FF Plus speech in Parliament on National Women's Day - Dr. Corné Mulder
“If the government is so set on equal rights for women, why does a white woman, i.e. Capt. Renate Barnard, struggle for 5 years to be promoted in the Police? She meets all the requirements and have been approved for the post twice already” – Dr. Corné Mulder, FF Plus Chief Whip in Parliament.
11 August 2010
The FF Plus is of the opinion that in the past number of years great progress has been made to not only empower women, but also to set equal opportunities there. It is good and right and the FF Plus will support all measures to give equal opportunities to women. The FF Plus realizes the important role women play and want to honour and respect all women for it.
But everything is however not moonshine and roses. The ANC wants to create the impression that they are at the forefront when it comes to equal rights and equal opportunities for women.
The reality in SA is that it should be asked if equal opportunities and a chance for progress for women are applicable to ALL women and whether a distinction is made on the basis of race and colour. In South Africa there is an onslaught against white women and they do not enjoy equal rights and especially not equal opportunities. The Director General of Labour, Mr. Jimmy Manyi, as president of the Black Management Forum says that white women should be excluded when it comes to the implementation of affirmative action. It is his point of view. Here, a blatant distinction is made based upon race.
If the government really believes that there should be equal opportunities for all women, why did Captain Renate Barnard “a white” woman have to turn to the labour court to obtain her rightful promotion to the rank of superintendent? It proves that the government’s policy and enforcement of affirmative action is inherently wrong and unlawful, just as we have always argued. Why does a white woman, i.e. Renate Barnard, struggle for 5 years to be promoted in the Police? She meets all the requirements and has been approved twice already for the position. There is no other suitable black candidate for the position but the Police refuse to promote her. If the ANC members who sit here today say they support the policy of the ANC of “equal rights and equal opportunities for all women” then they should intervene to have the Police’s application to appeal against the decision of the labour court in favour of Capt. Barnard stopped immediately. Even the court said that it boiled down to racism.
As long as things such as these happen in South Africa to women from different minority groups, whether it happens to white, brown or Asian minority groups, the words of equal opportunity for all women will have no meaning and will remain a hollow propaganda slogan.
ANC is playing with fire by interfering with media freedom
“The ANC is playing with fire by interfering with media freedom,” Adv. Anton Alberts, FF Plus Parliamentary Spokesperson on Communications said.
According to Alberts it will be the first step in the global isolation of South Africa and will take the country back to the sanction days of the 1980’s. He furthermore said that this step would eventually derail the whole constitution and therefore set the ground for the revival of old conflicts. This warning comes with regards to legislation before Parliament as well as the ANC’s proposed media tribunal.
“The FF Plus supports media freedom in its totality and will fight against any attempts of the ANC to obtain state and other controls of the media,” Alberts said. There are already instruments in place to hold the media accountable, such as courts and the ombudsman. The ANC should rather be giving attention to the making of access to courts more cost effective for ordinary civilians in stead of undermining the authority of existing instruments. The majority of people can not afford to defend court cases against media companies due to financial imbalances.
Alberts also referred to Hungary which recently appointed a state controlled media authority which threatens media freedom in the country. “Hungary is living proof that power corrupts and complete power corrupts completely. Similar to South Africa, the governing party in Hungary, the Fidesz party has a two-thirds majority and based on this unilaterally decided to create a media authority which has the power to restrict media freedom. The result of this, together with other unsavoury measures regarding banking taxes, is that the world community is starting to look at Hungary with scepticism and unfavourably. South Africa eventually expect the same fate if the media tribunal is to materialize due to the ANC’s Parliamentary majority.”
The FF Plus will closely monitor the developments and would even turn to the Constitutional Court if necessary in order to sink this misplaced idea of the ANC.
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