Movement Council launch, Mthatha
21 August 2007
Programme Director
National Chairman of the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM)
Executive Mayor
Councillors
Religious leaders
Traditional leaders
Government departments
Ladies and gentlemen
I greet you all
It gives me great pleasure to be given a chance to stand in front of this
congregation especially during the Women's Month. Long live bomama long
live!
This year, we are celebrating 51 years of women's courage and leadership
when heroines of this beloved country marched to Pretoria demanding the banning
of pass laws that prevented them from visiting their husbands in cities where
they were working. These courageous women of steel had ignored any threats by
the then oppressive government and decided to take it upon themselves to demand
freedom of movement for all. This country is blessed with great women leaders
who have stood the test of time.
Today, we are here because our society is faced with many social challenges
like unemployment, violence, crime, corruption, physical and sexual abuse of
women and children. If we say we are immune from these challenges, we are
deceiving ourselves. Many debates have been conducted in different corners, but
one common ground that the country has acknowledged is the decay with regard to
moral standards. Women have played a significant role in shaping the soul of
the nation and in building the national character. We are all gathered here
united in our diversity to work as a collective in moving forward the programme
of Moral Regeneration that was launched in the Eastern Cape in 2002 as a result
of a moral summit that took place in Johannesburg in 1997.
The sole purpose of the Moral Regeneration Movement is none other than to
ensure proper co-ordination, facilitation, monitoring and evaluation of
implementation of the Constitution and other national and provincial programmes
aimed at the regeneration and restoration of the moral fibre of society. This
is a programme that strives to restore and inculcate in our young people a
culture of accepted norms, high values and standards.
A culture of tolerance and acceptance. A culture of forgiveness and
helpfulness that will enhance 'Ubuntu'. As a department entrusted with the
responsibility of championing this programme, we firmly believe this requires a
collective effort that include business community, individuals, communities,
members of the media, faith based organisations, traditional leadership and
academics from institutions of higher learning.
The department kick-started the MRM programme last year by holding awareness
campaigns through workshops at Mthatha clustering OR Tambo District, Alfred Nzo
District and Amathole District municipalities. Another one was held at
Queenstown clustering Chris Hani District and Ukhahlamba. The last one was held
in Port Elizabeth clustering Nelson Mandela Metro and Cacadu District
Municipality. Out of all these public workshops there were recommendations:
District Moral Regeneration Movement workshop recommendations:
* let us retrace our background as clans, origin and culture coupled with
respect for each other's culture
* adults must act as points of reference in the upbringing of children
* establishment of intergeneration programmes
* children and Youth should have mentors who will serve as role models
* bringing back family prayers
* pre and post initiation programme to all races.
As champions of Social Development, we view these challenges with regard to
the decay in morals as being encouraged by the dysfunctionality in families.
Our statistics for the year 2006 indicates that our children committed economic
and serious crimes.
* 7054 children were arrested
* 6487 children were assessed
* 2976 children were diverted
It is our responsibility that we champion the building of caring
communities; however we view the role by families as very crucial in reviving
our morals. It is therefore imperative that, we have positive and united family
structures that would play a central role in establishing caring communities
because we want our children to be nurtured and be loved in their own
homes.
In this regard, we must develop a model where we would have a pool of role
models from all these sectors that would be an inspiration to our young people.
This further brings to the fore a major task of winning the hearts, minds and
souls of our people, young and old so that they live this compelling vision of
bringing back nostalgia. In rebuilding the moral fibre of this province, the
department has developed intergeneration programmes that would be used as a
platform for interaction between young and older persons.
Once we have these caring communities, it becomes not only the
responsibility of government to sensitise the public on issues related to abuse
and domestic violence, but a collective effort that works for the betterment of
our communities. We extend the invitation to the business community to ensure
that our young people are taken off the streets.
We cannot rest on our laurels and shift the responsibility to someone else.
It is not that we cannot afford to play a major role, but we cannot afford not
to play this crucial role. As this is a significant matter, we have to ensure
that we meet our vision of a healthier, loving and caring society guided by
commonly accepted human and moral values. Our quest for moral rejuvenation
provides a solid foundation for our children and theirs to become ethical and
socially responsible citizens. It is therefore critical that all of us
understand that the MRM is a movement of every citizen. Therefore, its success
depends entirely at the extent to which we collectively work together as a
unity.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Social Development, Eastern Cape Provincial
Government
21 August 2007
Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government (http://www.ecprov.gov.za)
