Honouring Women Who Sought Freedom

To set the record straight, I believe the initiative is worthy and entirely deserving of all the attention it receives. Women’s month is important to us because it is an opportunity to officially recognise and pay tribute to the contribution women made in our country’s struggle for freedom. For many years women have been looked down upon. As a matter of fact, they have often been relegated to the level and status of children.

This is partly the consequence of our cultural background, but as responsible citizens we need to understand that culture is dynamic. We should allow it to develop and take its natural course. Women played a major role in our struggle for liberation. The women’s march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, in 1956, in protest against the pass laws, shook the world. Women such as Lillian Ngoyi were in the forefront of the struggle. She led a march of more than 20 000women of all races, in a move wholly initiated by women.

Former President Nelson Mandela once wrote: “Freedom cannot be achieved unless women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression”. The African National Congress has always fought against the oppression of women. As early as the 1950s, the ANC had already included women in its ranks in senior decision making committees.

So we are recognising women this month because it was in August of 1956 that women vowed to face the apartheid regime head on. We are aware that the total liberation of women from oppression cannot happen overnight. For this reason, it remains our duty to change the mentality of certain individuals so that they come to view women as their equals. We salute all women, especially for their role in the liberation struggle by fighting oppression.

To them we say Igama Lamakhosikazi Malibongwe. (Let us salute the role of women!)