DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND TRAINING PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE PRESENTATION
President Ramaphosa has noted the content from and media commentary on the appearance of the Honourable Dr Nobuhle Nkabane before the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education and Training on 30th of May 2025.

The President appreciates that what he has seen may not constitute the full scope or context of the engagement, therefore, he has requested that the Minister provides him with a detailed report on the decorum and substance of her engagement with Parliament.

In this regard, the President will appreciate a report on the process undertaken to appoint board members to the Sector Education and Training Authorities that were at the centre of the Portfolio Committee’s questions.

The request for the report is in view of the President’s expectation that Ministers, Deputy Ministers and senior executives in our public sector conduct themselves professionally, transparently and cordially in engaging with Parliament and other accountability institutions.

The public broadcast of parliamentary proceedings and the viral spread of content from and public comment on these proceedings demand that all Ministers and senior officials remain conscious of all aspects of their conduct during such proceedings.

It also demands that Portfolio Committees are viewed as a welcome platform on which to update the nation on the progress the government is making in all its portfolios.

The President expects the Minister to establish a constructive relationship with the Portfolio Committee as she exercises her leadership and accountability.

06 JUNE 2025 MEETING WITH CHIEF JUSTICE AND JUDICIARY
President Cyril Ramaphosa will tomorrow, 06 June 202, host a meeting with Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, Justice Mandisa Maya and the Judiciary at his Official Residence, Mahlamba Ndlopfu in Pretoria.

The meeting will discuss operations of the Superior Courts and other challenges faced by the Judiciary.  The President will be supported by the Ministers of Justice and Constitutional Development; Finance and Public Service and Administration.

06 JUNE 2025 BLACK BUSINESS COUNCIL SUMMIT GALA AND AWARDS DINNER
President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Friday, 06 June 2025, address the annual Black Business Council Summit Gala and Awards Dinner at the Radisson Hotel & Convention Centre in City of Ekurhuleni. 

The Black Business Council (BBC) is hosting the 2025 Annual Summit under the theme “Socio-Economic Transformation and Inclusive Growth in the context of the Government of National Unity (GNU), G20 Presidency and the Changing Geopolitical Dynamics” on 05 – 06 June 2025.  

Over the course of the BBC Annual Summit, Ministers will participate in panel discussions ranging from the theme of the Summit to access to funding for black-owned – women owned and youth owned businesses, which also will encompass a panel on strategies to revive and grow the economy. 

The BBC represents black professionals, business associations, and chambers, and it advocates for the interests of black business and works to ensure that policies and economic frameworks reflect the inclusive growth agenda. 

10 JUNE 2025 YOUTH ENGAGEMENT PROGRAMMES
As South Africa commemorates Youth Month under the theme: “Skills for the changing world, empowering youth for meaningful economic participation, the President will on Tuesday, 10 June 2025 as part of Youth Month activities, engage with youth beneficiaries of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) and Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) flagship programmes in Pretoria.

The President will visit three sites which are the Sefako Makgatho Primary School in Saulsville; The South African Creative Industries Incubator (SACCI) in Eersterust and The Foundation for the Professional Development (FPD) in Pretoria East.

These visits will highlight innovative implementation models and public-private partnerships that are delivering dignified, high-quality employment and skilling outcomes for youth at scale.

The President will during the visits interact directly with youth beneficiaries, educators, and implementing partners, and see first-hand how the PES and PYEI’s community-based, demand-led approach is reshaping labour market access for the country’s most excluded youth.

NOTE TO MEDIA/EDITORS: The visit to the school will be open to all media to cover the engagement between President and Teacher Assistants.  However, due to space limitations, the other two sites will be restricted to only Government Communications and Information System (GCIS), to which they will disseminate the materials to all media.

12 JUNE 2025 GREEN HYDROGEN SUMMIT
President Ramaphosa will address the inaugural Africa Green Hydrogen Summit, scheduled to take place from 12 to 13 June 2025, in Cape Town under the leadership of the Department of Electricity and Energy.

This high-level platform builds on the momentum of the successful South African Green Hydrogen Summits of 2022 and 2023 and reflects a natural evolution toward a continent-wide agenda. It seeks to promote regional collaboration, advance technological exchange, and unlock market access for African countries in the emerging green hydrogen economy.

