TOP ROLE IN STRUGGLE OF TWO WOMEN
AS THE world marks International Women’s Day, it is important to highlight the role played by two forgotten revolutionaries, Nokutela Dube and Nadya Krupskaya, in South Africa and Russia, respectively. These two lionesses are among many brave women in the world that played critical roles in liberating their countries. However, their efforts were silenced by their patriarchic comrades.
Nokutela (née Mdima) Dube was born in 1873 in Inanda, South Africa, four years after Nadya Krupskaya’s birth in 1869 in Saint Petersburg in Russia. Today, these women unfortunately are remembered as wives of their partners: Nokutela as the wife of the founding leader of the ANC, John Langalibalele Dube, while Nadya is referred to as Vladimir Lenin’s wife.
Other than marrying these famous and powerful men, Nokutela and Nadya shared many similar traits and experiences. They were both brilliant scholars and leaders, paving the way for more women’s and men’s roles in the Struggle against colonialism, apartheid and patriarchy. Nokutela and Nadya contributed significantly in the struggles against colonialism, gender inequality, racial and patriarchy yet their life stories remain unknown.
While Nokutela was working with her partner John Dube in establishing Ilanga lase Natal newspaper and opening the Ohlange Institute in South Africa, Nadya worked with workers on defending their rights in Russia.
We celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8. Nokutela and Nadya provide us with a classic example of how the role of women in society is undermined and eroded not only by the oppressors outside, but also by their own comrades.
Although Nokutela was honoured with South Africa’s highest honour – the order of the Golden Baobab – a century after her death, she was buried in an unmarked grave until 2012. Women’s roles in the Struggle against colonialism and apartheid on the African continent continue to be relegated to footnotes.
It would be befitting of President Cyril Ramaphosa to flag the heroic roles played by Empress Taitu Betul, Mbuya Nehanda, Josina Muthemba Machel, Queen Njinga and many more women when he chairs the AU in South Africa. There should be a concerted effort to reform the AU and all other continental institutions of governance with a focus on ensuring women’s representation and gender-sensitive policies. The starting point should be national liberation movements that played a major role in suppressing roles played by their own female comrades.
Violence committed against women didn’t end in 1994; it continued under the post-apartheid government. There are many records to prove this. African women occupy fewer high positions in government, business and our universities. African women, particularly those residing in the former Bantu states, remain trapped in an oppressive patriarchy governance system of traditional leadership.
Women are still, by and large, enduring age-old oppression.
Goal number five of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals calls for gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Incidentally, the executive director of UN Women is Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, a South African politician who served as Thabo Mbeki’s vice-president from 2005 to 2008. Mlambo-Ngcuka and Cyril Ramaphosa have a difficult task when it comes to women empowerment; they come from the developing world where the fortunes of women have always been in a precarious state.
Furthermore, they come from South Africa, a country where all forms of abuse against women ranging from economic, professional, physical and sexual are scandalously rife.
The task at hand should be multipronged; women who have risen against trying odds to contribute massively to their countries and the world should be celebrated with the same gusto as their male counterparts.
There should be swift punishment for those who continue or support this scourge. Another prong would be fighting the malevolent effects of patriarchy.
Monyae is the director of the Centre for Africa-China Studies at the University of Johannesburg.
OFF PORTS across the globe, six cruise ships are in quarantine over the coronavirus that could disrupt parts of the cruise industry.
Given the vivid media coverage of the plight of passengers aboard Diamond Princess in Yokohama and Grand Princess off San Francisco, cancellations of bookings will follow and fewer new bookings will be made.
However, for South Africa, where the virus has made limited inroads so far, the current malaise opens opportunities to welcome cruise ships whose Asian or Mediterranean itineraries have had to be rescheduled.
Although underwriters will cover some additional costs, losses for the cruise industry will mount as bookings are cancelled and ships have to divert from their published routes.
Imagine, though, the losses for people like those small tour operators or taxi drivers in ports where cruise ship calls have been cancelled. Even curio vendors at the harbour gate will be deprived of good custom!
Southern African ports – from Walvis Bay’s desert landscape to the unparalleled beauty of Cape Town, or Africa’s big five on view only an hour’s drive from Richards Bay – will present attractive alternatives to virus-endangered Asian destinations.
But South African tourist authorities and the ports should market the country urgently to those cruise ship operators who are currently compromised with potentially idle ships.
While the virus has marred operations in parts of the cruise market, an accident off Brazil has given ore
MINISTER of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa thinks that “overcoming the injustices of the past is within our collective grasp” – your edition of March 9 refers.
He is confident that building a socially cohesive society which shares one South African humanity is a feat the nation can verily achieve. He concedes that unemployment, inequality and poverty threaten to halt progress in this regard.
The lack of social cohesion, he confirms, is a matter of race. Inferring that if that can be dealt with, the issues that halt progress will disappear. The minister does not say as much, because he cannot. carrier operators another wake-up call. Ten days ago, the Korean-operated Stellar Banner reported an ingress of water and a serious list to starboard that submerged her hold ventilators, effectively flooding her holds.
The 340-metre ship carrying about 275 000 tons of iron ore then grounded on a sandbank, where salvors are removing her significant volume of bunkers before deciding on the next steps. With the 330-metre vessel partially on the sandbank and partially afloat, structural damage is likely, and there is every likelihood of her being a total loss.
She is the fourth ship of that fleet to suffer problems in recent years. In April 2017, Stellar Daisy reported water ingress and sank about 1 700 nautical miles west of Cape Town en route from Brazil to China, losing 22 of her 24-member crew.
A week later, Stellar Unicorn – also fully laden with Brazilian iron ore destined for China – also had a water ingress.
She anchored off Green Point for about a fortnight while cracks in her side plating were patched temporarily to enable her to resume her voyage to China.
A local company built a cofferdam to enable Korean welders, flown in for the job, to do the main repair work.
While Stellar Unicorn was at anchor, a similar-sized ore carrier, Stellar Cosmo, reported generator failure, but managed to keep south of the Cape on a great circle route to Singapore where she bunkered and effected repairs.
Had Stellar Banner cracked some 10 days later, local authorities would have had to deal with the problem. Fortunately, experienced salvage teams with a powerful tug are on hand, but the incident highlights the fact that with dozens of these very large ore carriers and large tankers rounding the Cape each month, a major casualty can occur off the South African coast at any time.
As several other ore carriers have also fractured after loading at Brazilian terminals, this mere shipping