Provincial ANCWL spokesperson Kelebogile Thulo did not mince words as she confronted the deep contradictions in a society that glorifies the historic struggles of women while allowing their daughters to burn in the hell of patriarchy, capitalism, and state-sanctioned neglect. “We do not come with flowers and empty slogans,” said Thulo.

“We come with the raging spirit of Charlotte Maxeke, the defiance of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, and the revolutionary fury of all the women who fought not for applause, but for total emancipation! 

“Our foremothers did not march in 1956 for us to be reduced to begging for scraps of dignity in a democracy they bled for. They did not endure apartheid brutality for us to now endure economic apartheid, where young women educated, skilled, and full of potential are discarded like waste by a system that prioritises profits over people.”

She went further, describing unemployment not just as a crisis, but as a violent attack on Black women, designed to keep them dependent, exploited, and powerless.

Thulo said the ANC smiles in women’s faces while stabbing them in the back, while they see women as voting cattle, as stepping stones to power, as objects to be used and discarded.

‘They are the same ones who beat, rape, and kill them’

“Women are hunted in their homes, in churches, in schools, in the streets. The men who claim to love them are the same ones who beat, rape, and kill them. The pastors who preach salvation are the wolves who abuse the vulnerable. The teachers who should protect them are sometimes the predators. Even brothers, who should be shields, become executioners. Enough! We are not merely ‘victims,’ we are the daughters of warriors, and we will fight like them!”

Reiterating the ANCWL’s stance, Thulo warned they will no longer tolerate the empty rhetoric of “women’s empowerment” while reactionary forces both inside and outside the movement continue to sabotage real progress.

“We are not here to beg. We are here to fight, to occupy, to disrupt, and to reclaim what is ours! The ANCWL in the Free State declares unwavering war on all structures that keep women oppressed. We will not be pacified by ceremonial positions or hollow praises; we demand real power, real resources, and real change.” Thulo urged women across the Free State to unite and arm themselves with knowledge.

OFM News/Kekeletso Mosebetsi dg