The Africa Green Hydrogen Summit 2025 arrives at a pivotal moment for the continent’s clean energy transition. Africa’s vast renewable energy potential, coupled with its mineral endowments, positions it to become a competitive global supplier of green hydrogen and its derivatives.

14-17 JUNE G7 SUMMIT CANADA 
President Ramaphosa will travel to Canada, Kenanaskis from 14-17 June to attend and participate in the G7 Leaders’ Summit. The theme and purpose of the G7 Leaders discussion is “to explore leadership and collaboration in driving a comprehensive approach to energy security with a focus on technology and innovation, diversification and strengthening critical mineral supply chains and infrastructure and investment’’. 

The President will use his participation at the summit to engage fellow world leaders towards finding solutions for energy security and related issues linked to South Africa’s G20 Presidency. This will provide the President with an opportunity to strengthen G7-G20 cooperation.   

19 JUNE 2025 RESPONSE TO ORAL QUESTIONS IN THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday, 19 June 2025, respond to questions for Oral Reply by members of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP), in Parliament, Cape Town.

President Ramaphosa’s engagement with the NCOP is a mechanism for Parliament to hold the executive branch of government accountable, to ensure transparency and to strengthen constitutional democracy.

20 JUNE 2025 30 YEARS ANNIVERSARY OF CONSTITUTIONAL COURT
On Friday, 20 June 2025, the Judiciary will host a celebration to mark the 30th anniversary of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa. This celebration will reflect on the Court’s pivotal role in shaping our constitutional democracy, safeguarding human rights and upholding the rule of law. 

The Constitutional Court of South Africa remains the apex court on constitutional matters, ensuring the proper interpretation, protection, and enforcement of our Constitution. President Ramaphosa is deeply honoured to attend and participate in this occasion and will deliver the keynote address.

20 JUNE 2025 WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES SUMMIT IN JOHANNESBURG 
President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Friday, 20 June 2025, present South Africa’s reflections on the role of religion and church in addressing domestic and global issues at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Summit in Johannesburg. 

The World Council of Churches consists of 352 member churches with over 600 million Christians from 120 countries in the world.

The Council works with Non-Governmental Organizations, Interreligious leaders and others to seek justice, peace, reconciliation and unity in the world.

The WCC played a very significant role in campaigning against apartheid in the international community. Its Program on Combating Racism provided an international platform to work against the evils of racism and apartheid in South Africa. 

The WCC efforts to put the issues of South Africa at that time on the international stage were very successful and led to the withdrawal of the Dutch Reformed Church from the WCC, they are now full members of the WCC again. 

27 JUNE 2025 SACU SUMMIT IN WINDHOEK, NAMIBIA
At the invitation of Her Excellency President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, in her capacity as the Chairperson for SACU, the President will attend the 9th Summit of the Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Heads of State and Government scheduled for 27 June 2025, in Windhoek, Namibia.

The Summit will receive an update from SACU Council of Ministers on the implementation of the SACU Strategic Plan 2022-2027 and the progress made on the process of the re-imagined SACU as adopted by the SACU Heads of State and Government. 

The summit will also provide an opportunity for the leaders to engage on geopolitical developments affecting the region.
South Africa will also assume the SACU Chairship from July 2025.

30 JUNE 2025 THE 4th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE FINANCING FOR DEVELOPMENT IN SPAIN
At the invitation of the President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón of the Government of Spain and United Nations Secretary - General António Guterres, President Cyril Ramaphosa will lead South Africa’s participating delegation to the 4th International Conference on the Financing for Development Summit that is taking place in Seville on 30 June 2025. 

This conference aims to address new and emerging issues in financing for development, including the need to fully implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and reform the international financial architecture.

South Africa’s participation at the Summit aligns with its G20 Presidency objectives of solidarity, equality and sustainability in complementing and supporting the Summits’ goals of reshaping the global financial system in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.

