About 40 women clad in traditional outfits gathered in Featherstone Kloof, 3km along the N2, behind Mountain Drive, on Tuesday morning, for an open-air prayer meeting.
Undeterred by rain and cold weather the women, the members of various congregations in Grahamstown, had blown vuvuzelas and waved South African flags as they gathered at the intersection of Dr Jacob Zuma Drive (Raglan Road) and Albert Street, where minibus taxis arrived to take them to the site, opposite the Industrial Area.
About 40 women clad in traditional outfits gathered in Featherstone Kloof, 3km along the N2, behind Mountain Drive, on Tuesday morning, for an open-air prayer meeting.
Undeterred by rain and cold weather the women, the members of various congregations in Grahamstown, had blown vuvuzelas and waved South African flags as they gathered at the intersection of Dr Jacob Zuma Drive (Raglan Road) and Albert Street, where minibus taxis arrived to take them to the site, opposite the Industrial Area.
The event was to mark National Women's Day, to commemorate the march by 20 000 women in 1956 to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to demonstrate against pass laws.
This time the marchers were petitioning not the authorities, but God, seeking divine intervention in the ills of society.
After a sermon, a petition was read that asked for God's help in tackling women and child abuse, drug and alcohol abuse, crime and unemployment.
They asked for more women in leadership positions, and for God to change the mindsets of political leaders.
March organiser, Nolusapho Pango, host of a popular religious programme on Radio Grahamstown, said they had decided to set aside the day for prayer. “We saw that people are not happy and, as praying mothers, we decided to go the mountain and pray,” explained Pango.
After the ceremony, the marchers went to the Makanaskop Old Age Home, where they prayed for the elderly, reassuring them that they were not forgotten, and donated some money.
African National Congress Women's League secretary in the Makana Sub-region, Nosipho Kulati, also spoke at the function, saying the day was for women not to be silent. “Women must unite and fight for women's rights, and against crime and abuse,” she said.
