Comrade President Thabo Mbeki,
Comrade Deputy President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka,
Vice- President Joyce Mujuru,
Our Honoured Guests from neighbouring countries and from afar who are celebrating here with us today,
Mam’ Adlbertina Sisulu, Mam’Adelaide Tambo, Comrade Sophie Williams-de Bruyn,
Ministers and Deputy Minister of the National government,
Premiers and MECs here present,
Members of Parliament and Legislative assemblies,
The Mayors, and municipal councillors from various towns and cities here present,
Your Excellencies, Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Leaders of the Progressive Women Movement,
Comrades, the representatives of the women of South Africa,
friends,

I welcome you all to this great occasion!
And what an occasion!

I want to welcome you to the National celebration of the 50th anniversary of South African Women’s Day!

We are here today to celebrate and to commemorate!
We are here today to remember. To Remember not only the 20,000 who marched on August 9th 1956, but to remember the millions of women of South Africa and of the world who have fought for and are still fighting for the rights of women!

We are here to pay a tribute, to pay a national tribute as a people, as a nation, as a country, to millions of Women of this country who have over the years fought for and struggled for the democracy we have today!

We are here today, to honour the millions of Women of yesteryear, of the decades and the century before today, whose struggles and perseverance has brought us freedom and democracy!

We are here to salute, the millions of Women – tillers of the soil, mothers, wives, workers who use their hands and of the workers who use the mind, whose sacrifices and whose spirit of no surrender have brought South Africa and the people of South Africa the liberty, the freedom and the democratic rights we all enjoy today.

We are here to pay homage to the Women of South Africa, to the millions of mothers throughout the country who have borne the burden of birthing, of nurturing, of feeding, of bringing up, and of raising generations of South Africans – who bore and raised the thousands of warrior Women and men who fought on the factory floor, on the streets, in the rural areas, on the battlefields, in the classroom, on the stage, at every site where we waged the struggle to free our country from racial domination and from oppression.

The roll call is far too long for us to recall all their names.
We are here to honour Charlotte Maxeke, that indomitable educationalist and freedom fighter!
We are here to honour Cecilia Makiwane and Mina Soga, their colleagues and contemporaries who were the pioneers among our women in opening up the way for those who followed them into the various professions.
We are here to pay homage to the memory of Cissy Gool and of her sisters in law, Janub and Amina who fought the good fight from the 1930s until the end of their lives.
We remember today the great feats of organization and mobilization performed by Ray Alexander Simons, Elizabeth Mafikeng and Elizabeth Abrahams. Florence Matomela, Bertha Mkhize, Ida Mntwana and thousands of others responsible for the organization and unionsation of women workers in various industries

We are here to remember the names of Mrs. Amina, Pahad and Mrs. Khadijah Christopher, Dr Goonam, Fatima Meer, and of all the courageous women who led the Passive Resistance campaign of 1946 in Durban.

We are here to recall the names and the courageous deeds of Lillian Ngoyi,
Dora Tamana, Winifred Siqwana, Hettie McLeod September ;Francis Baard, Annie Silinga, Helen Joseph; Victoria Mahabane, Victoria Mxenge, Rahima Moosa; Ellen Kuzwayo, Asa Dawood; and all the other stalwarts of the 1950s, who led militant women’s formations in the fight for social justice, for freedom, for rights of women the rights of the youth, the rights of children, indeed for the rights of all our people.

We recall the names of thousands of women who participated in the armed struggle as soldiers and underground fighters, braving the gravest dangers and hazards of military service, to bring freedom to the people of our country.

We are here to pay homage to spirit of self sacrifice of the thousands of women, African, Coloured, Indian, and White who painstakingly built the liberation movement’s underground structures, who did the quiet unglamorous work of building organizations and structures so that we could take on the racist enemy and finally defeat him!

And as we celebrate, we dip our banners in homage to the women martyrs, to Ruth First, to Dulcie September, to Jeanette Schoon, to her little girl Katryn, to the hundreds of women who were killed by assassins, bombs and bullets, by armed police and soldiers in the streets of South Africa and in the countries where they found refuge!

We are here to acknowledge the sterling contribution of the women who were imprisoned for their part in the struggle for freedom, the women who were tortured, who were brutalized and those were secretly murdered by the racist security forces.

We are here to acknowledge the great contribution made to the struggle for liberation made by the young women who dared to defy the racist regime, risking and sometimes losing their own lives, to ferry the weapons and other materials for the fighters; to reconnoiter and effect border crossings during the armed struggle!

We honour and pay tribute to the millions of women who today are working in every sphere of public and private life to build and reconstruct our society, our nation and our country, that had been so battered and degraded by centuries of oppression.

Yes, we are here to honour you, the women of South Africa, whose spirit sustains and keeps alive the flame of hope! Hope for a better country! Hope for better world! Hope for a better life for all the people of South Africa.

MALIBONGWE! MALIBONGWE!

Welcome to our national celebrations of South African Women’s Day!

back to top