Speaker, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers present, and hon members, our fourth democratic Parliament was installed on the basis of both its constitutional obligations and the ANC Election Manifesto which promised that, "working together we can do more". Informed by the 52nd National Conference of the ANC, our internationalist perspective is informed by human solidarity, enhancing democracy, equity and social and economic justice.
This informs our practice here in Parliament, in terms of our international activities, and it locates the operations of the ANC squarely in the national effort to ensure that all of us, bound together by common patriotism, will rise together with a singular sense of purpose in pursuit of the agenda outlined by the President in his state of the nation address in February this year.
In rising to this challenge we should never miss the opportunity to look back and learn from our successes and setbacks in our endeavours to remain focused on our goal for a better life for all. We must also frankly assess our capacity against the weight of rising expectations.
Speaker, this Parliament has participated in these structures and continues to do so in various forums. The Regional Women's Parliamentary Forum was established as an organ of the Southern African Development Community Parliamentary Forum, SADC-PF, with the purpose of providing a framework to follow up on the political commitments regarding the participation and representation of women in decision-making positions. The caucus comprises the chairpersons of the national women's parliamentary caucuses and was launched in 2002.
In July 2009 I, on behalf of this Parliament, formed part of a delegation of an advocacy mission to observe the elections in Botswana together with fellow women parliamentarians from Zambia and Namibia. The observations, findings and recommendations of the mission were submitted to the regional caucus and the SADC-PF. The 27th plenary session of SADC-PF was held this year. As Chairperson of the Multiparty Women's Caucus, I represented this Parliament and presented a report on the establishment and functioning of the women's caucus in Parliament.
The Inter-Parliamentary Union, IPU, established the Co-ordinating Committee of Women Parliamentarians in April 1990 to present all of the IPU's women members. The co-ordinating committee aims to promote an increase in the number of women parliamentarians as delegates to the inter-parliamentary meetings and greater participation of women Members of Parliament in all senior posts of the union.
This structure has achieved a lot in respect of the improvement of the status of women and with regard to contributions made by women in the IPU structures.
The structures I have mentioned above have been created to ensure that democracy, fairness, transparency and the rule of law are maintained. It is for us as Members of Parliament to educate ourselves about what these organisations aim to achieve and what our contributions are supposed to be in furthering the aims of these structures.
The Multiparty Women's Caucus in this Parliament is currently involved in discussions on the strategic programme that would guide its work. Among the activities being considered, the women's caucus is also looking at the discussion on the SADC Protocol on Gender and Equality; training of women Members of Parliament on budgeting; and creating networks with women's forums in other legislatures within the country and internationally, and also civil society movements focusing on women issues.
The Multiparty Women's Caucus believes that these are the responsibilities that women parliamentarians have to carry in order to ensure democracy, irrespective of party affiliation.
We will spare no effort in strengthening the progressive forums of the South, notably the Non-Aligned Movement; the Group of 77 plus China and the Africa-South America Summit; and the New Africa-Asia Strategic Partnership. These forums have demonstrated to us - some even during the difficult years of apartheid - that they can be trusted allies and partners in our struggle for a better life.
As I'm standing here, I know that South Africans, especially the leaders of the ANC, our former Speakers, Comrades Baleka Mbethe and Gwen Mahlangu, have been champions in these structures. They even led them representing South Africa as members of the ruling party.
We continue to build on the long history of our bond of friendship and solidarity between us and countries of the South. We will continue to learn from their experience, especially how, in spite of the colonial history that they share with us, they managed to transform into the tigers that some of them are today.
We will also continue to strengthen people-to-people contact and cultural exchanges between us and the South, and use our bilateral relations and structures such as the India, Brazil, South Africa Dialogue Forum, Ibsa, to intensify exchanges between us in areas of mutual benefit. I thank you. [Applause.]