The embassy of South Africa and the South African community in Rwanda on Saturday celebrated the country’s National Women’s Day.

"The day commemorates the national march of women on this day in 1956 to petition against legislation that required African people to carry the ‘pass’, special identification documents which curtailed an African’s freedom of movement during the apartheid era,” South Africa’s Ambassador to Rwanda, Ezra Sigwela, explained.

He explained that it is 52 years since the Federation of South African Women organised a mass demonstration against the imposition of pass laws on women in South Africa.

Taking a look back, the ambassador said:,"About 40,000 women took part in the multi-racial march to the Union Buildings in Pretoria, to deliver a petition to the Prime Minister.”

"But only 20,000 women made it to the Union Buildings in Pretoria having gone through brutality all the way. Outside, they stood silently for about 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs.

Those who were working for whites as nannies were carrying their white charges with them,” Sigwera reminisced.

Sigwera disclosed that the women sang a protest song that was composed in honour of the occasion inspiring many especially the young men, including myself.”

Lilian Ngoyi, Helen Joseph, Rahima Moosa and Sophia Williams-De Bruyn were the four women who led the march.
He added that since 1994, August 9 is commemorated annually as Women’s Day but the whole month of August is dedicated to women in South Africa.

According to Williams-De Bruyn, the Guest of Honour, the day is an important event in the history of South Africa’s fight for liberation.

In her speech, she lauded Rwandan women for their efforts in putting the past aside and concentrating on rebuilding the economy and fighting poverty.

"The women’s role in engineering a fast economic recovery cannot be under looked,” explained Williams-De Bruyn..

She explained that as a demographic majority in Rwanda, representing 54 per cent of the population, women are significant to the productive capacity of the nation.

At the ceremony, Gahaya links, an art crafts project for women, and Kingdom Education Centre of Kicukiro expressed their gratitude towards the embassy for its support towards their development by donating gifts that symbolised women’s struggle to earn a decent living as well as their fight for freedom.

Ends