Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Tony Leon said Women’s Day was often the most difficult of South Africa’s public holidays to celebrate because women were still not protected by the Constitution.
In a speech prepared for delivery at the Blackburn village in Umhlanga outside Durban on Monday, Leon said that while South Africa had the most wonderful rights on paper, in practice women were not protected by these rights.
He said women were the most frequent victims of crime in the country.
”Over 50 000 cases of rape and attempted rape are reported to the police each year. Many more cases are unreported, and few ever lead to a conviction, he said.
He added: ”The vast majority of women in South Africa were still poor and unemployed. Yet at the same time they must bear the burden of supporting and caring for their families.
He said that while the DA was proud of the work that it had done in Blackburn, there was still a lot of work to be done.
For example, as many as 95% of the adults in Blackburn were unemployed and that a child support grant or a pension was the only source of income in many households. He added that women were more likely than men to be infected with HIV/Aids.
According to a national survey conducted by Witwatersrand and LoveLife, 77% of young South Africans with HIV/Aids were women. – Sapa