Last surviving Women's March organiser calls on youth to 'be brave, bold'
The South African Federation of Trade Union (Saftu) says we don't have much to celebrate this Women's Day.
Saftu president Mamolaba Ruth Ntlokotse says 66 years after the historic women's march to the union buildings over pass laws and 28 years into democracy, "the situation has hardly changed, mainly in the economy, but also socially."
President Cyril Ramaphosa will be delivering the main address at the country's official commemoration event in Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal.
The event will take place at the Silahla Sport Field in Richmond in the uMngungundlovu district municipality.
The last surviving organiser of the historic march, Sophie de Bruyn, says it is now up to the younger generation to take over the baton.
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"We are living in very dangerous, serious, heart-breaking times and as young people, it is incumbent on you to get involved," she says.
"You are the future of this country - we have already handed the baton to you. Some of the people are running with it and running hard and fast."
She warns, though: "If you are going to be involved, you have to be highly committed - you have to be bold, you have to be brave."
She explains that while her generation fought oppression, today's youth have a number of enemies to fight, including "the enemy of poverty, the enemy of gender-based violence, the enemy of homelessness, of joblessness."
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