Day of solidarity with South African and Namibian women observed on 9 August.

Day of Solidarity with South African and Namibian women observed on 9 August

The Special Committee against Apartheid on 9 August observed the International Day of Solidarity with the Struggle of Women of South Africa and Namibia at a solemn meeting in New York. The Day was proclaimed by the General Assembly in 1981 to commemorate a demonstration held on 9 August 1956 in Pretoria, South Africa, to protest the expansion of pass laws to African women.

The Committee observed a minute of silence "in honour of Victoria Mxenge, Matthew Goniwe, Fort Calata, Sparrow Mkhonto, Fidelo Mhlawuli and all those whose lives have been brutally taken away in the struggle against the racist regime during the past year." It also viewed a videotaped interview with Winnie Mandela, the wife of the imprisoned leader of the African National Congress of south Africa (ANC).

The Committee's Acting Chairman, Serge Elie Charles (Haiti), said 9 August had taken on added significance in light of the state of emergency declared on 21 July in South Africa. Among the first victims was a woman, Victoria Mxenge, who had been brutally gunned down in front of her home. She was one of the key attorneys for the United Democratic Front officials charged with high treason whose trial had resumed on 5 August. On 6 August, the police had hurled tear gas canisters into the home of Mrs. Winnie Mandela, ransacked the house, and arrested Mrs. Mandela's sister along with 30 other people. The time had come for the international community to go beyond mere condemnations, declarations and resolutions.

Mittah Seperepere, of the Women's Section of ANC, observed that to the black women of South Africa apartheid meant broken family lives as a result of the migratory labour system, or being jailed--either with or without their children--for not having a pass. The racist regime had embarked on a policy of genocide through the wide use of contraceptives (including DEpoprovera, which is banned in many Western States), while threatening to introduce force sterilization of African women. The military, economic, political and cultural support given by Western countries to South Africa encouraged its aggressiveness and the perpetuation of the suffering of black women. The imposition of mandatory economic sanctions was the only peaceful measure to quickly bring apartheid to its knees.

Niilonga P. Geingos, representative of the Women's Council of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), said South Africa's manoeuvres could try to erase the physical presence of Winnie Mandela but they could never erase her will for freedom. Peace, equality and development, the themes of the World Conference on Women held in Nairobi, were still elusive. As long as South Africa's colonial, aparheid regime existed in southern Africa, there could be no development. The racist regime was bent on destabilizing the whole region. She called for the immediate, unconditional implementation of the United Nations plan for Namibia contained in Security Council resolution 435 (1978).

Statements were also made by the representatives of Nigeria, nepal, the Ukrainian SSR and Peru on behalf of the African, Asian, Eastern European and Latin American Groups, respectively. Others who spoke were the representatives of ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC), and Jon Qwelane, a journalist with the Star newspaer of Johannesburg.

Messages of solidarity with South African and Namibian women were received from Nicaragua, Cuba, the Soviet Women's Committee and the World Federation of Trade Unions.