Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces, Deputy Chairperson, hon Chief Whip in absentia, hon Minister Mayende-Sibiya, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers in absentia hon members, I'm very happy to participate in this debate on 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. The subject of this debate is very close to my heart as a mother and human rights activist.
We must remember that this debate takes place at a time when the Free State province, which houses the Supreme Court of Appeal, mourns the death of Teboho Sikisi, the ANC provincial spokesperson in the Free State, who met his death on Saturday night in a car crash outside Bloemfontein while travelling with his comrades.
Indeed, the life of this young leader, who was a pillar of strength to the Free State government and Premier Magashule, will not go unnoticed. It is for this reason that I want to join the people of our country in paying tribute to the late Teboho Sikisi by remembering the poem of the renowned poet John Donne entitled Death be Not Proud. The ruling party is correct in saying that the tragic death of Teboho Sikisi has robbed the national liberation movement of one of its dedicated and committed cadres. This august House must mourn with the provincial legislature and provincial government of the Free State. Their loss is our loss in the NCOP. May his soul rest in peace.
The 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children campaign is an important campaign that asserts that Parliament should play a fundamental role in generating an increased awareness of the negative impact that violence has on women and children, and on society.
This year's theme is "Commit, Act, Demand: We can end violence against women". This theme will play a critical role in guiding the proceedings of this year's debate to take centre stage in combating violence against women and children. It will further set the tone for a reflection on the gains that have been made in protecting the rights of children and women.
Women and children are not only subjected to the struggle against violence but they are also severely affected by the struggle against poverty. This new form of oppression is more dangerous because of its socioeconomic nature. It is a silent killer and women are the hardest hit by it. Today we have the great challenge of the global food crisis and women and children bear the brunt of it.
Remember, hon members, it is we, the public representatives and female leaders, who carry the hopes of vulnerable women and children, especially those in the rural areas. We have to give them hope in the form of something concrete and it is in this debate that we must come up with that hope. If we don't, this silent killer, violence against women and children, will continue claiming the lives of our people.
For many decades, the ruling party has recognised and acknowledged the fact that the emancipation of women and gender equality are among the defining features of the national democratic revolution. Since the advent of democracy, the ANC-dominated Parliament has been at the forefront of the struggle for gender equality. As Parliament is the supreme institution in the land, we are bound to be examples to the nation and continent by taking the lead to protect the rights of the vulnerable who, in this context, are the women and children.
The month of November is indeed important in the calendar of events that characterise the programmes of organs of state. I'm saying this because South Africa took part in the campaign of No Violence Against Women and Children in 1999 and made significant strides in creating awareness around the link between gender-based violence and HIV and Aids.
The NCOP is in a strategic position to locate the campaign of 16 Days of No Violence Against Women and Children nationally because the Constitution gives the NCOP the representative role of ensuring that provincial interests are taken into account in the national sphere of government.
The NCOP has played a critical role in educating the nation to uphold the rights of children and women. This can be attested to by the programme that was convened by this august House towards the end of the Third Parliament. The review of the NCOP pertaining to children aimed to consolidate the parliamentary achievements for South African children.
The leadership of this House must be commended for convening such a programme, which had as its principal objectives the crafting of a road map for the furtherance of children's issues and strengthening oversight work of the NCOP on issues related to children. Working together with Unicef, we must continue to organise children's programmes in this Fourth Parliament.
We recognise the role that has been played by the Women's Parliament in the past by calling our government to be at the centre of implementing the 365 Day National Action Plan to End Gender Violence. This will assist in prioritising gender policy goals at the level of implementation and monitoring, as well as developing management tools for integrating work on gender into its project cycles.
The struggle for no violence against women and children is winnable. It is for these reasons that I can proudly say that our country will remain incomplete until women participate fully and on an equal footing at all levels of society. In Luanda, Angola, in 1981, former ANC president Oliver Tambo was right when he said our struggle will be less than powerful and our national and social emancipation can never be complete if we continue to treat the women of our country as dependent minors and objects of one form of exploitation or another.
No longer should it be that a woman's place is in the kitchen. In our beleaguered country a woman's place is at the battlefront of our struggle. The late Oliver Tambo stated that the liberation of the land of our birth and all its people will materialise as a popular victory on the basis of the involvement of the masses, including women in their millions, as a conscious and active part of the antiracist and anticolonial democratic movement of South Africa.
One of the fundamental tasks that the NCOP confronts is the liberation of the women of our country from their oppression on the grounds of sex, class and colour. Malibongwe! [Praise!] [Time expired.] [Applause.]