[WA-News] 350 South African women not able to participate in WCAR

[jradloff at iafrica.com]

Breakdown in communication means no participation by 350 South African women at 
WCAR

Friday 31 August 2001

350 South African women who arrived at the WCAR on Monday and who had been 
registered by SANGOCO, were refused admission by security guards. The women who 
had travelled from Gauteng by train were finally admitted today (Friday) the 
day before the conference ends. They have to leave by train back to Gauteng 
today at 5:00 p.m. A spokesperson for the women, Joannie Fredricks, told 
journalists that the 350 women represented 56 organisations from South Africa, 
including farm workers, domestic workers and women from the Self Employed 
Women’s Organisation. For the last 3 days the women had had no food and were 
forced to live on a train under shocking conditions, sharing one toilet. 

At mid-day today the women said that although they had been threatened with 
arrest, they were not going to give up until they were let in. The women 
complained that a particular security staff member had refused them entry from 
the first day they arrived to participate in the conference. A SANGOCO 
secretariat representative said that they were treating it as a serious matter 
and wanted to find out who had refused to admit the delegates. 

When the letter from SANGOCO requesting security to admit the 350 women was 
read to the security guards – they were then admitted. A spokesperson from the 
Gauteng-based Self Employed Women’s Union, Sibongile Masangwane said that 
either the security guard had a problem understanding English or did not want 
to let in South African women who looked poor. She said that it seemed 
that “rich-looking” black and white women from other countries were let in with 
no problem. 

Yet another example of a breakdown in communication at the conference that has 
caused unnecessary anger and frustration. 


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