Programme Director,
Members of the Executive Council,
Executive Mayors and your leadership teams,
Director General and your management team,
Distinguished guest,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
I greet you all today in the name of peace and prosperity for all our people, which is the ultimate objective of our promotion of human rights.
U-Tat’u Mandela described the 21 March, historically known as Sharpville Day which was declared as a national Human Rights Day in our democratic South Africa, as: "A day which, more than others, captures the essence of the struggle for the South African people and the soul of our non-racial democracy. March 21 is the day on which we remember and sing praises to those who perished in the name of democracy and human dignity. It is also a day on which we reflect and assess the progress we are making in enshrining basic human rights and values".
We are therefore here to honour that commitment, to cherish the contributions and supreme sacrifices of all our heroes and heroines who over the years of struggle for freedom paid with their lives for us to enjoy this freedom and development today. The spilling of the blood of the 69 freedom loving South Africans in 1960 inspired all the people of South Africa and the world to consolidate their efforts to rid our country of an inhumane system of apartheid and racial oppression.
It marked a critical turning point that saw more resistance, the banning of the liberation organisations, as well as the United Nations declarations that led to progressive isolation of the apartheid regime.
This year we commemorate the 52 anniversary of that fateful day that killed many and left over 300 people injured when the police opened fire on unarmed people who wanted respect of their basic human rights and freedoms. As Madiba says the day represents all others when many of our people were killed, maimed and abused to protect selfish and sectoral racial interests.
This year the commemoration is special in the sense that it coincides with the celebration of 100 years of our glorious movement that for the past century was at the forefront of the liberation struggle, the African National Congress (ANC). Of those killed eight were women and 10 were children.
In the Eastern Cape we also remember those that laid down their lives in the struggle for freedom in Gquza, in Bhisho, in Langa, in Mdantsane and many other places. We believe this is the record that must be written and projected across generations through the Provincial Liberation Route and various memorials covering even the first wars of resistance against colonialism in our province.
As I indicated in the State of the Province Address it is this character of the people of the Eastern Cape that produced outstanding leaders in many facets of people’s lives, many of whom are the living legends we continue to cherish.
We dare not fail our forefathers and mothers and many martyrs that propelled the growth of the tree of liberty with their blood, by dropping the ball and loosing memory of their brave actions. We have demonstrated our ability to forgive perpetrators but can never afford the national amnesia on these issues, because that would threaten our future peace and freedom.
Their struggle for political liberation was not an end in its self, but a means to better lives of the people. We have largely addressed basic or first generation human rights that relate to civil and political rights as our constitution enshrines them with numerous checks and balances to protect them. What remains a mountain to climb is ensuring socio-economic and cultural rights which have continued to elude our society.
The President of the Republic of South Africa, uBab'u Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, says we must double our efforts to fight poverty, unemployment and high levels of inequality. The Eastern Cape has the fourth biggest economy among the nine provinces of South Africa yet experiences the highest unemployment rates and poverty levels.
We are fully conscious of the fact that development can manifest successes only when the most vulnerable sectors of our people in the country are and feel better. In line with government policy of strategic deployment of resources to address structural poverty, spatial development disparities and the gap between the rich and the poor, we are seeing progressive massive investment in the development of the socio-economic infrastructure in the Eastern Cape.
Over the next five years, commitments of over R125 billion have been made to build our ports, railways, roads, agriculture and energy infrastructure to position the Eastern Cape as a major player in the socio-economic landscape of South Africa.
These are major commitments which are set to stimulate phenomenal growth of private sector investments that are also steadily but surely growing to create the highly needed job opportunities for our people. The forecast shows great prospects for growth of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) that is set to increase to reach 5% by 2016.
Aligning these celebrations with the library week is a fitting link, because at the core of all our development efforts is making the information economy a reality for millions of our people. Libraries must play a crucial role in empowering our people with information on how they can improve their lives and optimise the opportunities created by our democratic government.
Remember our greatest challenge in the 21st century and the second centenary of the ANC is to accelerate the improvement of the quality of life enjoyed by our people. That mission is a cross cutting responsibility that requires all hands to be on deck to register the desired change in people's lives.
We welcome the adopt a-school-campaign and investment in promoting reading among grade 5 learners because education is our number one priority in terms of the 2009 electoral mandate.
We need every citizen, group, community and institution to help us build a solid education base for our young children by strengthening numeracy, literacy in our homes, in early childhood development centres, in primary and other schools of our province so that improvements in our matric pass rates can be sustainable.
Next week, I will be announcing names of commissioners to serve in the Provincial Planning Commission, who will spearhead the crafting of a long range development plan with a vision that is shared by every citizen and institution of this province. This will not just be a government framework, but a societal development path against which every player must commit and work to realise.
In conclusion, programme director, I wish to remind people that we are left with just 38 days to reach 18 years of freedom in South Africa. I can state without fear of contradiction that we have made good progress in many facets of people's lives, but a lot more still has to be done before we can claim to be out of the woods. To better protect and promote human rights, we must focus on empowering our people in all respects for them to stand up, claim and enjoy their socio-economic rights going forward. Working together we can realise these goals.
I thank you!
