Law firm hosts Women’s Day

Benno de Klerk of the law firm Davel De Klerk Kgatla Attorneys (DDKK) says women are fascinating and that he was lucky to be surrounded by so many women at the practice.
Speaking at a Women’s Day celebration for his staff and selected female clients, he said the firm has a staff compliment of 21, of which only three are men. Of the six attorneys, four are women. “Two-thirds of our candidate attorneys are women. Women are the backbone of our firm. They are loyal and very hard-working. I learnt a long time ago, if you want a job well done, give it to a busy woman.”
He said women have all the essentials for life within them. “You’re a very nurturing force and not only do you have the power to create life, but also to incubate it and deliver it to the world. On an individual level you’re able to change and become whatever you want, growing and developing into the life that you choose. It must be an amazing experience and one that you’ll want to create consciously rather than letting others decide what sort of life you’ll have. Never forget that you have these powers within you.”
He said in South Africa Women’s Day is celebrated as more and more women come full circle and many who have not yet done so are rising up, quietly remaining gentle, loving and kind but also transforming.
“South Africa has a terrible history of women and children succumbing in conflicts. In the Anglo-Boer War, almost 27 000 white women and children died in the concentration camps. More than all the men killed on the battlefield. A lesser known fact is tht about 18 000 black women and children also died in these camps.”
Thousands of women also died in their fight against apartheid. “My memories as a small child in Pretoria was my mom wondering where our domestic worker was, maybe after she had walked to a nearby café and had not returned. We would get in the car and go and look for her. We would stop along the way and ask other domestic workers if they had seen her and would then be told that she had been arrested by the Police for not having her pass with her. My mom would then drive around the suburb looking for the large police truck that was used to round up black people without passes. We would find it and my mom would ask the Police to stop and release our domestic worker and vouched for her having a pass. The Police would then happily release her. I can remember her getting out of the back of the truck, her shoes drenched in urine, for by then a large number of women would have been in the back of the vehicle, for many hours. It never stopped once for them to get to a toilet.
On 9 August 1956, 20 000 women marched against these pass laws in a peaceful protest. And that is why we celebrate Women’s’ Day on 9 August every year. The song they sang that day, loosely translated, also stated: “Strijdom, you have tampered with women. You have struck a rock.”
“Rock” of course referring to women. This was a major awakening of the women warriors in South Africa, where women of all races joined hands to protest.
He quoted from a poem by Lady J-Ann, saying
“This warrior woman has come
fully alive today,
She is no longer anyone’s slave or prey,
She is taking back her life today.”

Story and photo: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com

Featured photo: Benno de Klerk.