Thank you, Deputy Chairperson. The current context of the conditions of women in South Africa can be assessed in relation to a number of factors and issues that have been raised by women in the fight against apartheid.
Central to this is a list of demands that was drawn up by the Transvaal Federation of South African Women for submission to the convenors of the real Congress of the People for incorporation in the Freedom Charter in 1955. It was titled, What Women Demand. It listed several factors that have informed the ANC's policy on gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Chair, after a robust consultative process, the women of South Africa made the following demands: the right to vote; four months' maternity leave with full pay for working mothers; compulsory free and universal education from primary school to university; proper houses; indoor sanitation; a water supply and proper lighting in their homes; the right to own property; and the list goes on. In the last 16 years of democracy in our country, the ANC has moved with speed to redress the footprints of apartheid and patriarchal relations. Our legislative and policy framework does not only enforce gender equity, but also protects the advancement of women with the aim of redressing past imbalances and discrimination.
A number of laws and policies were passed to empower women to improve the quality of their lives and open up space for their voices to be heard on matters concerning their lives. Most importantly, opportunities for women to have access to basic services and social, economic and political opportunities have been actively promoted.
We are aware that in some provinces, like the DA-led Western Cape, women are still regarded as unworthy of leadership positions and that some public leaders have no shame in publicly stating that the position of women is in the kitchen.
Chairperson, the private sector is one of the sectors where the leadership of apartheid is still most prominent despite many initiatives since 1994. Women's position in the business sector remains weak and many women are marginalised and subjected to sexist tendencies.
Helang, nako e a tsamaya. [Time is running out.]
We have seen the advancement of policies that are targeted at women's empowerment at the frontiers of poverty in our country. We have seen an expanded focus on the improvement of the livelihood of women and mothers through the system of social grants and other poverty alleviation programmes.
We are proud that the participation of girls in education in South Africa is one of the highest in the world. Our nation has reached its commitment in implementing the Millennium Development Goals with regard to expanding educational opportunities.
Chair, you will agree with us that eradicating gender inequality and addressing factors such as respect, dignity and freedom should not be resting on the shoulders of only the government and the ruling party. It also remains the duty of the businesses, community, civil society and every citizen in this country. That is why we say that in working together we can do more. And surely we will achieve more if we undertake a shared pursuit of a united, democratic, nonracial and nonsexist South Africa.
Ke a leboga. Thank you.] [Applause.]]
Dr M B KHOZA (KwaZulu-Natal): Hon Deputy Chair, members of the House, the previous speakers are prompting me to just comment on one thing before I read through what I have prepared.
You see, the process of decolonising the mind is not just the responsibility of the formerly colonised. The former coloniser also has to decolonise the mind. Therefore, even when we talk about realising a nonracial South Africa, both sides have to work on it. If we don't work on it together, there is no way that we can realise it.
We need to avoid the temptation of letting freedom be influenced by our ideological convenience and probably trying to excuse the past. Let us not make it a crime for black people to speak out about the pain they went through. Even today, on the National Geographic and Discovery Channel, on DStv, digital satellite television, we still talk about what happened to the Jews during the Second World War.