President Cyril Ramaphosa paid homage to late African National Congress deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte as he led South Africans to commemorate National Women’s Day on Tuesday.
Addressing thousands of women in Richmond to celebrate the occasion, Ramaphosa said the country was “still reeling from losing Duarte,” the only woman in the top six of the ruling ANC he described as “a model activist.”
“She was a deputy secretary general and she did all the work. She assisted the organisation in various ways. She was a staunch activist for many years,” Ramaphosa said.
He added: “She became an activist at a very young age, working with the likes of Albertina Sisulu, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and many others — including Sophie DeBruyn. She displayed good leadership qualities.”
Duarte died from cancer last month.
Ramaphosa, however, noted that more still needed to be done to advance the plight of women in South Africa.
“The struggle of the women of our country is not done yet. We still need to uplift the women of our country to a level where they are equal to men,” the president said.
“We have made a lot of progress. Close to half of our members of parliament are now female. And we are now about to have a Deputy Chief Justice who is a female,” Ramaphosa said.
Former Supreme Court of Appeal president Mandisa Maya was last month appointed as the deputy chief justice of South Africa.
As part of the National Women’s Day commemoration, several projects aimed at creating jobs for women were showcased at the Silahla Sports Grounds in Richmond in KwaZulu Natal province.
NM/jn/APA