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GCIS<\/p>\n
Singer Rebecca Malope entertains the crowd at the Womens Day celebration at the Union Buildings yesterday in Pretoria, where President Jacob Zuma delivered the main address.<\/p>\n
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President Jacob Zuma has enjoined the nation to unite against the \u201chooligans who attack and sexually assault women and girls\u201d. <\/p>\n
He was making his annual Women\u2019s Day address on the lawns of the Union Buildings in Pretoria yesterday, whenthe strains of malibongwe igama lamakhosikazi (praise be to women) rang out loud and clear across the capital, and across the country. <\/p>\n
The enactment of the Domestic Violence Act was an important milestone, Zuma said, urging SA\u2019s women to \u201cuse this law to protect themselves\u201d. <\/p>\n
He said the recently reported rape of a woman aged 94 \u2013 the same age as Nelson Mandela \u2013 represented a \u201csickness in our society that must be nipped in the bud\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cWomen must be free to walk anywhere, day or night, without fearing attacks. The police stand ready to deal with such criminals,\u201d he told the crowd estimated at 20 000. <\/p>\n
Zuma used his hour-long speech to touch on topics ranging from domestic violence and sexual assault to gender parity in the private sector. <\/p>\n
After a somewhat brief address from Angie Motshekga, president of the ANC Women\u2019s League and Minister of Basic Education, the president neatly manoeuvred around what he referred to \u201csome serious difficulties in education delivery in provinces such as Limpopo and the Eastern Cape\u201d. <\/p>\n
There have been calls for Motshekga\u2019s head in the wake of the textbook scandal in Limpopo, where schoolchildren have waited half a year for delivery of learning materials. <\/p>\n
However, Zuma\u2019s assurance that the national government had \u201cintervened to assist in restoring quality learning and teaching\u201d in the province rang hollow. <\/p>\n
Beginning with a tribute to Charlotte Maxeke, founder of the Bantu Women\u2019s League \u2013 a forerunner of the ANC Women\u2019s League \u2013 he praised her as \u201ca woman of substance who was a pioneer in many fields\u201d, including science, education, and missionary and social work. <\/p>\n
DA parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko spent Women\u2019s Day in Katlehong in Gauteng with women who have started small businesses. <\/p>\n
\u201cI met women who have shown remarkable entrepreneurial spirit and courage\u2026 faced with few economic opportunities and under difficult circumstances,\u201d Mazibuko said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe pay tribute to their hard work and dedication, and we hope many more will be able to emulate their example.\u201d <\/p>\n
In the Western Cape, Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille honoured Krotoa van Meerhoff \u2013 a wife and mother who served as interpreter for the first Dutch settlers at the Cape \u2013 by renaming a square in the city centre after the late Khoisan descendant. <\/p>\n
\u201cKrotoa\u2019s life was not a long one. But the work she achieved in that brief life represents all that we are trying to achieve in our great city,\u201d De Lille said. <\/p>\n
Speaking at a Women\u2019s Day gathering in eNtumeni near Eshowe yesterday, KwaZulu-Natal Premier Zweli Mkhize said the issues facing women were the same, irrespective of race or political affiliation. <\/p>\n
\u201cOur young men need to be taught how to care for women. The recent shocking cases of rape of children and the elderly are something we cannot allow to continue,\u201d said Mkhize. <\/p>\n
He said women must be clear about the society they wanted, so that when others came to help, their goal was clear. Women were urged to take the lead and be vocal about the ills facing society. One of the main issues that needed to be urgently addressed was women\u2019s participation in the economy, he said. Unemployment figures showed that women were the worst off when it came to jobs \u2013 they were also the biggest beneficiaries of government welfare grants. <\/p>\n
In eMfekayi, outside Mtubatuba in Zululand, IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi urged women to raise their voices against what was not right in the country. <\/p>\n
Buthelezi said women\u2019s right to voice their opinion was enshrined in the constitution. <\/p>\n
\u201cYet many voices of many women remain stifled. Every year, hundreds of women |remain silent about abuse they have suffered at the hands of someone they trusted. <\/p>\n
\u201cMany keep silent about being raped. Silent about being beaten. Silent about being made to work without pay, without respect and without an exit,\u201d said Buthelezi. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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