Programme Director, Cllr Steve Mogale
Mayor of the Polokwane Local Municipality, Cllr Freddy Greaver
Cllr Lois Hardy
The HoD, Management and Staff of the Department of Safety, Security and Liaison
The Management and Staff of the Polokwane Local Municipality
Acting Provincial Commissioner, Major-General Ntlemeza and the SAPS Management and Officers
Community Policing Forum Representatives
Ladies and gentlemen
Good Morning
The month of July has a global significance because it is the month during which the first democratically elected president of South Africa Nelson Mandela was born – on July 18 to be exact. For his selfless devotion to the struggle for South African freedom and democracy and years of incarceration, Mandela came to represent a people’s resilience in their quest for freedom.
Many times during his years of imprisonment the apartheid government tried as much as they could to tempt him into betraying his cause and his people. Mandela refused as many times as he was asked to sell his people away for thirty bloody pieces of silver and a small patch of ground in some Bantustan desert.
When Mandela left Victor Verster prison, his last place of incarceration, it was when the stage was set for a negotiated settlement to end years of apartheid oppression and exploitation. This was the point of no return for the apartheid regime – the National Party could no longer rule South Africa as it used.
South Africa had become ungovernable and apartheid had been rendered unworkable.
Mandela went on to become the first democratically elected president of the Republic of South Africa. What stood out during his short term of office was his reaching out to those who stole his freedom for more than 27 years.
We should all remember Mandela’s historic visit and the moment of rooibos and koeksusters with Bessie Verwoerd, the widow of the architect of grand apartheid Henrik Verwoerd. For many this moment and encounter were unthinkable.
Many had expected rivers of blood to break their banks with the release of Mandela and the unbanning of his African National Congress. This premonition was inculcated by the treatment black people were subjected to under apartheid rule. Those who had oppressed the majority feared that the majority would seek revenge.
The moment of rivers of blood never came to pass – the transition from apartheid to freedom and democracy was a peaceful and smooth one. It was a miracle, the miracle of democracy and freedom – this is how our transition to freedom and democracy has come to be described by a world hungry for peace.
As we all know, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace award in 1993 – a year before he could be inaugurated the first democratically elected president of South Africa. This was in lieu of his consistency in preaching the message of love and peace.
When he formally handed the mantle of leadership to his erstwhile deputy, Thabo Mbeki, Mandela devoted his time to mobilizing support for the vulnerable and disadvantaged. Through these efforts, he touched the lives of the disadvantaged for the better.
Mandela`s great deeds have not gone un-noticed, either here or elsewhere in the world. In honour of this great man of the world – an institution no less than the United Nations has declared 18 July International Nelson Mandela Day.
On this day people all over the world are called upon to spend at least 67 minutes of their precious time doing something useful within their communities, especially among the less privileged and the vulnerable.
Today we are gathered here to be like Mandela, to do it for our communities. Our safety and our security will not fall like Manna from heaven. As we say in the Department, the fight against crime and corruption starts with us.
Let us do our part in the fight against crime and corruption. This we can do by supporting our police women and men in this fight.
I thank you.
