Opening of the
Hout Bay Seafood Festival
&
Snoek Derby
9 August 2007
by
Councillor Marga Haywood
A warm Welcome to the residents and visitors at this colourful event today. As we all know today is National Women’s Day.
On the 9th of August 1956 thousands of South African women joined hands and marched on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to hand over the petition signed by women all over the country, demanding an end to dehumanising pass-laws.
Whilst the overwhelming majority were black women, women of all race groups participated.
Every year since then, although for the first 38 years unofficially, 9 August was remembered by South Africans wanting to honour women and gender issues.
How are we affected by all of this, here, today?
The women who marched 51 years ago, are or were our mothers and grandmothers.
The women of today do not have to carry ‘dom-passes’, they are able to cast their votes freely and fairly, and they are, in theory, supposed to benefit from affirmative action. But have today’s women managed to escape the legacy of the past? How have I personally been affected by discrimination?
In 1976, at the time of the uprising of the youth against the discriminatory practises of the government at the time, I was in Matric, and looking forward, starry-eyed, to a professional career in law. Up until then I escaped, for the most part, the devastating effect of discrimination, mostly because I was fortunate enough to have a father who was enlightened and a proclaimed feminist.
However, this was about to change.
When I phoned the local magistrate's court in Port Elizabeth, or Mandela Bay as it is known today, to enquire about a future career in the professional core of the department of Justice, I was informed, sorry, this is for men only.
I would like to take a moment to get this of my chest: Mr Paul van der Merwe, I only talked to you once but the memory of your prejudice will stay with me forever...In spite of the prejudice against women that prevailed in your regime, the oppression imposed on us by the Broeder Bond, look at what has been achieved by women today:
- In Cape Town we have a female Mayer, who is also the leader at the official Opposition Party in the country
- At national level we have a female Vice President
- In Hout Bay citizens demonstrated their dislike for past discriminatory practises when they casted their votes en masse in the February by-election this year, for Hout Bay’s first female councillor (5980 votes from across the broader community)
I would like to take this opportunity to say thank you once again, to all those women and men, who showed their absence of prejudice, in the recent by-election.
And this brings me to a final, but very important point … Behind every successful woman stands a supportive man.
This brings me to today’s event, the opening of the Hout Bay Seafood Festival, which aims at bringing together all the local communities in celebration of living and sustaining a living on the Atlantic Seaboard and to draw attention to tourism, environmental awareness and above all, community spirit.
The Hout Bay Seafood Festival, incorporating the traditional Snoek Derby, is a celebration of outdoor life styles, cultural diversity, family fun and environmentally friendly living, whilst embodying the colourful character of the Cape fishing community.
In the tradition of this celebration I would like to declare this event now officially opened.
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