Western Cape Premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Wednesday that Women’s Day amounts to nothing if the celebrations take place against a backdrop of lack of delivery.
“Women’s Day celebrations should be accompanied by the delivery of services such as water, houses and sanitation,” Rasool told thousands of women who had gathered at the Gugulethu sports complex to celebrate Women’s Day.
“As government, occasions like these are a reminder of our obligations to women of this country.”
Mr Rasool said women had to be protected against domestic violence, as well as to be given access to business opportunities and basic services.
To ensure the spirit of the 1956 women was kept alive, women attending the celebration re-enacted the protest march to the Union Building by marching for 1,7km from the Gugulethu sports complex to Mannenberg police station.
On arrival at the station the group participated in the burning of symbolic passes, which were the focus of the march 50 years ago.
The protesters had been opposing an amendment to the Urban Areas Act that required black women to carry pass books when they were in cities.
Business woman and former political activist, Hilder Ndude, urged South African women to extend the struggle against gender inequality beyond the country’s borders and stand in solidarity with women in war-torn countries.
“As South African women, we also have a duty to highlight the plight of women in countries such as Palestine and Lebanon, where defenceless women find themselves trapped in senseless wars,” she said.
She said that while women who marched against pass laws in 1956 played a major role in the struggle for liberation, young women of today have a duty to take the fight for women’s rights to a new level. — BuaNews