On the margins of the 4th Financing for Development Summit, South Africa will convene a side event under the theme: “Forging a common agenda to achieve debt sustainability in developing economies”.
South Africa seeks to advance through cooperation, collaboration and partnership sustainable solutions to tackle high structural deficits and liquidity challenges and extend debt relief to developing economies which disproportionately affect countries in Africa.  

This event will bring together leading voices from various debt-related initiatives to identify synergies and areas of convergence. It will seek consensus and highlight solutions that enjoy broad support.

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President - Media@presidency.gov.za

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Deputy President Paul Mashatile to launch the Clean Cities and Towns campaign in Gauteng Province. This campaign is a nationwide initiative aimed at fostering cleaner, greener, and more inclusive urban spaces, while advancing sustainability, equality, and solidarity among all citizens.

The Clean Cities and Towns Campaign is envisaged to start a nationwide movement, encouraging citizens to come together for community cleaning activities throughout townships and villages. This unified effort will not only promote cleaner surroundings but also cultivate a sense of community spirit and pride.

Additionally, the campaign will also build on the Deputy President’s commitments made at the SALGA Lekgotla earlier in the year to address both environmental and socio-economic challenges. This initiative will form part of a broader service delivery drive by government within the context of the District Development Model, led by the Deputy President as a champion.

Deputy President Mashatile together with the Premier of Gauteng, Mr Panyaza Lesufi, the Executive Mayor of the City of Johannesburg, Cllr Dada Morero and senior government officials will engage in clean-up activities. Activities will include tree planting, cleaning at the Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication and lighting of the Flame at the Square.

The media are invited as follows:
Date: Friday, 6 June 2025
Time: 09:00
Venue: Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication, Kliptown, Soweto 

For more information on the Clean Cities campaign, kindly contact Matshepo Seedat on 082 679 9473.

Media enquiries: Keith Khoza (The Presidency) on 066 195 8840, Vuyo Mhaga (Gauteng Provincial Government) on 076 636 5193 and Chris Vondo (City of Johannesburg) on 079 851 9908

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Presidential Spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya will today, 05 June 2025 host a media briefing to update the public on the President’s programme and address topical issues of interest.

Members of the media are invited as follows:
Date: Thursday, 05 June 2025
Time: 16h30
Venue: Union Buildings, Media Centre  
RSVP: Members of the media wishing to attend the media briefing in person are requested to submit their details to ndivhuwo@presidency.gov.za

Media following remotely can text their questions to Patience @ 083 376 9468. The media briefing will be streamed live and the link will be shared prior. 
 

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President - media@enquires.gov.za

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his deep sadness at the passing of renowned photographer, cultural activist and jazz organiser Rashid Lombard, who has passed away at the age of 74.

Mr Lombard was an Esteemed Member of the National Order of Ikhamanga (Silver), which he received in 2014 for his excellent contribution to arts and culture and his dedication to promoting jazz music that has put South Africa on the map for many jazz enthusiasts around the world.

President Ramaphosa offers his deep condolences to the Lombard family and Mr Lombard’s extensive network of friends, comrades and creatives nationally and internationally.

Mr Lombard has been the organiser behind the positioning of South Africa through the arts in the North Sea Jazz Festival, Cape Town, now known as the Cape Town International Jazz Festival), and was the Festival Director of the Cape Town International Jazz Festival.

Mr Lombard was born in North End, Gqeberha, and moved to Cape Town in 1962.

Originally qualified as an architectural draughtsman, Rashid Lombard became an industrial photographer and later a renowned news and documentary photographer, and photographic artist.

He built on his creative media career by becoming an influential jazz promoter and founder of the then Cape Town edition of the North Sea Jazz Festival.

President Ramaphosa said: “We have lost a cultural icon who not only documented our history of struggle but made history in his own right.

“Rashid Lombard’s fearless depiction of apartheid’s endemic inhumanity and violence and his compassionate focus on the lives of oppressed communities and disadvantaged individuals is a powerful record of our struggle for basic human rights and dignity.

“His creative and entrepreneurial ability gave rise to his establishment of the Cape Town Jazz Festival through which he bolstered South Africa’s integration into global culture and linked this prestige event to the development of historically disadvantaged communities.

