15 June 2011

Budget Vote 2011/12 speech by the Minister for Women, Children and People with Disabilities, Lulu Xingwana

Chairperson
Honourable members.

It is with great honour that I present the Budget Vote for the department. We are presenting this Budget Vote at a time when our country is mourning the passing away of the icon of our struggle for liberation, gender equality and children's rights - Albertina Sisulu. Ma Sisulu dedicated all her life to the African National Congress (ANC), the ANC Women's League and to the people and children of South Africa, ushering in the constitutional democracy that we all enjoy today. We today pay tribute to this selfless leader who endured severe hardship fighting for our liberation and basic human rights.
As we debate this vote, we should remember the dedication of Mama Sisulu to the struggle for gender equality and the protection of the rights of children in particular. Even in the last years of her life, she still dedicated her birthday, 21 October, to raise funds for the Walter Sisulu Paediatric Cardiac Foundation. And last year, this department supported her at that special occasion. We therefore deem it fit to dedicate this budget debate to Albertina Sisulu. Lala ngoxolo Mama. Ugqatso ulufezile. Wena ubuliqhawekazi lesizwe.

The International Peace Institute, in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of Norway to the United Nations, Women Deliver, and Family Care International, hosted a policy forum entitled Prevention and Protection Save Lives: Girls, Women, and HIV on the sidelines of the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS on 8 June. HIV is now recognized as the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age, the forum aimed to identify and strengthen the response to HIV and raise awareness about the interconnectedness of women’s health issue in relation to the broader development agenda.

High up in the Himalayan mountains, 13-year-old Mohammad Junaid helps his family collect fresh fodder for their buffaloes, all the while dreaming of the day he could once again play cricket. He longs for the summer to be over, for then his family will return to the lowlands, where he studies and indulges in his favourite sport at the special school for nomad children. Junaid belongs to the Van Gujjar forest community, a nomadic clan – indigenous, fiercely independent and Muslim – that resides in the mountain state of Uttarakhand in north India.  

AFTER surviving a brutal stabbing on Friday night, a Nyanga lesbian says she is not afraid of homophobes in townships, adding that their hate crimes “will come to an end” if more victims take action. Nxolo Nkosana, 23, was walking home with her partner, known only as Cindy, after 11pm when suddenly she heard a man shout, “Hey you f***ing lesbian, you tomboy”. She ignored the man at first, but turned around when he kept on hurling insults.

In South Africa, the nation with the largest number of young people living with HIV, the destructive nature of the epidemic can be better understood than anywhere else in the world. According to a global report released here yesterday by UNICEF and its partners, one in three young people newly infected with the virus each year is from either South Africa or Nigeria. The report – 'Opportunity in Crisis: Preventing HIV from early adolescence to young adulthood' – confirms that young people worldwide face a significant risk of HIV infection every day. And their vulnerability is heightened by failures to provide them with adequate information and essential services.
"In 2009 alone, these realities, gaps and inefficiencies in response translated to an estimated 890,000 new infections among young people worldwide," said UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Elhadj As Sy.

Lesbian Noxolo Nkosana thought she would die when she was stabbed four times by men who accused her of stealing their girlfriends. And Nkosana's neighbours say she deserved what she got. The horrific assault was only a few days before the Department of Justice's meeting with gay and lesbian organisations to find a solution to the scourge of attacks on lesbians. Nkosana, 23, was getting out of a car on Friday night, returning to her home in Crossroads, near Cape Town, after work, when two men, both Crossroads residents, approached.

What happens when access is there but threats to safety hinders you from competing in the exchange of information and ideas via the Internet? As strange as it may sound to some, apparently that’s one challenge that some young people in South Africa face in what would have been their key to new opportunities and being part of the Information society. Mobile technology penetration is high in South worldwide including especially among school-going youth to such to an extent that access to information is supposed to be on the tip of their hands. However this privilege is enjoyed by few. Challenges such as creating and distributing information that degrades some ICTs are increasingly reflecting physical spaces, with all the social ills faced by women and the girl child. Women continue to suffer harassment and stalking in on-line spaces.

