A week ago, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a range of measures to support the recovery of the South African economy and his main aim was to provide relief to the poor and those who were left vulnerable due to COVID-19 lockdown restrictions and the recent unrest.
The International Women’s Forum of South Africa (IWFSA) commends and supports the government’s decisive response, emphasizing that this relief comes at a critical time if we are to protect more lives and the future prosperity of millions in this country. Irene Charnley, President of IWFSA characterised the move as critical for a social cohesion perspective across the country, adding that IWFSA would do its role of enlisting its members to offer their support behind planned initiatives, and engaging leaders across all sectors of society to do the same.
Charnley further emphasized that the response and recovery must be applied with a gender lens, given over 42% of households in South Africa are led by women. “Women’s voices must be equally included in the decision-making spaces and processes where responses are being formed to address this national crisis, and women must be seen as equally leading in the humanitarian response initiatives being driven on the ground in affected communities,” said Charnley.
“IWFSA applauds the contribution made by the government, and it encourages us as business leaders to do our part because the effort required in rebuilding what has been broken both in terms of trust and the devastated infrastructure cannot be the work of the government alone. We, its citizens, leaders and patriots must stand and take part in creating solutions that result in more sustainability from an economic empowerment perspective and heal the wounds that got us here. We are far better than this, and no child should go hungry or homeless in the wake of this. We are calling on all business leaders to shore up financial and community support. We must do better, and we must do more.”
