Long live 9 August, South African Women's Day, long live!
HON MEMBERS: Long live! [Applause.] Ms L L ZWANE (KwaZulu-Natal): Deputy Chairperson, hon Minister, members, in South Africa the month of August is dedicated to celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of all women, irrespective of their political preferences, socioeconomic status and religious affiliation.
Celebrating the strides that women, from all walks of life, have made is a sentiment close to the heart of our icon, Nelson Mandela, who is a world- celebrated leader and father of the nation. We all actively participated in the International Nelson Mandela Day on 18 July 2010 by doing something to uplift the spirits or the lives of the less fortunate.
We can all attest to the fact that that kind of self-giving activity was self-fulfilling. It is the kind of activity that we need not do on this particular day only, but it should be something that, as women, we do every day of our lives by caring for those women who are less fortunate. One of the effective ways of taking forward this legacy left by Tata Mandela and other women, whom we are celebrating as heroines today, is to do good to everyone, every time, anyway, despite the challenges and obstacles that we always face as women in the daily activities of our lives. I subscribe to Mother Teresa's thinking when she says: "We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love."
Coupled with celebrating the sacrifices of former President Nelson Mandela, this month we are remembering and learning from the stories of ordinary women who made history. They are indeed great women who have pioneered the change that we see today in different aspects and facets of life. They themselves became the change that they wanted to see. Many have contributed in ensuring that the world that we live in today transcends gender limitations and often women themselves have pioneered these changes.
If we go far back in the history of KwaZulu-Natal, even during the precolonial era, we can remember great women like, for instance, Mkabayi kaJama, a woman who contributed greatly in the formation of the Zulu nation. When things did not go well in KwaZulu-Natal at that time, Mkabayi decided not to keep quiet about it. She had to take very tough decisions to call things to order even during that era.
When I look at the actions and decisions that she had to take, I sometimes say to myself, even at that time, Mkabayi kaJama was a Member of Parliament. When things went wrong, she did not keep quiet. She was brave enough to face even the king who was ruling at the time, and went further to actually orchestrate his assassination because she wanted to deliver people and wanted justice to prevail. It is such women that we are looking for today. It is such women that we need to support - women who are not afraid to speak out when things do not go right. If, for instance, we could refer to what other speakers said earlier on by way of remembering the heroines that contributed to the struggle, now that we are here today, there are people who went before us and sacrificed their lives.
However, the struggle, as it was explained earlier on, did not begin in 1956. Around 1913 there were already marches led by different women who were fighting the injustices of the government of those times. For instance, women were not quiet about the Land Act, where the whole Act was actually meant to disadvantage blacks to the extent that blacks were given only 13% of the land. Women were not quiet about that. It is only that maybe they did not approach that whole issue in an organised fashion.
Around 1948 and 1950, women organised a potato boycott. I suppose you remember that boycott, when women took a firm stand and said that they were not going to buy potatoes because prisoners were used by the government of the day to plant those potatoes, and, in the process, some of the prisoners were killed and were buried there.
Bathi abesifazane ngeke sisawathenga amazambane, ngempela kwama nse ukuthengwa kwamazambane ... [The women said, we will no longer buy potatoes, and indeed people stopped buying potatoes ... ]
... for a long period.
Ngoba bengafuni ukudla ukudla ekubeni umhlabathi wakhona uvundiswe ngezidumbu zezingane zamanye amakhosikazi. [Because they did not want to eat food which was grown in soil fertilised with the corpses of other women's children.]
Women stood firm and fought for that. It is women in KwaZulu-Natal -the previous speaker alluded to that - abaya kwalihhoko, ehholo labhiya, kwamayemaye [who went to lihhoko, a beer hall, in Mayemaye].
The men were busy drinking beer and had forgotten their duties. They had even forgotten their bedroom duties as men ... [Laughter.] ... because they were so glued to and so hooked on drinking this beer that was actually killing the systems that they need to use to procreate. So women went there and said enough is enough.
Bachitha utshwala bafaka isibhaxu. [They spilled the beer and beat them.]
And then men had to come to their senses and take their responsibility of providing for and protecting women in their own homesteads. It was women. Women can bring about change if they want to.
Uma besathule bathule ngoba besafuna isu ... [When they are quiet, they are actually devising a strategy ...] ... not because they are afraid. It was women who actually organised the strikes against the dips.