“Rashid achieved a remarkable feat with his love for the diversity and vibrancy of our nation.

“He did so with passion and humility that endeared him to everyone with whom he interacted and whose lives he touched. We reflect on his life with gratitude and with liberation and joy he leaves behind as his legacy.”

Media enquiries: Vincent Magwenya, Spokesperson to the President –
media@presidency.gov.za

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria
 

The Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Ms Nonceba Mhlauli, will address learners at a Career Expo hosted at New Eisleben High School in Cape Town on Wednesday, 4 June 2025. The expo is part of ongoing efforts by the Presidency to provide young people with access to information, opportunities, and inspiration regarding post-matric pathways.

Institutions such as the University of Cape Town (UCT), Stellenbosch University, University of the Western Cape (UWC), Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), College of Cape Town, False Bay TVET College, and Northlink College will be in attendance to share academic and career guidance with learners.

As part of the visit, the Deputy Minister will also participate in a handover warm clothing items to learners, in partnership with Gift of the Givers, reaffirming government’s commitment to the dignity and well being of every learner.

Members of the media are invited as follows:
Date: Wednesday, 4 June 2025
Time: 13h00 – 14h50
Venue: New Eisleben High School, Cape Town

Media enquiries and accreditation: Mandisa Mbele, Head of Office, Office of the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, mandisam@presidency.gov.za / 082 580 2213.

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr Antonio Guterres,
Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,
Distinguished participants,
 
The world is in a race against time.
 
In five years from now, we must have achieved the Sustainable Development Goals that are essential for human well-being and progress.
 
We must achieve these goals not merely because we have committed them to paper, but because the health, welfare and happiness of billions of people depends on the progress we make.
 
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development is a crucial moment for the global community to accelerate its collective efforts.
 
The United Nations 2024 Report on the SDGs captures the gravity of the crisis.
 
The report makes it clear that we must think and act differently.
 
We must move faster and with far greater ambition.
 
Importantly, we must align our efforts across all available fora and platforms.
 
South Africa has been consistent that the priorities of its G20 Presidency should complement and support the ambitious objectives of the FfD4. 
 
We have placed solidarity, equality and sustainability at the centre of our G20 Presidency, driven by our conviction that global challenges can only be resolved through cooperation, collaboration and partnership. 
 
As one of the overarching priorities of our G20 Presidency, we are advocating for action to ensure debt sustainability for low-income countries.
 
The policy space available to developing countries is significantly constrained by their debt servicing obligations and their climate and development financing needs. 
 
We know, for example, that 23 countries in Africa are paying more for debt costs than critical development enablers like health care and education. 
 
South Africa seeks to advance sustainable solutions to tackle high structural deficits and liquidity challenges and extend debt relief to developing economies.  
 
In support of this effort – and in pursuit of sustainable funding of the SDGs – South Africa will convene a side event at the FfD4 under the theme: “Forging a common agenda to achieve debt sustainability in developing economies”. 
 
This event will bring together leading voices from various debt-related initiatives to identify synergies and areas of convergence. It will seek consensus and highlight solutions that enjoy broad support. 
 
The Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development is a crucial opportunity to reshape the global financial system in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.
 
We must emerge from the conference with bold decisions and an ambitious action plan that leaves no country, no community and no person behind. 
 
I thank you.
 

The Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Ms Nonceba Mhlauli, will tomorrow Tuesday, 3 June 2025, lead a blanket donation programme for elderly residents at Nomwabisi Seniors Club in Cape Town.

This community outreach initiative forms part of the government's efforts to support vulnerable groups during the winter season and promote dignity and care for older persons.

The donation drive is supported by partners in the public and private sector, who have generously contributed blankets to help keep elderly citizens warm and comfortable.

Members of the media are invited to attend and cover the event as follows:
Date: Tuesday, 3 June 2025
Time: 13:00 - 15:00
Venue: Nomwabisi Seniors Club, Cape Town
RSVP: Mandisa Mbele 082 580 2213 MandisaM@Presidency.gov.za

The Deputy Minister will spend time with the senior citizens, and oversee the distribution of donated blankets.

The event will also highlight the importance of intergenerational solidarity and the role of government and civil society in improving the wellbeing of the elderly.

