Every year, for the month of August, South Africa marks today, 1 August as the start of Women’s Month commemorations, where the main purpose is to celebrate the contributions of women to the events and history of this country, drawing attention to many of the important issues that women in South Africa, and across the world, still face.
The first National Women’s Day in South Africa was celebrated on 9 August 1995. In 2006, the day was celebrated with a reenactment of the march staged for its 50th anniversary. Many of the 1956 march veterans participated in the reenactment as per African Travel Canvas.
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What better way than to start the celebrations early and salute these women who are doing tremendous work by putting our country on the map?
Women in Sports:
Desiree Ellis ( Banyana Banyana Coach)
South Africa’s favourite coach, Cape Town-born, Desiree Ellis, and now a current coach for Banyana Banyana, a women’s national football team began her career in athletics in many administrative positions but the significant one was when she was the vice-president of Western Province Women’s Football Association from 1994 to 1995 and later the PRO of the association from 1996 to 1997. Ellis was appointed the interim manager of the South Africa Women’s Football team in 2016.
She was awarded the Confederation of African Football Women’s Coach of the year in 2018 and consecutively, has been collecting the same award every year even in 2022. She recently coached the newly-crowned Banyana Banyana team to victory at the Women’s Africa Cup Nations (Wafcon) team of the tournament in Morocco defeating their host Morocco 2-1.
Women in the Restaurant business:
Siba Mtongana
Culinary extraordinaire, Siba Mtongana who hails from the Eastern Cape but has made Cape Town her home studied Food and Consumer Sciences at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) in 2006. She is highly known as the South African chef and television presenter of the cooking show, Siba’s Table on Foodnetwork airing in more than 135 countries worldwide. She has won an award for her South African cooking show titled Cooking with Siba and was, at that time, doubling as magazine food editor for various publications.
In 2019, Siba Mtongana was picked by the president to culinary direct and curate the menu for the inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa, she was also nominated as 100 Most Influential Africans in 2020 and has won a ton of awards both internationally and locally. She currently operates her restaurant Siba, which offers 5-star dining that serves unique recipes which encompass world flavours with an African flair.
Women in Arts:
Tony Gum
Visual artist, filmmaker and artist in learning, through self-definition Tony gum began her journey to the arts as a way of expression by posting selfies on Instagram. She rose to fame through her self-portrait Black Coca-Cola earned her a huge following and invitations to host in various art galleries both locally and internationally. Gum received the Miami Beach Pulse Prize in 2017 for her series Ode to She which explores her ancestral culture.
Her bold portraits draw on the rich visual language of fashion editorials, using costumes and props to deliver incisive social commentary for the moment. She has just come back from New York where she showcased her recent work, a series which began in 2016 Milked in Africa.
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Picture: Cape Town etc {Gallery}