| From Unity, 13 February 2010 |
International Women’s Day, 2010by Lynda Walker2010 marks the hundredth anniversary of the decision to hold an International Women’s Day event annually. This year the Communist Party of Ireland has invited a comrade from South Africa to be with us for International Women’s Day, 2010. Joyce Moloi-Moropa is the Deputy Chairperson of the South African Communist Party. Joyce is also an MP for the African National Congress. She served in Parliament between 2001 and 2004, and returned to Parliament last year.She chairs the Public Service and Administration Portfolio Committee in the National Assembly. She said she sees her parliamentary and SACP roles as “complementary . . . It’s part of strategy to advance the developmental state. The role of SACP members who are in local government is very important. We have big challenges there, and that’s where service delivery is mainly taking place. There’s a lot that we can do to advance development through being public representatives, and linking this not just to our SACP work but ANC work too.” She has written about gender issues but is quick to stress that she did not want to be pigeonholed as a gender activist in the party, even if that is an important part of her work. “We have to link the gender struggle with the class and national struggles.” She said that the large number of women MPs in the legislatures is important, “but it will not mean a lot if we don’t advance the position of women generally.” She also feels that gender issues should be incorporated more in the party’s Medium-Term Vision and its programmes and policies. Comrade Joyce was politically active from the age of thirteen, was repeatedly detained and ultimately expelled from school. She left Soweto and was admitted to Marobathotha High School in Limpopo, where she finished her secondary education. The lively mother of five children is married to Mathabathe Moropa, the secretary to the Mpumalanga legislature. In response to the question “isn’t this very challenging for family life?” Joyce replied: “Yes, but you have to find a balance. Families are also important in the revolution.” Whilst she is in Ireland, Joyce will meet political representatives as well as activists in the trade union movement, and she will have a number of public speaking engagements. |
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