Media enquiries: Mandisa Mbele 082 580 2213 / MandisaM@Presidency.gov.za

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Good morning, members of the media, partners, and colleagues.

Thank you for joining us today as we reflect on the progress made through the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) in the fourth quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year, covering the period from January to March 2025. 

As we mark the fifth year since the launch of the PYEI in 2020, I am pleased to report that the programme continues to make meaningful strides in unlocking sustainable earning opportunities for young people across South Africa. Our latest quarterly report confirms that over 4.78 million young people are now registered on the National Pathway Management Network, with more than 1.67 million earning opportunities secured to date. This reflects the strength of the PYEI’s approach in aggregating demand, coordinating partners, and enabling pathways that enhance young people’s economic participation.

In Q4 alone, 76,569 earning opportunities were accessed by young people, including:
• 60,444 opportunities through SA Youth, and
• 16,125 through the Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA).

We also saw continued progress through our partnerships:
• The Youth Employment Service (YES) facilitated 15,137 workplace experience placements in the private sector.
• The Department of Higher Education and Training placed an additional 5,504 TVET graduates into workplace opportunities.
• The National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and the Department of Small Business Development supported more than 43,000 young entrepreneurs with financial and non-financial enterprise development opportunities.
• Phase 3 of the Revitalised National Youth Service saw 2,048 youth recruited, bringing the total number of participants across all phases to 84,426.

We are particularly proud of the continued momentum of the Jobs Boost Outcomes Fund, which uses an innovative pay-for-performance model to incentivise the placement of young people into sustained, quality jobs, has made steady progress in its pilot phase.

By the end of March 2025:
• Over 5,400 young people had been enrolled reaching 65% of the
programme’s enrolment target. 
• More than 3,000 had been placed into quality jobs, and
• Over R70 million had been disbursed to 11 implementing partners, including R30 million in this quarter alone.

These jobs are not just temporary placements. They are quality jobs, defined by duration, income level, and growth potential. We are already seeing shifts in employer practices as a result to better accommodate excluded young people. 

This report also highlights the launch of the Township Ecosystem Mapping Platform, a new tool developed under the Local Ecosystem Enablement pillar, aimed at improving coordination and access for township-based entrepreneurs.

We remain committed to building a connected, demand-led ecosystem that not only creates opportunities but also drives systems change in the labour market. As always, the success of this initiative is due to the ongoing collaboration between government, private sector, development partners, and the young people themselves.

We will continue sharing our progress through these quarterly reports. As always, detailed data and insights are available on the PYEI dashboard at www.stateofthenation.gov.za. 

We also invite our youth to register on SAYouth.Mobi which is a zero rated site where they will access information about the PYEI as well as all youth empowerment related matters. 

We look forward to sharing more insights during this media interaction and will now be handing over to my colleagues who will give you a detailed breakdown of the Quarter 4 results. 

I thank you.

The Deputy Minister in The Presidency, Nonceba Mhlauli, will on Monday, 2 June 2025 brief the media on the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) 4th Quarter Report. 

Members of the media are invited to attend a media briefing hosted by the Deputy Minister in The Presidency, Ms. Nonceba Mhlauli, to present and reflect on the Quarter 4 Progress Report (January – March 2025) of the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI).

Now in its fifth year, the PYEI remains one of South Africa’s most significant and innovative responses to the youth unemployment crisis. The briefing will provide an update on key achievements, lessons learned and plans to scale impact across government and private sector partnerships.

Details of the Media Briefing:

Date: Monday, 2 June 2025
Time: 10:00 – 11:30
Venue: GCIS, Tshedimosetso House, 1035 Frances Baard Street (corner Festival Street), HATFIELD, Pretoria, 0083

Key highlights will include:

• The earning opportunities secured for youth in Q4.
• Progress on the Jobs Boost Outcomes Fund.
• New tools supporting township entrepreneurs.
• Strategies to address persistent youth unemployment in a low-growth economy.
• The Deputy Minister will be available for media questions following the briefing.

