By Nangamso Mabindla
7 August 2007

WOMEN'S Month will be celebrated across the municipalities that make up the Amathole District.

The district outlined its schedule of activities for the month at a council meeting on Friday, 3 August. These include supporting women's co-operatives in Berlin and Mdantsane in Buffalo City; tuberculosis awareness campaigns; empowering women who are involved in poverty eradication; and a no violence against women campaign in all the municipalities forming the district.

Deputy Minister for Provincial and Local Government Nomatyala Hangana and councillors from all the local municipalities that make up the Amathole District Municipality attended the launch.

Speaking at the council meeting, Hangana congratulated the district leadership for its efforts to celebrate Women's Month. "51 years ago the country's women marched to Pretoria to fight against pass laws; today we celebrate what those women did. They were fighting for emancipation, empowerment and equality."

She said she was happy that the district municipality had put in place a programme to empower women. "These programmes should ensure that women succeed in whatever they do."

However, despite the country's world rating in female empowerment - it ranked second, she said - women still faced challenges, including HIV/Aids and poverty.

"National and provincial governments cannot handle these issues without the help of local government. That is why the national government's focus is on municipalities - they are the most important sphere of government because they are the closest to the people," Hangana said.

She encouraged municipalities to continue to be involved in initiatives like the 16 Days of Activism campaign against gender-based violence. Women's Day, on Thursday, 9 August, is a national public holiday set aside to remember the Women's March in Pretoria in 1956 against the pass laws.