President Cyril Ramaphosa spent time with the Hellenic, Italian, and Portuguese communities in South Africa, also known as the HIP Alliance, during a community dialogue held at the St John’s Hellenic Hall, in Wychwood, last Tuesday night.
The venue was filled to capacity as community members gathered in anticipation to hear the President’s views on a number of their concerns and where they fit in his plans for the country.
Chairperson of the HIP Alliance Dr Stravos Nicolauo chaired the meeting and started proceeding by identifying several community members who had tabled various questions for the President under topics such as entrepreneurship, social cohesion, service delivery, women empowerment, land reform, load-shedding, the economy, national health care and coalition governments.
Environmentalist Catherine Constantinides urged all residents to be active citizens and questioned Ramaphosa on the role of the women in building the country and his views on women empowerment.
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“We have one of the best constitutions in the world because we strive for a non-sexist, non-racist, democratic and prosperous society,” said Ramaphosa.
He acknowledged that though South Africa still has many battle scars from a difficult past it was everyone’s responsibility to change the ideologies behind racism and patriarchy.
“Women empowerment should include economic empowerment.
“It should include the best training for women in the workplace and equal pay for equal work,” he said.
Ramaphosa addressed the alarming statistics surrounding gender-based violence and explained he was scheduled to sign a new declaration against gender-based violence and femicide on Thursday.
During the meeting the president also touched on the problems at Eskom.
“Eskom is broken, and it is a very complex problem,” he said.
“There is not a single company that I know of in South Africa that has worked up a debt of R430-billion.
“Eskom is by far the most important company in SA and holds our livelihoods in its hands.”
He further explained that a number of design faults had been identified at Eskom’s power plantations, Medupi and Kusile, during a recent visit.
“Cyclone Idai, which recently hit Mozambique, is also affecting Eskom’s power supply which is not helping the situation faced by the power utility,” said Ramaphosa.
Jose Nascimento, head of the Portuguese section of the HIP Alliance, raised his concerns during the meeting stating he would like to see the Portuguese community represented more prominently in the rainbow nation.
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“We do not have a Portuguese South African Ambassador,” Nascimento said.
“We’d like to see a South African Portuguese minister as part of the ANC’s cabinet. We’d like to see South African Portuguese generals in the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
“We’d like to see a South African Portuguese High Court Judge.
“We’d like to occupy those spheres because we have those skills, are committed and are part of the rainbow nation.”
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