Women's Day: Ministers’ Fernandez and Marais address Prince Albert community

On Tuesday, 09 August 2022, the Western Cape Minister for Social Development, Sharna Fernandez and the Western Cape Minister for Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marais, addressed community members and several key stakeholders at a ‘Celebration of Women’ event that took place at the Fransie Pienaar Museum in Prince Albert.

The event served as an opportunity to create awareness to residents of Prince Albert and surrounding areas of the services offered by the Department of Social Development (DSD) and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS).

In her address, Minister Fernandez said: “ Women’s Day presents us with the ideal opportunity to reflect on how far we have come in addressing the barriers faced by women. However, it is also a time to renew our collective efforts to ensure that we remain on the path to creating a gender-equitable and safe society.”

In recognition of the significant role that Cultural Affairs and Sports play in the upliftment of women in society, Minister Marais said: “Arts, culture and sport play important roles not only in promoting mental and physical wellbeing, but also in creating safe spaces, especially for our young girls. When girls come together to practice their craft – either in the arts or practicing sport, they can feel a sense of belonging and they are offered a safe space in which to equip themselves to reach success in the future.”

As a caring government, the DSD and DCAS offer a basket of services  and interventions for women and young girls in the Central Karoo region, that seek to remove barriers. These include amongst others:

• Therapeutic and psychosocial support services;
• Shelter services for women who have been victims of GBV;
• Specialised Substance Use Disorder support services;
• A CARES (Culture, Arts, Recreations, Education, Sport) complex in Beaufort West, which offers after school sporting activities such as softball and hockey.
• After school programmes across the district, which include cultural and sporting activities that are facilitated by trained coaches.
• Museums in the district offer a variety of exhibitions, including on women in sport.
• Libraries in the district also offer safe spaces for studying, accessing the internet for research and a wealth of reading material.
• In May this year, DCAS handed over funding of R560 000 to sport federations in the area, to assist them with administration and development of their various sporting codes.

Let us join hands as women. Let us continue to uplift and empower one another, so that we can rise and ensure that a better and brighter future.

For more information about our other services, please refer to the Western Cape Department’s Website below:

https://www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/social-development

https://www.westerncape.gov.za/dept/cas