Media enquiries: Mandisa Mbele, Head of Office, on 082 580 2213

Issued by: The Presidency
Pretoria

Programme Director,
The family of Mama Getrude Shope, children and grandchildren,
President of the ANC Women’s League, Cde Sisisi Tolashe,
Members of the ANC National Executive Committee,
Members of the ANC Women’s League NEC,
Leadership of the Alliance and Mass Democratic Movement formations,
Comrades and Friends,
Fellow mourners,

We are here to bed farewell to Mama Gertrude Shope, Isithwalandwe, freedom fighter, trade unionist, icon of the women’s movement. 

Her passing comes less than a week after we buried Cde Lungi Mngaga-Gcabashe, the Deputy President of the ANC Women’s League.

As we laid her to rest, we observed that in an African hut, there’s a pole that stands in the middle of the hut. It is called Intsika, or a pillar. 

Women – our mothers, our grandmothers, our wives, our sisters, our aunts and our daughters – are izintsika. Like the pillar that holds the structure of the hut together, women hold up our homes, our families and the nation. 

To have lost two women leaders – izintsika – in such close succession is a great loss. And yet, even amidst our grief we take comfort in the legacies they left behind. 

We gather not just to remember the name Getrude Shope.

We gather to honour a life that helped to shape our country’s democracy.

Mama Getrude Shope’s life is and was intertwined in the fabric of our of democracy.

Her’s was a life that was quietly and unshakably committed to the struggle for our people’s liberation.

As we pay tribute to Mama Gertrude Shope, one of the outstanding matriarchs of our struggle, we should remember that she was a torchbearer for women’s emancipation. 

We should remember her for her lifelong contribution to the struggle for freedom for all, especially for women silenced in the margins of apartheid oppression and patriachy.

She taught us that liberation without the liberation of women means that our revolution is unfinished. She also taught us that democracy without the voice of women is a fragile and partial democracy.

Today South Africa stands tall as a constitutional democracy that enshrines the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all.

We have stood firm in our conviction that the struggle for racial equality cannot be separated from the struggle for gender equality.

We have made significant progress in advancing women’s rights in education, health, social protection, political representation and economic participation. 

The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report has called our country “a beacon of hope” in the quest for gender equality worldwide.

This progress was not achieved by chance. 

Gertrude Shope and others made it happen. She birthed and mothered it. She nurtured it with discipline, wisdom and responsibility.

This progress is the result of deliberate policies implemented by successive democratic governments since 1994. 

This progress is the result of a progressive Constitution and Bill of Rights that was forged in the trenches of struggle – a struggle waged by legions of brave women and men who dedicated their lives to seeing a South Africa that is non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, prosperous and free.

Ma Gertrude Shope was foremost among them. 

At the age of 29, a time when many young people are still trying to find their feet in the world, she was already a revolutionary. 

By her late twenties Ma Shope was a teacher by profession, having received her training in Zimbabwe, and was teaching domestic science at Pimville High in Soweto. 

This brought her into direct contact with one of apartheid’s most insidious policies, Bantu Education. 

To witness the dehumanising of black children in the classroom struck her to the core. She refused to accept the dictates of her role to impart inferior education that prepared black children for little more than a life of menial labour. 

She joined the ANC and became involved in the campaign against Bantu Education in the early 1950s. 

When the Congress of the People adopted the Freedom Charter in 1955, she personally took up its mantra that the doors of learning and culture shall be opened. 

She took to heart the view expressed by Dr AB Xuma that education and political rights must go hand in hand with social justice and equality for all. 

Ma Shope’s resistance to Bantu Education was a bold declaration that every African child was deserving of knowledge, respect and dignity. 

She became involved in the women’s movement, joining the Federation of South African Women, FEDSAW.

A year before the Congress of the People in Kliptown, FEDSAW had adopted the Women’s Charter, setting out a vision of gender equality that found expression in the Freedom Charter itself. 

In 1956, when more than 20 000 women marched on the seat of apartheid power to demand an end to the pass laws, Ma Shope was among the organisers. 

She helped to mobilise women around the country, to inform them about the demands of the protestors and to arrange transport to Pretoria.

She belonged to a generation that took the baton from the pioneering work of women activists like Charlotte Maxeke, who once said: “This work is not for ourselves. Kill that spirit of self and do not live above your people, but with them.”

