Keynote address by Premier DD Mabuza at the Premier's Dialogue and Expo for women in business at Ingwenya Lodge, White River
13 November 2009
Honourable MEC’s and Mayors present
Our corporate friends and sponsors
Senior managers from provincial government institutions
Representatives of national government departments and
agencies
Distinguished Guests
Women of
Fellow compatriots
It gives me great pleasure to be with you this morning.
You have come from far and wide across the length and
breadth of this province in response to our invitation to the first Premier’s
Dialogue and Expo for Women in Business.
We are truly grateful that you could make it here and
would like to also thank the organizers for their diligence in ensuring that the
commitment we made in our speech at Masoyi on Women’s Day becomes a reality.
We said that we would “convene a discussion forum
involving women entrepreneurs and all government’s finance and business
development support institutions. The objective of this dialogue will be to
enhance networks and link women with institutions that will assist them whenever
they need access to business finance and support”.
I realize that we promised to have this occasion in August
but in our endeavour to host a meaningful event we had to delay. However, this
is also a strong indication that to this provincial administration, every month
is Women’s Month.
Today’s event marks another milestone in our efforts to
honour the spirit of the women who bravely took to the streets of
Without them, without the heroism of the fearless
stalwarts such as Lillian Ngoyi and Amina Cachalia, we know that those dark days
of Apartheid might still be with us.
Malibongwe Igama lamakhosikazi!
We pay tribute to them every year by remaining committed
to the vision of a truly non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society.
This vision calls upon us to ensure that we do not rest
until we have an environment that is conducive to gender equality and women
empowerment.
The theme for this inaugural Premier’s Dialogue and Expo
for Women in Business, is ‘Empowering Women for Development and Gender Equality’
It is certainly true that over the past 15 years gender
issues and women’s empowerment have received greater visibility and attention in
our country than ever before.
This theme is in line with the efforts of the ANC-led
government to actively promote opportunities for women to access
basic services and social, economic and political opportunities whilst at the
same time adopting many laws and policies in order to empower women, to improve
the quality of their lives and open up space for their voices to be heard on
matters concerning their lives.
However, our gathering today also attests to the reality
that whilst we have made many strides in empowering women and laying a
foundation for gender equality but many challenges do remain.
We cannot be satisfied when too many of our women remain
poor
We cannot be happy when our sisters and mothers bear a
disproportionate burden of underdevelopment
In the world of work, we know that young women suffer the
most from unemployment and lack of opportunities in the work place. Gender
discrimination remains rife despite our best efforts through the employment
equity legislation
We are also concerned about women becoming victims of
social ills such as domestic violence and rape let alone their exposure to ill
health and HIV/AIDS.
In response to these and many other challenges we cannot
over emphasize the importance of women entrepreneurship.
That is why we have convened this Dialogue and Expo for
Women in Business today.
Women entrepreneurship is about letting women take control
of their own destiny.
Hence, in the context of the global economic crisis and
local economic recession, the fight against poverty and our commitment to women
empowerment, women entrepreneurs cannot be ignored.
But as we all know women entrepreneurs do not have it
easy, and that is the reality whether they are emerging or established
businesses.
In this audience today many of you know better than us
about the difficulties you face in starting or growing your own businesses.
You would know about the problem of limited access to
information, lack of access to formal finance, unpredictable access to markets
or even infrastructure.
Sadly, many of these difficulties are gender based.
This basically means that the difference between the
success of a male or female-operated company is not only due to objective
factors such as hard work or ‘discipline’.
As we promote women entrepreneurship in our province we
must also seek to address these dynamics that hold women back as they seek to
empower themselves or make it less possible for them to succeed than their male
counterparts
We all know that family and community responsibilities
take a lot of women’s time that could be applied for improving their income
generating efforts. This can be changed as we improve access to basic services
across the province.
Discrimination in access to finance for women is a reality
that can also change. Gone are the days when a banking official should question
a woman’s decision to go into construction rather than say catering or a trading
activity. It should also not matter whether she is from an urban or rural area
as long as her business plan is sound and viable.
When women entrepreneurs have managed to access finance it
is also our hope that this finance is used strictly for the business and the men
in the household do not access it for other use, as some disturbing studies have
shown.
The historical legacy of apartheid has also resulted in
differential access to skills for men and women. As we improve access to
education for women I am sure that this can also support women entrepreneurship.
I know that some men here may complain that I am
overstating the challenges that constrain women owned businesses or might claim
that they also face similar constraints in accessing inputs, finance, markets or
technology.
However, it is our view that unless we address the
different objective material conditions facing men and women or the reality of
gender discrimination then we will not achieve either women empowerment or
poverty alleviation.
Before concluding I must touch on briefly the activities
of the provincial government and what we hope to achieve through events such as
the Premier’s Dialogue and Expo for Women in Business.
In line with our commitment to creating decent work
opportunities and generating sustainable livelihoods we have elevated the
importance of SMME’s and co-operatives in our programmes. We have prioritized
the provision of both financial and non-financial support to entrepreneurs and
co-operatives.
The Department for Economic Development Environment and
Tourism (DEDET) is spearheading many of our programmes, together with provincial
agencies, and in partnership with national agencies some of whom are located in
the province.
Today’s event is intended to present these
programmes and activities of the development finance institutions.
We hope you will use this opportunity to access information and
services from National, provincial and local government entities on business
creation, development and expansion
We cannot overemphasize the importance of this event as a platform for
networking and developing women entrepreneurs and between businesses of
different sizes or from different regions in the province.
In conclusion, we are delighted at your presence here
today. Having come from a provincial economic summit a few weeks ago where
social partners agreed to a set of responses to the emerging challenges facing
the province, it is good to see that women are also not wanting to sit by as
victims but want to be agents of change and to take their destiny into their own
hands.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
