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More often than not we owe our achievements and successes – however modest or extraordinary – to a woman. A grandmother, a spouse or a mentor who played a key role in our lives.
It is often a woman who toiled selflessly, performing tasks for which little gratitude is received or even expected. Sometimes this woman is not in our immediate midst but serves as an inspiration despite the distance.
One such woman is Epainette Mbeki, who played the roles of mother to entrepreneur/intellectual Moeletsi Mbeki and former president Thabo Mbeki, and wife to Rivonia trialist Govan Mbeki.
In her life and in death MaMbeki has been recognised in relation to the illustrious men in her life, and her own mammoth contribution has passed largely unheralded. Yet she was much more than a family matriarch and the woman who “kept the home fires burning” while the Mbeki men were in prison or exile.
She was a fierce and determined businesswoman, sustaining a trading enterprise in the rural Eastern Cape for decades. She operated under extremely difficult conditions – the community was poor, she had little in the way of a support structure and she was constantly harassed by the security police. Yet this woman kept going.
MaMbeki established community projects and turned peasants with scant skills into economically active citizens. The economic base she created around the rural periphery of Idutywa may have been basic but it made material difference in the lives of the people. The nothing-is-too-big-to-accomplish spirit of this tireless woman inspired young and old to believe that they need not be victims of an unfair system or just dependants of a welfare state.
When asked by a journalist what her shop’s trading hours were, her swift reply was: “Hours? We open the shop as soon as money is available. When it is too dark to see money in your hand, it is time to stop work for the day.”
The past 23 years have seen female leaders taking centre stage in the evolution of the economy. Be it mining, ICT, agriculture, financial services or construction, women have punched and smashed many a stubborn glass ceiling.
This is evidenced by the profile of the Businesswomen’s Association, whose membership straddles the breadth of the economy and stretches across the value chain. While it is true that there is a way to go before we can say we have an excellent story to tell, the strides that women have made are exciting.
What is most encouraging is the general recognition in business, the state and civil society that the battle against gender-based inequality in the economy must be prioritised and that it’s everyone’s responsibility to dislodge the boulders in front of women.
Fortunately there are many Epainette Mbekis in our midst; women who do not know the concept of giving up, even in the most hostile conditions. They are speaking loudly and achieving highly. We honour these women with no filter.
• This article originally appeared in the 2017 edition of Winning Women, a magazine produced in conjunction with the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa.
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