STOP R3.5BN CONDOM SPEND AND PROVIDE NEEDY GIRLS WITH PADS, MR PRESIDENT

Open letter

To: The President of the Republic of South Africa, HE Cyril Ramaphosa

Cc: Minister of Women in the Presidency Bathabile Dlamini; Minister of Social Development Susan Shabangu; Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga

From: #NationalisePrivateSchools Dear Mr President:

We the #NationalisePrivate Schools write this letter to you on behalf of thousands if not millions of young women who sometimes miss school days because they cannot afford sanitary pads.

It is disturbing that the government will over the next three years spend over R3.5 billion for the provision of scented and coloured condoms which no one asked for. Over the next three years 3 billion male condoms, 54 million female condoms and 60 million lubricants will be handed out for free at more than 4 000 sites countrywide.

Mr President, we appreciate and commend you for all the work you have done to fight the spread of HIV/Aids, and have no doubt that we indeed stand with you in this campaign. But don’t you think spending money on the provision of sanitary pads would ensure that young women who sometimes fall in the hands of blessers because they cannot afford sanitary pads and sometimes miss school days as a result, would reduce the spread of HIV/Aids among young women?

Mr President, let us remind you that sanitary pads are items worn by women who are menstruating, bleeding after giving birth or experiencing a miscarriage. Sex is a choice and none of these things are by choice.

It is disturbing that in a country that prides itself on protecting the dignity of its citizens, young women are subjected to dire inhuman conditions. Don’t you think that the provision of sanitary pads should be a basic human right for young women of school going age?

Mr President, we acknowledge the role your political party has played in liberating South Africans from apartheid and we appreciate the role it has played, hence South African citizens have kept it in power for 24 years. If indeed your interests are to see the lives of South Africans being developed and its young people attending school, then the provision of free sanitary pads should be a basic human right.

We call on the Department of Social Development to implement the nationwide provision of sanitary pads for school-aged girls in public schools who are beneficiaries of social grants. We further call on the state to establish a state-owned entity that will manufacture sanitary pads that will be given for free to young women.

The #NationalisePrivateSchools calls on any progressive political party that has representation in Parliament to table a motion that will force the Department of Social Development and the Department of Women in the Presidency to provide free sanitary pads to young women of school-going age. To ensure that girls from disadvantaged backgrounds do not miss schools days. Access to education must be protected

Mr President, you asked us to Thuma you, and we are indeed doing so. Make the provision of sanitary pads a basic human right.

As young people we cannot sit down and do nothing about the commodification of basic human needs. Rest assured Mr President, we young people are united and we stand in solidarity with young women who cannot afford sanitary pads.

The #NationalisePrivateSchools calls on all young South Africans to stand in solidarity with young women and boycott the 2019 national elections until all the political parties that believe they deserve our votes stand together and pass a motion that will ensure the provision of sanitary pads is a basic women’s right. We will not vote for people who do not value the dignity of our constituency.

Our movement has embarked on a mass campaign to ensure that the majority of young people boycott the 2019 elections until our interests as young people are championed.

Mr President, if you and your party officials are not direct beneficiaries of the commodification of sanitary pads, then why don’t you ensure that this basic need is accessible by the poorest of the poor? Mr President, we never chose to be born into poor families but we assure you that our hard work and dedication will change our current situation. But you and your government do not seem to care about our future, because if you did, the basic education minister would have told you that the girl child sometimes misses school days because of an inadequate supply of sanitary pads.

Mr President, take the money invested in the scent and colour of condoms and invest it in the provision of sanitary pads, and in doing so you will be ensuring that young people focus more on education than they do on sex. You have invested billions in making sex more interesting, but do less to protect school days.

We call on all young people of the Republic of South Africa and those who sympathise with us to join us as we embark on the #NoPad_NoVote Campaign.