PREMIER'S ADDRESS
Chairperson
Honourable members of the executive council
Comrades
Members of the Alliance
Delegates.
MALIBONGWE !!!
WATHINTH'ABAFAZI !!
Thank you for the invitation to share this momentous occasion with you. We meet today as comrades all of us none better than the other.
Comrades we meet here today during a year that is being observed by the whole world as the beginning of a new century and millennium.
As people we have begun to emerge as if in tandem with the new millennium.
Emerged into a nation confident of itself, aware of its immense possibilities and prepared to do extra-ordinary things to attain the goal that comes from creating a better quality of life for all.
We are moving into a century in which our priorities must be an end to the poverty of our people, a century in which the divisions of the past must truly cease to exist.
Born in struggle, tempered and disciplined by years of sacrifice, we are proud of our ancient heritage.
Unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those noble principles to which our people have always been committed, and to which we are committed today in this province and nationally.
Let every everyone know that we shall pay any price, bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the
survival and the success of the African National Congress.
As we reconstruct South Africa and reclaim the whole country for all, we must
break down all the divisions and attitudes of the past, freeing everyone form
the last vestiges of oppression.
And the discrimination and exploitation of women. Comrade Samora Machel was right when he said: "The emancipation of women is not an act of charity, the result of a humanitarian or compassionate attitude.
"The liberation of women is a fundamental necessity for the Revolution, the guarantee of its continuity and the precondition for its victory.
"The main objective of the Revolution is to destroy the system of exploitation and build a new society, which releases the potentialities of human beings... This is the context within which women's emancipation arises."
It is true that the basis on which to judge the liberation of any country is to note the extent to which women are free. This is particularly true of South Africa where the vast majority of women have been triply oppressed. They were exploited because they are black, exploited as women and oppressed as workers.
We need to acknowledge that gender roles exist in all spheres of society starting with the division of labour in the family.
Gender and gender roles define the way women and men behave in society and in relation to each other, the way in which they perceive themselves and their attitudes. Gender relations affect the unequal power relations in society.
The essence of unequal power relations is the domination of men and the subordination of women. These gender relations shape the ideas, knowledge, values, culture, attitudes, and the structure of society and, in essence, social life itself.
That is why conventional definitions of the economy do not include a major proportion of the work performed by women. The key sectors of the South African economy are occupied and dominated by men.
Women face social, economic and ideological barriers to full and equal participation in the economy. Women are perceived in terms of their domestic and reproductive role.
They participate in large numbers in sectors of the economy which are characterised by low wages and poor working conditions. Equal access to quality health care must be ensured, so that women are able to keep themselves and their families healthy.
The media needs to be challenged in its sexist portrayals of women because these images influence they way we think about each other and provide incorrect role models for our children.
Furthermore, when we speak of economic empowerment, we must ensure that women are given equal access to resources, employment, markets and trade, so that they can become self-employed, running their own businesses, and therefore economically independent.
Economic rights are women's rights, not privileges to be handed out when they are deemed to be appropriate. The creation of space is a critical issue and we need to extend this concept beyond government.
Our educational institutions must be challenged to ensure that they are encouraging girls and women to study and that factors which may cause them to leave the education system are dealt with.
Violence is an issue which continues to tear the fabric of our society apart. Violence against women knows no boundaries and cuts across colour, religion and culture.
The majority of abuse cases happen in the home, at the hands of partners and family members. I believe I am correct when I say all of us who share the democratic vision broadly defined in the Freedom Charter.
We cannot say we are making progress as a people and a nation, unless the women of our country have shelters over their heads, adequate food to feed themselves and their families, health care, and access to clean water and electricity.
We cannot say we are moving forward faster towards the attainment of complete liberation from the legacy of the past. Unless the women of our country live without fear in their houses and walk freely through the streets and villages of our land.
We cannot move forward faster to the goal of a better life for all unless the women of our country receive the necessary education and training that enable them to reach their full potential and are themselves the African pioneers leading all of us into the African century which should also be the century for African women.
But we must do that as a united force.. Divided, there is little we can do, for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.
