Women’s day celebration in Phola

Locally Women’s Day was celebrated in style the celebrations also included the new executive mayor.
The celebrations were held at Phola in Ogies when the new mayor, Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali joined the women in marching, singing and dancing along the streets of the tiny township.

Ms E. Phaladi principal of Hlangu-Phala Primary School was one of the speakers during the Women’s Day celebration recently held at the Alliance Church.

The celebrations were held at the Alliance Church in Phola. Later during the day speeches were held encouraging the women to put God first in whatever they do. The elderly were later presented with blankets by the mayor.
Women’s Day is celebrated in many countries around the world. It is a day when women are recognised for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political.

Executive mayor Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali presenting a blanket to one of the elderly women during the celebrations.

Every year on August 9 South Africa celebrate Women’s Day, a public holiday that pays homage to the women of our nation; the mothers, the wives, the sisters and the daughters who fought tirelessly against the tyranny of the Apartheid government. Inaugurated in 1994, along with a free, democratic South Africa, the public holiday commemorates a 1956 protest lead by Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Albertina Sisulu and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn. To rise up against the legislation that required black South Africans to carry the “pass” (special identification documents which infringed on their freedom of movement during the Apartheid era), approximately 20 000 women from all over the country took to the streets of Pretoria – many carrying the children of their white bosses on their backs – to stage a peaceful march to the Union Buildings.

Some of the women during the Women’s Day celebration held at the Alliance Church in Phola recently.

After dropping off bundles of petitions containing more than 100 000 signatures at Prime Minister J.G Strijdom’s offices, they stood in silence for thirty minutes.
A song was composed in honour of this momentous occasion, “Wathint’ Abafazi Wathint’ imbokodo!” (Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock).

Executive mayor Cllr Lindiwe Ntshalintshali with city manager Mr Theo van Vuuren and members of the Alliance Church during the Women’s Day celebration recently held at the Alliance Church in Phola.

An inspiring display of political strength, female solidarity and inner fortitude, the march on August 9 1956 is both a reminder of the great women who helped mould South Africa and the trailblazing women who continue to lead the country forward