EXECUTIVE SECRETARY’S NATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY MESSAGE

In a continuous recognition and acknowledgement of women’s contribution to the liberation of South Africa, we celebrate Women’s Day on 9th August each year. We pay tribute to the more than 20,000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956, to protest the extension of pass laws to women. Every year, in August, South Africa marks Women’s Month. 

After more than a year and a half of the COVID-19 pandemic, Women have lost disproportionately more jobs and income than men, owing to their overrepresentation in the worst-affected industries, and many continue to work on the front lines, sustaining care systems, economies, and societies while simultaneously performing most of the unpaid care work. We commemorate this day to raise awareness on the persistent inequalities, discrimination and abuse of rights experienced by women. 

This year we celebrate Women’s Month under the theme “Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights for an Equal Future”.

During this Women’s Month, may we reaffirm the significant role of African women in the evolution of a strong Pan-African identity, with shared values, objectives, and vision for the future. Initiatives like the ATAF Women in Tax Network prove that women are key contributors towards achieving Africa’s inclusive growth and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (UN-Agenda 2030), anchored in the AU vision of an integrated prosperous and peaceful Africa.

We celebrate women like Nana Akua Mensah (Ghana) an ATAF Women in Tax Network member and Kapembwa Elizabeth Namuyemba-Sikombe (Zambia) and Elisângela Rita (Angola) who have been appointed among 25 tax experts from around the world to serve as members of the UN Tax Committee for the 2021 to 2025 term. Their appointments are true testimonials of the increasingly impactful contributions that women make in the field of taxation. We wish them the very best in performing their duties and representing fellow African sisters.

We also applaud the appointment of Ms Jeanette Chanda Makgolo as Commissioner General of the Botswana Unified Revenue Service.

To all the women of ATAF, in the Secretariat and across our membership, we are particularly thankful to your relentless efforts towards growing and strengthening our organization and ultimately, to your invaluable contribution to Domestic Resource Mobilisation in Africa. 

Happy Women’s month to you all!