in preventing organised crime such as human trafficking, especially of women and girls. However, hon Chairperson, we need to bring this global effort closer to home, both to Africa and South Africa itself. While the continent shows high levels of violence against women and girls, especially in conflict- torn countries, South Africa in particular presents serious concerns in some types of violence against women and girls and children in general.
All these efforts towards addressing violence against women are critical for us in this country, both for the Ministry for Women, Children and People with Disabilities and for, other government entities, as well as civil society and nongovernmental organisations. This means that we need to elevate the campaigns into national ones and collaborate in a meaningful way to bring coherence to these efforts.
Chairperson, a more concerted effort is needed by us to raise awareness within the justice and legal systems. Let us not only look at prevention because this is only addressing the symptoms. Let us look at the root causes, which means we need to tackle the issues of patriarchy and sexism. We also need to address the issue of socialisation when we as women and children and girls allow these things to happen to us because of the way we have been socialised.
We need also to begin to address the issue of masculinity and what it means to be a man in the present society vis--vis cultural and traditional practices. The policies of the ANC are giving government an opportunity to review the fight against patriarchy and all other forms of oppression against women. As the co-author of The Community Manifesto, Friedrich Engels outlines it in his essay. I quote:
On the "Origin of the Family, Property and the State"; the history of patriarchy can be traced back to the emergence of an economically uneven society. Since the development of a class society, women have been exploited both as suppliers of labour themselves and as producers of more sources of labour through childbearing.
Various political and cultural practices in the apartheid regime were adopted to reinforce or justify the dominance of men over women. Until today, women are still fighting some of these cultural practices such as ukuthwala [forced marriage] and female genital mutilation. Chairperson, it is for that reason that we encourage the SA Law Commission to investigate the appropriate legal instrument to make ukuthwala an offence. Currently, we rely on the Sexual Offences Act which protects young girls under the age of 16 years from such a practice. We also have to find a legal instrument to protect adult women who may still be subjected to this harmful traditional practice against their will.
Despite current participation in the paid labour market, women continue to carry the burden of unpaid work, including domestic duties and child care. All of this labour from women remains unrecognised in our society because what is not measured cannot be valued economically. Therefore, the efforts of our government to achieve universal access to early childhood development programme does not only support child growth and enhance education outcomes. It also frees many women of the burden of unpaid work.
Chairperson, I want to conclude by saying the right to vote and to hold public office has largely been achieved in our country. Our struggle now is about equal representation of women in decision-making positions. On the political front, at the national and provincial level, we are a global best practice of women's participation in the struggle for social justice and in shaping the political landscape after the transition.
Now is the time for women to stand up and really be counted as they did in the local government elections last month. We must strive towards the 50/50 representation of women in key positions on this level; we are to make an impact as women, but, more importantly, on lives of other women, ordinary women place all their trust in us as women leaders. We must not let them down.
Chairperson, how this country moves forward over the next five years of local governance is very much dependent on how the women of this country choose to shape it, be it in elected local government positions, as women voters, women participants in local governance or as women influencing the mainstreaming of local processes to heed both their basic as well as strategic needs. As ANC, we support the Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]