Cape Town – ANC Women’s League (ANCWL) secretary-general Meokgo Matuba has come come out with guns blazing, saying she is deeply concerned about the economic exclusion facing women in South Africa as the nation is grappling with looming mass retrenchments, job losses, and business closures.
"Women, especially black Africans, remain at the bottom of the pyramid when it comes to economic participation and benefit. The irony is that women constitute almost 52% of the population. It cannot be that as a majority, we remain treated as step-children in the economy, " she said.
She added that the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC), a Development Finance Institution (DFI), was further further victimising women in the case of Daphney Mashile-Nkosi, a member of the league and a mining magnate.
"The case of Daphney Mashile-Nkosi is symbolic for many reasons. It reminds South Africa about the economic power balance in society, and patriarchy. Many do not want to see women succeed at all costs. As the ANC Women's League, we reject the treatment meted out by our government-owned DFI against one of our own," she said.
She added that Mashile-Nkosi remained one of the few success stories of women entrepreneurs.
"She is a woman who comes from a rural background and built a successful business from scratch — an inspiration and role model to many women, young and old. Our own DFIs cannot be contributors to the failure of black women-owned business."
She further suggested that racism, patriarchy and double-standards were rife in the DFIs.
"How the Public Investment Corporation treated black versus white businesses is a classic example. The IDC’s conduct against Mashile-Nkosi is the tip of an iceberg on how these institutions remain untransformed in their conduct, especially the implementation of their economic mandate," she explained.
In addition, she was of the view that if the implementation of the economic mandate by the DFIs remained unchecked, women's economic conditions would worsen, especially in the time of Covid-19.
"President Nelson Mandela was right when he said, 'freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression'. In sub-Saharan Africa, women represent the majority of the labour force. Yet men (especially white) continue to enjoy better opportunities," she said.
He added that South African women remained oppressed in all spheres, be it economic, social and even in the family setting.
"This has been seen with the rise of gender-based violence (GBV) cases. Gender-based violence cannot be divorced from economic oppression. Many women often stay in abusive and toxic relationships because they are dependent on men for their livelihoods. If the women were economically emancipated, they would not stay – but would be able to leave those abusive relationships without fear," she said.
She called on the government to stop paying lip-service to women's issues.
"The continuing economic exclusion, which to a degree is interlinked with GBV, must come to an end. We call on the government to mainstream women on the Covid-19 economic recovery plans and policy," she said.
She said the league rejected the posture and adversarial position taken by the IDC against Daphney Mashile-Nkosi.
"We call on the minister and all stakeholders to find common ground. It is important to save the woman-owned business, and the jobs of over a thousand families," she said.
She further called on women and men from all sectors of society to join in the fight against economic exclusion, especially that of women.
"The attitude of the government and the South African patriarchal society of not listening to women has pushed us into a corner. We are left with no alternative except to remind them of what mama Lilian Ngoyi, Rahima Moosa, Sophie de Bruyn and Helen Joseph did in 1956. We will mobilise and take to the streets in large numbers as part of preparations for the celebration of 65 years of the August 9 March next year.
“We are going to register our endeavour for women's emancipation through occupying our rightful place as the vanguard of women's struggles as espoused by our first president, Charlotte Maxeke.
“The Covid-19 pandemic has made it more urgent to deal with economic exclusion, especially that of disenfranchised black women," she said.