Programme director: hon. Mankahla
Clergy : Rev. Makula nabe fundisi bonke
Fellow MECs present
Hon. Members of the Legislature: women caucus
Mayors , speakers and all cllrs
Traditional leaders
Acting DG, all HODs and government officials
Chapter nine and chapter institution
Panelists
Omama bonke
Disability sector
Distinguished guests
Abantwana besikolo abalapha bonke
Good morning
It is an honour to be with the women of our province today to observe International Women’s Day. International Women’s Day was first celebrated in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and Denmark in 1911. This is a special day that celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women and also few days ago we lost one of the torchbearers in the fight against gender based violence and femicide, Sis Pamela Maro Mabini.
Bomama base Wesile bomanyano xa ndinibona nikumanyono lomama ndindikhumbuza imeko ka mama u Maxeke other wazibona eyedwa kwintlinganiso yotata bodwa apha e Komani kuala awe yase Wesile e Leyston, kumzabalazo wenkululeko egqibelelyo yo mama , wenza lamazwi “it is time that the voice of black woman be heard . They must ready themselves for a struggle”
Lisakhanya Ntshoko appointment granted , MEC Capa uzakusa dignitory towels to your schools . I invite all those who can afford individual and collectively to have a campaign of assisting and supply schools where we stay with sanitary towels to give dignity to the destitute young girls.
Rev. Sam and cc Wendy sinivile and sizakuqhubeka sisebenzisane nani singurulument , civil society and NGOs are us and we are you.
Dinhle’s testimony bubungqina bamazwi akhe athethwa ngutata u Mandela “ it always seems impossible until it is done”
We can all agree that life for women and every South African is better today than it was before 1994. Be that as it may, we are not blind to the fact that even though there are several government and non-governmental interventions to address gender inequality, a lot more work needs to be done in coordinating these efforts and scaling up existing interventions to realize the full participation of women in the political, social and economic system.
We say this because we must always be reminded of the fact that we still live in a highly gendered society that is characterized by patriarchal relations of power. This means girls and women have the short end of the stick.
Women in South Africa have always been game changers and leading from the front. Women have been at the centre of fighting against human rights violations and inequalities like in 1913 when women protested in Bloemfontein against pass laws, again in 1956 in Pretoria and again in 1958 in Johannesburg among other actions by women, over the years. A year before there was the Freedom Charter, women led the way with the Women Charter, which was adopted on 17 April 1954.
The Women’s Charter preamble is still relevant today, which reads: “We, the women of South Africa, wives and mothers, working women and housewives, African, Indians, European and Coloured, hereby declare our aim of striving for the removal of all laws, regulations, conventions and customs that discriminate against us as women, and that deprive us in any way of our inherent right to the advantages, responsibilities and opportunities that society offers.”
As we march towards the fourth decade of freedom and democracy in South Africa, we commit not to leave women behind. Our commitment is encapsulated in the State of the Province Address we delivered last month to the people of our province. If you look closely at the State of the Province Address, it addresses issues that are close to the hearts of women and issues that directly affect women.
Today, I want to remind you about those issues that we raised in the SOPA. For starters let me categorically state that our mission is to build an Eastern Cape where every citizen has an opportunity to thrive and reach their full potential. Thus, the theme for the next five years is: “the Eastern Cape’s time to thrive is now”.
We want to partner with women organisations to ensure that our province achieves its three interrelated priorities which are:
Inclusive growth and job creation,
Reduce poverty and tackle the high cost of living,
A capable, ethical and developmental state
On reducing poverty and tackling the high cost of living, our immediate focus areas are education, health, social protection and food security.
Ndiyathemba niyabona ukuba abantwana benu bayapasa emagqabini kweli phondo. The Matric Class of 2024 achieved a record breaking 84.98% pass rate, and I am certain women who are teachers and parents have played a significant role in the attainment of those results.
In this term, we will be improving access to quality and inclusive Early Childhood Development (ECD) and this is where most women working within our communities. An amount of R10 billion will be invested in EDC to ensure we upgrade facilities for ECD and for the training of women who are working in ECD. We are also investing R100 million for provision of services to special schools. I know that it is women who have the patience and love to educate and care for children with special needs.
The health profile of our province is improving, and women are living longer than males. Women are still vulnerable to HIV/Aids, and it is our commitment to ensure those who are HIV positive are supported to live healthy lives.
Women are the most affected by children with cerebral palsy and it want to inform your today that we are investing R131 million to establish 11 Cerebral Palsy Centres of Excellence for strengthening treatment.
