Hon Deputy Chairperson, the struggle of women in South Africa has its roots in the struggle against colonialism and slavery. Women have fought not only because they were brutally oppressed but for their children and for the integrity of their families.
For centuries, black women of our country have been subjected to all sorts of unimaginable degradation: a lack of proper education, a lack of health facilities, semi-slave labour and countless other inequalities. Many of them have suffered harassment and brutal torture, but they did not succumb. Women suffered as part of the exploited black labour force, as impoverished mothers and as members of an oppressed community.
They were expected to accept the extension of the pass laws to African women because the perpetrators of apartheid grasped, in some insidious way, that the foundation of the system finally rested on the subjugation of the African woman by isolating her in the reserves, where she became conditioned to bearing and raising children as well as caring for the old and ill.
The Land Act of 1913 legalised the dispossession of the South African people of their land. While our people were driven off their land to work for the maintenance of the white economy, the pass was used to permanently control the movement of black people and curtail their development as a nation.
The late 1940s and early 1950s witnessed an intensification of the people's struggles. The regime had devised a unique form of institutional racism through the application of over 2 000 pieces of legislation designed to restrict the work and destroy the family life and, indeed, the very existence of the black majority.
In 1950, an impending amendment, which would enable government to introduce passes for African women, galvanised women into protest on a national level. The Women's Charter of 1954 was part of this broader campaign, and it was at this point that the ANC Women's League identified a need for a broader women's struggle to ensure total emancipation.
Passes were first issued in 1956 in the Orange Free State in the town of Winburg, where many women were arrested when they burned their passes. In Lichtenburg, more than 1 000 women met government officials to protest when they arrived to register them. In Nelspruit, women attacked the car of the magistrate when he announced that passes would be distributed. In Pietermaritzburg and Polokwane, 2 000 women stoned officials who came to register them. Cato Manor in Natal became the site of large-scale protests when the municipality attempted to end all illegal liquor stills. Beer brewing was an important source of income for African women. In June 1959, women marched and organised a beer boycott, which led to wide-scale uprisings all over Natal.
In 1977, the apartheid government announced that Crossroads would be demolished and the 20 000 residents would be sent to Transkei. The women organised the Crossroads Women's Movement with their rallying cry: "We are not moving." This caused the regime, under massive international pressure, to announce that it would not force the residents to leave the Cape Town area.
The burden became too heavy to bear, and the women's section of the ANC started mobilising women throughout the country to take a bold stand. The determination born out of anger united them even more. United we stand, divided we fall.
Fifty-four years ago, on 9 August 1956, South Africa saw more than 20 000 women of all racial groups and from all parts of the country converging in Pretoria. Most of them carried their babies on their backs and were led by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Fatima Moosa and Sophia Williams.
Siyabonga bomama besizwe. [Thank you, mothers of the nation.]
That was the beginning of what was later to be observed in many parts of the world as "South African Women's Day", in support of the South African women's struggle for liberation and fundamental human rights.
Women were prosecuted and persecuted on a wide variety of political charges, reflecting the range of their involvement in the struggle against apartheid. Among those who were serving jail sentences were women of all colours, ages and religions; young girls; and many mothers and grandmothers, some of whom were older than 70 years.
The oppressed women of South Africa, since the turn of the previous century, emerged as primary catalysts for protest against and challengers of the apartheid regime and colonialism. They were forced to shoulder a greater share of the burden of apartheid and they became increasingly conscious of the fact that the road to their emancipation was going through the destruction of apartheid and the creation of a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic society.
As we observe the 54th anniversary of that historic march to Pretoria, we, the women of South Africa, look back with a sense of achievement over the 100 years of our relentless participation in the national liberation struggle against colonial subjugation and oppression in South Africa.
Former ANC president, Albert Luthuli, wrote about the women's actions:
Among us Africans, the weight of resistance has been greatly increased in the last few years by the emergence of our women. It may even be true that, had the women hung back, resistance would still have been faltering and uncertain.
National Women's Day is about women in South Africa, the social conditions and the laws that affect them in their personal lives and in their wider field of education and conditions of work.
It is also about the way in which women have organised in the past and their struggle to overcome disabilities and difficulties under which they lived. It is about the part they played in the struggle for the liberation of the people of South Africa.
Remembering the beer boycott of 1959 in Natal, we can today rejoice in the fact that African women are standing strong in the liquor industry, with more than 1 000 tavern owners - traditionally women - having significant shareholding in the wine industry. After so many years of struggle, it is good to see recognition of economic benefits for women who labour in the wine and spirit business.
Furthermore, looking back to the 1956 pass law marches, we can rejoice that we have a new form of identification that does not discriminate against or subjugate women but allows them to actively participate in South Africa's civilian, social, legal and economic rights. The current form of identification assists women in registering their children, applying for employment, receiving social benefits and pensions and travelling without hindrance.
The National Women's Month must, therefore, be more than just a month of remembrance. It should be a tribute to our history of struggle, as well as a reminder of the work that lies in the months and years ahead.
In conclusion, I wish to pay homage to Comrade Ntswaki Lephuthing, provincial treasurer of the ANC Youth League in Gauteng, who tragically passed away recently. I also wish to congratulate the Gauteng ANC Youth League, led by Lebogang Maile, for the successful conference and for electing three women to serve on their five-member executive. [Applause.] We pledge to continue along the path of the 9 August occasion charted by Lilian Masediba Ngoyi, the great heroine of our people. Malibongwe! [Let it be praised!]
HON MEMBERS: Igama lamakhosikazi! [The name of women!]