As women, particularly as workers, we will have to ensure that we champion the cause of transformation in all centres, be it the army and other security services, the public service, the judiciary, parliament, the instruments of communication and ideological discourse and so on.
The working class has to pursue radical programmes of transformation in the social sector and the economy. Also the working class has to ensure continuing improvement in the environment for it to wage the struggle to improve its conditions, and in doing so, focus on the fundamental questions.
Comrades, In your hands, more than mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. We are committed to conduct a sustained campaign to end poverty and ensure a decent and continuously improving standard of living for all our people without discrimination.
This must include the complete deracialisation of our economy in the interest of all our people and not just a few, whatever their colour or race. It entails, also, the transformation of ours into a modern, dynamic and competitive economy.
We are similarly determined to work for the construction of a caring society, sensitive to the needs of the most vulnerable, including children, the youth and the disabled.
It is our task to make the most of our freedom, to entrench it in our new epoch as a fundamental and a permanent feature of our very existence.
During this year we should once again mobilise the masses of our people to participate in the local government elections.
We must work to ensure that the people exercise their right and duty to choose their representatives in this sphere of government, in the same way that they freely chose their provincial and national representatives last year.
As we did last year, we must again work to ensure that the people renew the democratic mandate of our movement by electing our candidates to lead the municipal governments throughout our country.
In this regard, we must make sure that we field candidates who will genuinely represent the interests of the people. We should no longer allow that our movement is falsely represented by those who only want to use their positions to enrich themselves and others.
Who once they are elected, never go back to the people to report on their work as councillors. As the President pointed out recently we have attracted into and continue to retain opportunists and careerists within our ranks.
These are the people who join the movement or the federation not because they respect or support any of our strategic objectives.
They join with the sole aim of furthering their personal careers and using the access to state power we have as a ruling party, to enrich themselves.
There is a need to root out all the wrong, corrupted and opportunistic elements inside and outside of our structures and those of government.
The time has come for all of us to end the cycles of abuse and violence against women and children that have engulfed our communities.
Also, it is in the interest of the health of our nation, that we intensify our work on the issue of HIV/AIDS, ensuring that our public education campaigns are effective and we must do all we can to improve support to AIDS victims and orphans.
Over the next few hours you are going to engage in debates debates that are aimed at taking the revolution forward.
You are also going to start voting. There has been lobbying. It is correct to have that. But remember, changing leadership just for the sake of changing should not be on your agenda.
Elect leaders who are going to lead. People who are honest and who understand that they are leaders because you chose them to be where they are.
But then, even more importantly than winning election is running the union effectively. That is the test - the acid, final test.
When the chanting and the shouting die, when delegates are gone and the lights are dimmed, there is the stark reality of responsibility in an hour of history where we should be true to the dictates of Comrades like Lillian Ngoyi, Charlotte Maxeke, Dora Tamama; Frances Baard and many others.
Comrades, in your debates you will argue. You will argue and disagree. It is necessary. Let me say that I will be glad if you argue and disagree because as democrats you care and you care deeply. But you must disagree and argue without calling each other liars and thieves, without despoiling our best traditions.
You must not spoil our best traditions in any naked struggles for power. You must write a platform that neither equivocates, contradicts, nor evades.
I expect you to restate ANC Women's League record, its principles, and its purposes in language that none can mistake, and with a firm confidence in justice, freedom, and peace.
Let's face it. Let's talk sense to the people. Let's tell them the truth, that there are no gains without pains. The people are wiser than we think. That, I think, is our ancient mission. Where we have deserted it we have failed. With your help there will be no desertion now.
Millions look to us for compassion, for understanding, and for honest purpose. Thus we will serve our great tradition greatly.
How many times do we hear that government is destroying jobs; it's not interested in implementing the decisions of the Jobs Summit? Surely we know that these statements have no basis in fact.
Are we saying these things in order to maintain the confidence of the masses? We must painstakingly explain the difficult issues that may not necessarily bring immediate popularity.
Members respect a leadership if it is honest and does not recoil from raising real issues, even if the issues are unpopular.We must tell the truth.
Allow me to take this opportunity to wish you well in your deliberations.
Thank you.