BooMama lo rhulumente uyayazi ukuba ninawo amandla okuvuka nizenzele. However, we continue to rollout social grants as short-term measures to fight poverty in our communities. The total contribution of social grants in the province now stands at R34.8billion per annum and women and children benefit the most from that amount.
I urge women to work with government to reduce teenage pregnancy as well as promoting social and behavioural change, focusing on families and communities.
Food insecurity and malnutrition is affecting mostly women in our society. We are implementing a green revolution under the theme: One household, one garden to encourage every household and community to produce food in every available piece of land. We will accelerate the capacitation of households with vegetable, grain and poultry production as well as climate smart food production systems targeting 100 000 beneficiaries at an investment of R197 million over three years. Masilimeni booMama, sondle intsapho, sithengise enye imveliso yethu.
Our economy still excludes women, who are largely unemployed, in insecure jobs or excluded from entrepreneurial value chains. We aim to increase the number of employed people in our province to 2,4 million by 2030.
We are rolling out training programmes in partnership with various SETAs to benefit more than 37 000 young people and young women will benefit the most from this work. The Basic Education Employment initiative, focusing on capacitating approximately 28 000 unemployed youth will be rolled out this year and I have asked MEC Gade to ensure that young women are prioritised.
Women are key to growing the entrepreneurship sector. In the past five years the government has traded with the Eastern Cape based businesses to the value of R43.8 billion. This is the baseline for the next five years, and we aim to surpass this figure. Women owned businesses benefit the most from this amount of money in our province.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in his SONA that national government will set up a Transformation Fund worth R20 billion to benefit black owned businesses. Ndifuna axhamle kakhulu amashini wabantu abango Mama kule ngxowa mali.
I am proud of young women who are beneficiaries of Isiqalo Youth Fund who are growing their businesses throughout the province. Sibeke bucala iR165 million yokuxhasa amashishini abantu abatsha ngoku.
BooMama ndifuna ukuva ifuthe lenu kwezolimo. I want you to lead agricultural revolution in high-value commodities such as citrus, deciduous fruits, red meat, livestock, animal fibre, hemp and cannabis to unlock thousands of jobs in our communities. When we allocate farms, we are prioritising women because they were deprived those opportunities before 1994.
Women own and manage most tourism establishments in our province. To grow this sector, we are addressing binding constraints such as infrastructure to boost our tourism sector. Sport tourism has a huge potential in our province. We are going to bid to host more international sports events because they create jobs and business opportunities in the hospitality industry. For instance, the Springboks will be playing against Italy in Gqebera in July.
We are creating a conducive environment for economic growth and job creation. Umsebenzi esiwenzayo ukuphucula iindlela zeliphondo niyazibonela nani. There are women owned construction companies that are benefiting immensely from that work.
Women are affected the most by the danger of crossing rivers in rural areas. To date, 12 of the 19 bridges have been completed and will soon be handed over to communities. In the new financial year, we will finalize the remaining 7 and commence with the construction of 17 additional bridges in Amathole, Buffalo City Metro, Chris Hani, Joe Gqabi and OR Tambo.
Most households in our rural villages are headed by women. It is important to us for women to be housed in decent shelter. In the next five years we are investing R4.3 billion to build 26 384 houses. In our province, 95% of households have access to electricity, meaning women in rural areas no longer must go to the forests to get firewood.
We aim to increase the number of households with access to piped water from 80% to 90% by 2030. Siyazi ukuba kukho iimpompo ezingaphumi manzi kwezinye iindawo. Sikwiphulo lokuzisombulula ezi ngxaki sibambisene noomasipala.
Mandivale ngento endophula umphefumlo yolwaphulo mthetho kuba ichaphazela ngakumbi abantu abango Mama nabantwana.
We are responding to crime in a coherent manner that is organised in three important areas, namely, Community-driven initiatives, integration of resources and innovative strategies. We encourage women to join CPFs and land their voice in fighting crime. Create whatsapp groups to check on other women regularly and ensure their safety.
Gender Based Violence and Femicide remains a concern for the government. Our conviction rate on Gender Based Violence and Femicide cases continues to improve. In the current financial year there were 119 life sentences on 77 GBV cases involving 84 accused persons. In support of these interventions, the government has set aside approximately R225 million over a period of 3 years.
Mandiniyeke ngelithi ubunye ngamandla. Xa simanyene singazoyisa zonke izinto esijamelene nazo booMama. “This work is not for yopurselves, kill that spirit of self and do not live above your people but live with them , and if you can rise bring some with you” Charlotte Mannya- Maxeke” she said these words in 1938 in Bloemfontein .
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Mazenethole!
