Numsa spokesperson, Phakamile Hlubi-Majola, tells OFM News that Free State and Northern Cape female members of the union were addressed by leaders of the union under the theme "Women in leadership". 

Hlubi-Majola says the meeting offered female leaders from various sectors of NUMSA an opportunity to come together, organise and empower each other as part of the ongoing celebration of Women's Month. 

She adds that whilst delivering her keynote address, Numsa's second Deputy President, Puleng Phaka, called on women to stand firm against GBV - like women who stood firm to oppose and reject the Dompas system on 9 August 1956.

"Today our challenge is gender-based violence. Today our challenge is different from 1956. That one has been overcome, some of us are having smart cards but we are not asked to produce it when we are walking around. But what we need to do is to make sure that we hold hands and fight this pandemic called gender-based violence.

“Love cannot be instilled by a person hitting you. If we are still saying, for him to show me that he loves me, he must beat me, there is no such. A person that loves you must respect you, and they must take care of you and protect you. That’s a person that loves you.”

Aside from Hlubi-Majola, leader Zandile Nsibande - who is a veteran in community struggles from Abahlali baseMjondolo - encouraged women not to surrender all their power to men.

The Provincial Manager of the Commission for Gender Equality in the Northern Cape, Thembelihle Bongwana, said the government has been slow in transforming the workplace for women to partake in more leadership roles.

OFM News