One million people in the Gauteng Province have voluntarily tested for HIV/Aids. UNCUT's Zenaida Martin is among those who went to check their status. One million people in the Gauteng Province have voluntarily tested for HIV/Aids. UNCUT's Zenaida Martin is among those who went to check their status.

With the aim of educating young people about the 1976 uprising and Soweto historical sites which form part of the country’s rich history, the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) will take 250 young people on a history educational tour in Soweto. The tours will take place on 11 and 17 June 2011. The selected young people are Grade 11 and 12 students from top performing rural, township and former Model C schools across the country. Sites that the young people will visit include the Hector Pieterson Museum and Memorial, the Nelson Mandela Family Museum and the Walter Sisulu Square where they will learn about the Freedom Charter.

16 June 2011 marks the 35th anniversary of the Soweto and related Uprisings of 1976 and the second anniversary of the establishment of the National Youth Development Agency. It is the month in which young people braved all odds to fight for equal and quality education for all. They understood that this education would inevitably lead to social and economic emancipation of all young people in particular and South Africans in general. As such this month belongs to all youth of this country across the wide range of race and of political spectrum. This year’s Youth Month programme takes place within the context of government’s declaration of 2011 as the year of job creation. The NYDA has developed a national programme to commemorate the 35th anniversary of that historic day under the theme “Youth Action for Economic Freedom in Our Lifetime.”

Although South Africa's HIV Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign has reached millions of people, some youths still don't feel safe or comfortable getting tested for HIV and feel left out of national debates about the pandemic. Fezeka Gxwayibeni, 20, brought this to the attention of delegates at the 5th Aids conference when she talked about the needs of the youth with respect to government's HCT programme. Gxwayibeni, who is involved in the Future Fighters Project of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, conducted interviews with three different youth groups about HCT - and found the issue of stigmatisation around HIV still persists. It's common for teenagers to be bullied or ostracised if they are infected with HIV. Gxwayibeni said consideration must be given to where testing sites are and schools will not necessarily be the best options.

A Crest Hill youth soccer coach has been charged with having sexual contact with a 12-year-old boy, officials said today. Darrell J. Stephenson, 24, of the 2000 block of Manico Drive, was arrested Friday at his Crest Hill home after an investigation, according to a release today from the Will County Sheriff's Police.

Stephenson, who has been charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, appeared in court this morning and his bail was set at $750,000.

Lesbian Noxolo Nkosana thought she would die when she was stabbed four times by men who accused her of stealing their girlfriends. And Nkosana's neighbours say she deserved what she got. The horrific assault was only a few days before the Department of Justice's meeting with gay and lesbian organisations to find a solution to the scourge of attacks on lesbians. Nkosana, 23, was getting out of a car on Friday night, returning to her home in Crossroads, near Cape Town, after work, when two men, both Crossroads residents, approached. "They called to me but I didn't respond. Then they said: 'Hey you! F***ing tomboy!'," she said. "I kept quiet. When I looked back, one of them was coming for me. He stabbed me twice in the back and I fell down. While my partner screamed for help, he stabbed me two more times."

South Africa has given the world some powerful ideas – foremost among them the concept of the rainbow nation, where diversity is a source of strength and everyone is entitled to equal rights and respect. It is especially saddening that the country reborn under Nelson Mandela’s watchful eye should now be the setting for a far more sinister phenomenon that undermines everything the rainbow nation stands for: so-called corrective rape. The disturbing term “corrective rape” describes the rape of lesbians or women perceived to be lesbian by men who claim to be trying to “correct” their victims’ sexuality. In the worst cases, such attacks have been fatal.

WITH only a day to go before the ANC Youth League starts its national elective conference, the Commission on Gender Equality has raised concerns over the gender imbalances of in the top five positions. Only one female politician, Kenetswe Mosinekgwe from North West, has been nominated for the position of deputy general secretary position on the top five list.

CAPE TOWN — The Department of Science and Technology has lent its support to further research into a tenofovir-based gel for preventing HIV infection among women, hoping the investment will ultimately see SA developing the capacity to manufacture and export the product. Pharmaceutical imports are the fifth-biggest contributor to SA’s trade deficit, so the government is keen to find ways to make more of these goods in SA. Local production also improves security of supply.