Wathinta abafazi wathinta imboko (You strike a woman, you strike a rock)

“As a society we need to be at the forefront of social change by empowering each other not to reduce women to sexual objects.”

Those were words from Fasiah Hassan, the youngest Member of the Provincial Legislature (MPL) in Gauteng.

As we conclude Women’s Month, the ANC in Ward 126 hosted a moving memorial lecture on the late stalwart Dorothy Nyembe at Weltevreden Park Primary School on Saturday, 24 August and Fasiah was a keynote speaker. She is a former University of the Witwatersrand student and #FeesMustFall activist.

The event, aimed at empowering women in the community through reminding them of Dorothy’s hard work and contribution to the country’s struggle for liberation, saw women delegates share the stage to address the audience of men and women.

An objective of Fasiah’s speech was to encourage the current generation to continue the good work done by the country’s liberators such as Dorothy, who was one of the leaders of the Women’s March to the Union Buildings in 1956.

“We need to build on the work of the former leaders, particularly women such as Dorothy Nyembe, so that what they fought for is continued and that it paves the way for the future generation,” Fasiah explained.

She also highlighted the hardships that women in politics and other male-dominated spaces face.

“It is a constant fight for women to be recognised, as some people don’t believe that women are as competent as their male counterparts. There is always this notion that women should work twice as hard to be recognised twice as less. There is also this notion that we must take on far more roles than men in these spaces,” she criticised.

She used the example of a woman having to leave a meeting early because she has to pick up her children from school, and then often being questioned by her superiors; however, if a male colleague did the same, he would be hailed for being a family man.

Babalwa Mlungwane, the founder of Uqobo Men’s Forum, spoke about being a woman in South Africa today. The Forum assists men to face the issues they are confronted with.

“We looked at the women in 1956, marching to the Union Building against the pass laws. Their key focus was making sure that all South Africans were free. However, I feel that our march today should focus on femicide, and on how we interact with one another in the incorporate space,” she said.

While every speaker touched on their experiences of women abuse, Nonceba Molwele, who used to be the MMC of Health and Social Development during the previous City of Johannesburg administration, said it was everyone’s duty to fight women abuse. “Women are still fighting for basic needs and equality. The best way to defeat women abuse is to capacitate and empower women,” she said.

Fasiah concluded the day’s event by encouraging leaders each to mentor and guide a woman or young person in the community.

To read Dorothy Nyembe’s biography, visit: https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/dorothy-nomzansi-nyembe.