Ma Shope lived by this creed. 

In its tribute to Ma Shope, COSATU reflected on the great personal sacrifice that commitment to the struggle entailed. She quit her teaching career, her source of income, as part of the campaign to boycott Bantu Education.

Abandoning one’s personal aspirations in pursuit of a greater cause is the very epitome of servant leadership. 

There are arguably few amongst us who would today do the same. Such was this calibre of leadership, such was this level of commitment to one’s people and to the greater good.
 
Ma Shope’s activities soon drew the attention of the apartheid authorities. She made the decision to go into exile in 1966, where she would join her husband Mark who was active in the trade union movement and the ANC in exile. 

While in exile, she worked tirelessly across Africa and abroad, mobilising support for the anti-apartheid cause.

She played a key role in drawing global attention to our struggle, including participating in the work of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid.

Just as international solidarity helped win us our freedom, just as Ma Shope taught us, we will continue our principled solidarity with peoples everywhere suffering oppression and persecution.

As the head of the ANC’s Women’s Section in exile and later as President of the ANC Women’s League, Ma Shope had a profound grasp of the realities facing women in South Africa.

She knew that the triple burden of oppression based on race, class and gender would not evaporate once apartheid ended.

In the early 1980s, Ma Shope gave an interview where she was asked why she thought it was important for women in the liberation movement to organise separately. 

The interviewer asked if women were organising separately to revolt against men.

Ma Shope said:

“We are not declaring war on men. We know that the society we live in has made men think a certain way. So, men are also victims. Together, men and women must change their attitudes to each other.”

This statement is as relevant today as it was when Ma Shope spoke these words.
 
As president of the ANC Women’s League from 1991 to 1993, Ma Shope was instrumental in revitalising women’s voices within the democratic transition. 

She worked to ensure that gender equity was embedded in the new South African Constitution, refusing to let women’s rights be treated as a secondary issue to national freedom.

Despite our progressive Constitution, despite South Africa having made considerable progress in advancing women’s rights, persistent inequalities threaten to undermine our advance as a society.

Women are still more likely to be poor than men. Women are still more likely to be unemployed than men. Women are the primary victims of intimate partner violence, abuse, rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Ma Shope’s life’s work is not yet complete. 

It is up to us to take forward women’s struggles for full equality, for freedom from violence, and for the right to live in security, comfort and peace. 

And like Ma Shope said all those years ago, this is not a struggle that must be waged by women alone. 

Men must be at the frontlines of the fighter for gender equality. They must alongside their mothers, grandmothers, sisters and daughters.

The young women of the ANC Women’s League are the worthy inheritors of Ma Shope’s legacy. 

We have seen the great work being done by the League to advocate for the rights of women and children and to empower them. 

The women of South Africa have inherited the bravery, discipline and commitment of the generation that shook JG Strydom, the then Prime Minister of apartheid South Africa.

As we lay Ma Shope to rest, we renew our commitment to realising a South Africa in which women and girls enjoy true freedom. 

Isithwalandwe Ma Shope served South Africa and her movement with distinction throughout her life. 

Her unwavering commitment to women’s rights and her extraordinary leadership laid a firm basis for us to continue building a country that gives voice to the voiceless. 

Her legacy lives on in the ANC, in the ANC Women’s League and in the Gertrude Shope Peacebuilding and Capacity Building Programme that was set up to support women peacemakers and conflict mediators on our continent.

We thank her for her service to South Africa and to the women of our country. 

In the interview I spoke of earlier, Ma Shope was asked what message she had for the women of her country. To which she said:

“My message to women is that we should stand up for our rights. The time for women to be found in the kitchen is long past. Let us, together with our menfolk, correct the wrongs and ills of our society. This is the challenge facing us today. Join your organisation in your thousands, for without you there is no revolution.”

Ma Shope, as men and as women, we will indeed give effect to your clarion call. 

We owe this to you and to the many women and men who gave their all for South Africa to be free. 

Lala Ngoxolo Mbokodo, 

Isithwalandwe-Seaparankwe.

I thank you.