This fight is still on today

The month of August has become synonymous with women. Exactly 57 years ago this month, on the 9th of August 1956 20 000 women marched united on the Union Buildings in Pretoria in protest to the dehumanising Apartheid regime’s pass books. Pass books ensured that the majority of South African were prevented from moving freely within their own country. Daring and courageous women like Helen Joseph, Lilian Ngoyi and Albertina Sisulu, planned and led this dramatic protest. The women came from every colour, political background, creed and corner of South Africa. The march showed the then National Party Prime Minister JG Strijdom could not break our women but only united them more in their resolve to fight the evil system of Apartheid. Today I have the honour and privilege of being in the same room of a new generation of women who have the same courage and resolve to fight the other evils that confront us today in the modern-day South Africa. The reality is that we (and that is all of us; women and men) need to remain committed to the emancipation of women throughout South Africa. Gone are the days when gender and indeed social issues are looked at separately from other issues. All challenges are integrally interlinked and equally pressing. The new DA-led Gauteng provincial government next year will be an open and responsive government. A DA-led government will deal with women and children’s health, domestic violence and rape, youth and family development and unemployment side by side. Here are the facts; because of domestic violence a woman in South Africa is murdered by her partner every 8 hours. 1000 women a year. The DA has not forgotten you, a DA-led government will respond to this. Rape and sexual violence are gripping our nation, and have reached crisis levels. A woman in South Africa is raped every 10 minutes. More than 50,000 rapes a year. The DA has not forgotten you, a DA-led government in Gauteng will respond to this. In fact the DA is not waiting to get into government, as it will here in Gauteng next year, we have already done much work in this regard. For years, the DA has called for the specialised courts to address sexual offences to be revived. Earlier this month, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe did just that and heeded our call and the Specialised Sexual Offences Court will finally be resuscitated. In the same statement, however, he told us the courts will be supported by a budget of only R20m. But R20m is not enough to tackle this scourge with the urgency it deserves. R20m mocks the suffering of the thousands of women, men and children who are victimised by the perpetrators of these crimes every day, more so since the same department allocated R45m to specialised courts for the 2010 World Cup alone. The DA commits that we will continue to work hard in Parliament to put pressure on the government to address this lack of commitment. We will work for change. Our mindset must change as all South Africans are interlinked; the wealthiest person can only reach his or her full potential when the poorest and downtrodden black woman is empowered. It makes as much economic sense as much as it makes moral sense. The ANC has let down the women of this province badly. And by letting down the women, the potential of every man and child has also been held back. Today, just as in August 1956 at the Union Buildings, we must never forget the 60 minutes silence and remind ourselves of how much more there is still to be done today, to give women equality and respect. All South Africans have a role to play. We have a responsibility to honour the sacrifices of our women over the years. Let us never forget. We can remember by continuing this fight. This will we will do together.