AUGUST 10, 1992
We observe today, as we have done annually in recent years, the International Day of Solidarity with the Struggle of the Women of South Africa. This year marks the thirty-sixth year since South African women, in staking a claim to their fundamental rights and liberties, defied the authority of the racist government in South Africa, and challenged the pass laws that were one of the pillars of apartheid.
Today the pass laws are no more. But the majority of South African women are not yet free. They are not yet free to vote; not yet free to be voted for; and not yet completely free to reside in domiciles of their choice and accept employments of their choice. For them, the struggle against apartheid continues, in spite of the positive progress made so far.
Today, we honour South African women who, in the very true sense, have been in the frontline of the battle against apartheid. We salute their courage. Though they have been scarred, brutalized and humiliated, they have not wavered. Though they have known the anguish of lost husbands and children, of hunger, homelessness and infant mortality, they have held up their heads high and refused to have their dignity stripped from them. In the face of appalling socio-economic inequalities, they have remained steadfast in their positive role and contributions to nation-building. Perhaps most important, they have remained the conscience of a nation ravaged by violence. Therefore, the international community must continue to make their concerns our collective concern.
The history of the South African women is one of pain and frustration. No words can wipe out such human experience suffered over many years. Still, our solidarity with them may offer them some help - the knowledge that they do not stand alone in their daily tribulations.
South African women are the anchor of the South African labour force for stability. In that capacity, they become not only a sustaining force, but a vehicle for national growth and development. Today, along with past discriminations, along with homelessness and population explosion, South African women face the added burden of drought and hunger, and of poor health care delivery compounded by the dangers of the growing epidemic of AIDS.
These are all parts of the challenges confronting South African women. These challenges are daunting. Our ability to mobilize resources will be of the greatest importance for South African women as, together, they can confront the many social problems that need to be urgently addressed in South Africa.
Even in new, democratic and non-racial South Africa, the legacies of apartheid will not disappear overnight. They will take time, wisdom and courage to redress. The root of the problems has always been and remains apartheid. But a new constitution for a non-racial and democratic South Africa will lay the foundation for the emancipation of all South African women. That is, indeed, their right which they have so long fought for and which will be essential for building a new society.
The task before us, therefore, is straightforward. Our commitment and obligation is to help in every way possible to sustain South Africa's march towards a non-racial democracy; it is to help in bringing to an end the violence in that country, it is to help in redressing the socio-economic inequalities in South Africa. Our role as members of the international community is to offer South Africans a hand of friendship and of support - to share in their aspirations and to renew our solidarity with them in their efforts to build together a new society for all South Africans.