Johannesburg – The African National Congress (ANC) on Tuesday said Women’s Day was a time to reflect on the suffering of victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence.
In a statement issued by ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa, the ANC said the incidence of domestic and gender-based violence, especially against young women, was worryingly high. He said older men were preying on younger women and destroying their lives by infecting them with disease.
“Women continue to be victimised through sexual crimes. Despite a progressive legal and regulatory regime, women continue to face discrimination in the workplace, and are denied access to opportunity on the basis of class and gender,” the ANC said.
“It is to women that we must direct the lion’s share of our efforts, if we are to eradicate the social ills we still face as a country of poverty, discrimination, and disease.”
The ANC also congratulated all the women of South Africa on their achievements and contribution to a democratic South Africa.
“This day is a time for both reflection on and celebration of the gains made by women in our young democracy,” the ANC said.
August 9 this year marks the 60th anniversary of the historic Women’s March to the Union Buildings by more than 20 000 women who protested against the pass laws of the apartheid regime.
The occasion was officially marked by the unveiling of statues of leaders of the march Tshwane and a keynote address by President Jacob Zuma.
Thousands of women converged on the lawns of the Union Buildings to recreate the march, many of them travelling long distances from other parts of the country.
The ANC said the 1956 march forged the way for South Africa to become a society founded on the principles of equality and non-sexism.
“The women who marched on the Union Buildings in 1956 knew, that in the words of VI Lenin: that ‘the emancipation of women and their equality with men is impossible and remains so as long as women are excluded from social production and restricted to domestic labour,'“ the ANC said.
“Today we can say proudly that thanks to the policies of the ANC, South Africa is a country where gender equality and gender representation is a fundamental tenet of governance.”
The ANC said South Africa’s new generation of young women had taken up the baton from the pioneers of the Women’s March, which was evidence that the country’s women would continue to take a stand against any forms of oppression on the basis of gender.
It said government had, since the dawn of democracy in 1994, made progress in ensuring women were able to take up their rightful place in the leadership of the country.
“Before 1994, only 2.7 percent of those in Parliament were women,” the ANC said.
“This has changed considerably. Today 44 percent of our Parliament consists of women, and women make up 43 percent of Cabinet.”
To honour the women of 1956, the ANC said it would continue to work towards accelerating a programme of radical socio-economic transformation, particularly for the lives of women.
African News Agency (ANA)