/ 10 August 2008

Mbeki says violence against women undermines democracy

South Africans needed to stand up against the abuse of women, President Thabo Mbeki said in a speech prepared for delivery on Women’s Day on Saturday.

”Violence against women violates the rights and undermines the dignity of our sisters, mothers and daughters. It undermines our democratic victory. It is contrary to the values of the Constitution, born of the blood shed by countless patriots, including women,” said Mbeki at Ga-Motlala in the North West.

He was addressing one of many functions being held countrywide to mark the day in 1956 when thousands of women gathered at the Union Buildings in Pretoria to demand the withdrawal of pass requirements for women, and the repeal of the pass laws.

Mbeki paid tribute to murdered 27-year-old KwaZulu-Natal science student Gail Papli, saying: ”As we celebrate our women on this day, we remember Gail and many others whose lives were brutally snuffed out through unacceptable criminal violence.”

Papli was stabbed to death in February and her boyfriend is due in court on September.

”Equally, we would like to make an earnest appeal to community structures and in particular, families, to stand up against and report incidents of women and children abuse,” Mbeki said.

He noted that ”more often than not”, rape and child abuse were committed by people who were known to the victims.

”The continued perpetration of these barbaric acts of gender violence is an indictment on all of us and should, correctly, make us angry even as it propels us to intensify our efforts to end this social malaise.”

He said South Africa was inspired by countless heroines, and listed Gertrude Shope, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and, his mother, Epainette.

He also congratulated Judge Navi Pillay for her appointment as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

He said improving gender representation in government institutions was not just about making up the numbers, but was a deliberate act of gender empowerment. Although women were making inroads in empowerment, more was needed in the private sector.

He spoke of the forthcoming ”War on Poverty Campaign”, to be led by Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, which would help address some of the issues women and families face, which include increasing food and fuel prices.

The programme would identify the needs of the poor. In a speech prepared for delivery on Friday night, Mlambo-Ngcuka said the challenge now was to re-focus the women’s movement, which she believed was in danger of collapse.

Mbeki said the hardest part of women’s emancipation still lay ahead, with many women lacking skills and living in isolated underserviced areas, which showed that ”the 1994 revolution has not yet achieved its goals”.

”While we have professional women who are realising their dreams, most South African women still do not have enough resources to change their lives for the better. ”

He thanked men who had supported women’s struggle for a non-sexist society.

”The fact is that the men in our country can ever be free unless the women are free,” he said. – Sapa