Isiteleka samadiphu. Izinkomo zamadoda zifa, kodwa ezabelungu izinkomo ... [The dip strike. Men's cattle dying, but cattle of the whites ...]
... were not dipped in the same dip where the other cattle were dipped. There was something fishy about that because it indicated that there was some poison that was put in to kill black people's livestock. Women stood up and actually closed the dips. It is women who brought about that kind of change.
Nango-1980 siyabakhumbula abesifazane abanye babo abakwaZulu-Natal ... [Even in the 1980s we remember women, some of whom were from KwaZulu-Natal ...]
... who actually remained in their homesteads when their husbands were away in exile. These women had to take decisions and run the homesteads on behalf of the husbands who were away.
Siyamubonga umama uSizakele Zuma,umaKhumalo.[We thank Mrs Sizakele Khumalo- Zuma.]
Today, her husband is the President, but she had to remain and actually run the homestead, faithfully, until the President came back. [Applause.]
Ngakho-ke siyakubonga ngomnikelo owasenzela wona, namuhlanje sinoMengameli ngoba wahlala wabekezela ezimweni ezinzima. [We therefore thank you for your contribution, for today we have a President because you remained and persevered in dire conditions.]
There are other women who contributed to the struggle, women like Dorothy Nyembe, Margaret Mncadi, Tryphina "MaMboxela" Njokweni, Florence Mkhize, Busi Mhlongo, the artist, and Dr Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. Those are the women who made men's contributions. As we are here today, we will be making a grievous mistake if we don't mention their names. We may not mention all of them because they are so many, but at least we should mention some of them.
Siyababongela omama abanjengo ... [We thank women like ...]
... Ellen Sirleaf, who is the Liberian president. I think she is the first woman president on the African continent.
Ungowokuqala, baningi abanye abazolandela. Uhlahle indlela ... [She is the first; many more are to follow. She led the way ...]
... and I want to believe that it was not easy for her to reach the stage where she is, but women are learning from that and are going to assume those positions very soon. We are not making threats, but we are going to assume what is rightfully ours because we have the gift of leadership.
We do want to applaud the progress that has been made by the democratic South African government ever since its inception.
Siyababona omama ... [We thank the women ...]
... in the decision-making bodies of government and the parastatals.
Siyababona oNgqongqoshe abakhona kuzwelonke. Kodwa, ikakhulukazi kwisifunda sakwaZulu-Natali, siyakuthanda lokhu esikubona kwenzeka khona. IsiGungu sakhona esiPhezulu sinabesifazane abayisihlanu kanye nabesilisa abayisihlanu. [We thank the MECs throughout this country, especially in the province of KwaZulu-Natal - we like what we see happening there.]
In the legislature we have struck the 50% balance. In the chairpersonship of portfolio committees we have struck a balance of 50-50. So, there is progress.
Kodwa-ke, kuyasixaka ukuthi kunezifundazwe ... [But then, it is surprising that there is a province ...] ... where there is only one female in a sea of males, yet those provinces hope to govern the country. The ANC still has a lot of work to do in terms of educating and giving lessons to other parties in order to reach where the ANC is today.
KwaZulu-Natali sibe nePhalamende labesiFazane elibe yimpumelelo, ... [In KwaZulu-Natal we had a women's parliament, which was a success ...]
... where we created a platform through the Office of the Speaker, Ms Peggy Nkonyeni, and brought women from rural areas.
IPhalamende labesifazane laKwaZulu-Natali kulo nyaka beliseMkhanyakude, ... [This year the KwaZulu-Natal women's parliament was in Mkhanyakude ...]
... right in the deep rural areas ...
... lapho bakhale khona ngogesi namanzi, bengenalutho [... where they complained about electricity and water, because they have none]
We promised that we will see to it that the government of the day, be it nationally, provincially, or locally, addresses those issues because if you address the issue of electricity ...
... uthinta umuntu wesifazane nokuhlupheka kwakhe, angavuki ekuseni aye ehlathini. Uma ukhuluma ngodaba lwamanzi wenza ukuthi angayi kowasha emfuleni ashaywe yizinyoka. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[... you are relieving women from the hardship of waking up in the morning to go to the forest. If you address the issue of water, you are saving women from going to do laundry in the river and being subjected to snakebites.]
Many other issues were addressed at that platform. So, we really are celebrating this month and the office of the premier - as hon Magadla said - is full of a series of activities that are taking care of women in various sectors of the community. Thank you very much, Deputy Chairperson. [Applause.]