By Sefora Ntombela
There comes a point in every man, or woman’s life, when serious reflection is required. This point, often informed by one’s contribution to the betterment of society, rings ever truer and loudly to some of us, tasked with the enormous responsibility of leading our people.
I am reminded of the words of our late struggle icon, President Oliver Reginald Tambo who, at the height of apartheid, and when the liberation struggle was intensified, warned that our struggle paled in comparison to what we would have to contend with once given the responsibility to lead our people.
Indeed, President Tambo’s prophecy has become a reality and truth be told, it is demanding to lead the people, more so if you are a woman. This is the simple truth of the matter. Women, from time immemorial, have never had it easy.
Society, a patriachal one I might add, demanded that women “must play their position.” The odds have always and indeed continue to be stacked against us. However, even when faced with such challenges, women of substance and character do not wilt, wither nor crumble.
We grit and grind. We stand up and face our challenges head on. That is what we have always strived to achieve. Much has been done and much still needs to be done.
The Free State Provincial Government, under this administration, has sought to uplift and empower both women and the youth. We have also paid much attention to addressing Gender Based Violence, alcohol and substance abuse and general moral decay.
To this end, we have:
- Provided training sessions for men and boys on self-development, conflict resolution to empower them.
- Dialogues on femicide.
- Aggresively addressed alcohol and substance abuse.
- Youth empowerment
On Providing Training Sessions for Men and Boys and Conflict Resolution, both myself and MEC for Social Development Mamiki Qabathe launched Men Championing Change programme in Mangaung.
This program was to provide men with an outlet to address societal problems and to also find ways of addressing them. Many similar programs were and continue to be held across the province.
We have also initiated dialogues on femicide. Violence against women and also children has been an Achilles heel for us as the Free State Provincial Government. These killings have done nothing but perpetuate the often-false narrative that men are violent.
What we have sought to do is encourage and support our law enforcement agencies to isolate these monsters and remove them from society. Government has also established centres for victims of abuse. Shelters were built in Wepener, Bothaville and Makoeneng to name just a few.
In our quest to Building the Free State We Want, we have placed our youth at the centre of this project. However, we realise that without youth participation, this project will not be successful. We are also mindful of the fact that our youth have become slaves to alcohol and drugs. Having diagonised this problem, we moved swiftly to remedy it.
We supported over 40 Non-Profit Organisations with resources to implement prevention programmes, patient treatment programmes, reintegration and after care programmes. We have also built and recently opened a rehabilitation centre in Botshabelo township.
Government has been on a mission to engage with the youth of the province to establish meaningful ways to empower them. Government has, in addition to this, embarked on a skills development programme designed exactly for that purpose: upskilling our youth. Government has, to date, identified 400 young people from all the districts for artisan training.
There is also an electrical apprenticeship programme, built environment learnership programme and several other programmes which have absorbed thousands of young people in our quest to address the triple challenges of unemployment, inequality and poverty. These are but some of the interventions we have made in building the Free State we Want.
We accept that more needs to be done. However, we must also acknowledge that a lot has been achieved. It is not easy, but this is what we signed up for. Let us work!
- Sefora Ntombela is the Premier of the Free State Province and the Deputy Convenor of the ANC in the province.
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