Ms.Nardos Bekele-Thomas' message of support at the DIRCO Minister’s Breakfast with Women Ambassadors “Charlotte Maxeke Minister's Breakfast with Women Ambassadors”

Good morning Programme Director,

• The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Honourable Naledi Pandor
• The Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Honourable Candith Mashego-Dlamini
• Acting Deputy-Director General, Honourable Nonceba Losi
• Acting-Chief Operations Officer, Honourable Charlotte Lobe
• My fellow sisters and ambassadors,
• All Protocols Observed

Honourable Ministers and my fellow sisters in leadership, it is certainly a great pleasure to be in a gathering of this kind. A gathering paying homage to a diplomat, activist, feminist and the mother of liberation in South Africa. Charlotte Maxeke is among the most iconic heroines of this country who spearheaded the cause of women’s emancipation against all odds.

Today, we honour the legacy she left for us. During these challenging times we must draw on her intrepid courage and commit ourselves to carrying forward the mantle of realizing a better society but in particular, a better living environment for all women and children.

There are many lessons we can learn from Charlotte Maxeke but this morning, I will focus on just one. The ideal of ubuntu which she brilliantly articulated in the following quote: “This work is not for yourself, kill that spirit of self, and do not live above your people but live with them. If you rise, bring someone with you”.

Honourable ministers and eminent women of South Africa;

In the past months, gender based violence and femicide has reached alarming levels while the material conditions of poverty experienced by women and children, continues to undermine their independence and status in society. Now more than ever, we all need to emulate the unrelenting spirit of Charlotte Maxeke, to address this crisis in a concerted and targeted manner. We must develop the appropriate battle plan, which challenges patriarchy and attacks this crisis along with the social and economic ills it breeds.  

As we come up with ways to respond to the crisis we are facing, we must do so fully acknowledging the role we can play in building back better in an inclusive and equitable manner. As women who sit at the tables where decisions are made, we owe it to the women and children of this country to listen and to make sure that their voices are truly heard, we need to affirm them that leadership is a reality, and we need to put in place policies that allow them to realize their economic rights and autonomy.

It is in this spirit that the UN System, commits itself to advocating and supporting programmes that promote:

• economic justice and rights for women and girls,
• participation in enterprise and trade,
• promotion of non-discriminatory labour markets, free of violence and harassment,
• a care economy that equitably shares and values care and domestic work,
• strengthened accountability through gender-responsive economic laws, policies and regulations.

My fellow sisters in leadership as I conclude my message,  I want us to remember that we stand on the shoulders of a heroine who made superhuman efforts to improve the conditions of the people of this country. And as we commemorate her legacy,  let us continuously reflect and ask ourselves if we are doing enough to realize her dream of a better society where women and children are at the heart of it.

I want to echo the voices of young people when they remember heroes and heroines of South Africa’s liberation struggle: “The spirit of Charlotte Maxeke did not die, it has multiplied through us.”

I thank you.

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