Human Rights Day, Monsterlus Stadium, Sekhukhune District
21 March 2007
Theme: "Celebrating ten years of Bill of Rights - Impact of crime on human
rights"
Programme Director
MECs here present
Executive Mayor of Sekhukhune District Municipality and other mayors
MPs and MPLs
Councillors
Traditional leaders
Veterans and stalwarts of our struggle
Representatives of the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and other
commissioners
Religious leaders
Leaders of organised business and labour
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
We gather once more on this day to commemorate one of the most historical
and memorable epochs in our fight against colonialism and apartheid. It was on
this day in March 1960 when our people decided to protest against pass laws, by
going to police stations in their numbers to demand that the police arrest
them. The idea was that so many people would be arrested and the jails would
become so full that the country would come to a halt. It was hoped that this
would eventually lead to the pass laws being scrapped, which unfortunately did
not happen instantly.
At Sharpeville in Gauteng, south of Johannesburg, thousands of unarmed
demonstrators gathered at the police station demanding to be arrested. They
were met by hundreds of police officers who opened fire indiscriminately
leaving 69 people dead and 180 injured. This became known as the Sharpeville
massacre. Nine days later on 30 March 1960, the apartheid government declared a
state of emergency detaining more than 18 000 people. This led to the banning
of liberation movements by the regime and the subsequent adoption of military
forms of struggle in the fight against apartheid. In 1966, the United Nations
(UN) General-Assembly even went to an extent of proclaiming 21 March, the
anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre, as the international day for the
elimination of racial discrimination.
It is important to recall that those who were killed and maimed on this day
were all fighting for their God-given human rights to associate and to move
freely within the country of their birth. Our government has, therefore, set
aside this day as a reminder of what happened in Sharpeville on this day as
well as to honour and acknowledge other forms of struggles which took place in
the country during the same period.
It is also important that we understand that the struggle to end apartheid
did not only start and end in Sharpeville or in Soweto as some will want us to
believe. On this very day in the Western Cape township of Langa for instance,
three people were killed and 27 injured in clashes with the police over the
burning of passes. Our veterans and stalwarts can best attest to what was
happening in rural areas during the 50s and the 60s and will tell you of the
various forms of resistance struggles which took place there even before the
banning of liberation movements. They are best place to narrate the nature of
resistance struggles such as Fetakgomo, Sebatakgomo and those of the people of
Matlala a Thaba or (ma-congress) which were only crushed and defeated around
1980, 20 years after the banning of the liberation movements. As we have said
in our State of the Province Address (SOPA), it is unfortunate that the bulk of
this history has not been documented and remains oral history as if the rural
people were spectators in the fight against apartheid colonialism.
We have also emphasised the need for this history to be profiled and
documented properly, in order to honour the sacrifices made by our rural people
in the fight against apartheid colonialism. Our Department of Sport, Arts and
Culture will be leading this project of documenting our history beginning from
this year.
We also undertook to engage in the process of erecting a hero's acre in
memory and honour of all freedom fighters that fell in combat in order for us
to enjoy our human rights. In the same vein we are assisting families of those,
whose loved ones lie buried in shallow graves in the frontline states to find
their remains in order to ensure that they get a proper send off. Once more we
would like to reiterate our stance and belief that our liberation struggle was
a people's war against apartheid colonialism and no amount of compensation can
replace the lost lives. The best form of compensation is to ensure that the
ideals they lived and died for are realised, i.e. the acceleration of service
delivery and achievement of a better life for all our people.
Programme Director
What are these human rights and what do they really entail?
These are the rights which every one of us has, simply because we are human
beings. They are the rights we all have from the moment we are born so we do
not have to earn them and they cannot easily be taken away from us. The lists
of human rights protected in South Africa are contained in the Bill of Rights,
which is chapter two of our Constitution. They include the right to:
* equality (Section 9)
* human dignity (Section 10)
* freedom of expression (Section 16)
* assembly, demonstration, picket and petition (Section 17)
* freedom of association (Section 18) and
* freedom of movement and residence (Section 21).
However, it is important to bear in mind that each right goes with
responsibility. Because everyone has these rights regardless of their race, age
or gender, we all have to respect other people's rights as well. Our rights
have limits and we lose them the moment we start infringing on others rights.
In other words your rights end where mine start and mine ends where yours
begin. It is not good enough to boast that we have these rights when we are
doing things, at the same time, which go against other people's rights.
Our democracy affords all citizens every avenue for making their voices
heard without resorting to actions that infringe on the rights of others or
which cause injury to persons and damage to property. We reiterate our respect
for the right of every citizen to protest peacefully and within the framework
of the law. However, we do not condone violent protests which violate other
people's rights like the ones we have seen in some parts of Moutse, where
schoolchildren were prevented from attending school for more than two weeks
without any justification. Equally there can never be any justification for
setting people's houses alight simply because one differs with them
politically. Every one of us has a human right to be free from all forms of
violence from either public or private sources.
Programme Director
Perhaps it is time our province rids itself of some of the old vestiges of
the past which are perpetuated under the false pretences of tradition and
culture. The Constitution of our country, the Bill of Rights in particular is
very clear that no one has got the right to take the life of another under the
pretext of culture or tradition. The message we are sending is that all of us
must put to an end the backward practices of ritual murders and the brutal
killing of people who are suspected of being witches. Flowing from the
resolutions of the conference on ritual murders, our Department of Safety,
Security and Liaison will be leading a multi stakeholder campaign to educate
our people about the dangers of these anti-human practices.
In the same vein we equally detest horrible isolated incidences such as the
ones where a boy was shot dead by a farmer for being allegedly mistaken for a
rabid dog in Thabazimbi and the one where a man was shot after being allegedly
mistaken for a baboon in Musina. All of these incidences tell us that we still
have a long way to go in giving equal worth to every human being as our
Constitution requires. To this effect we would like to reiterate what we always
say that white communities have the responsibility to make the loudest noise
when the victim is black and accordingly black people should do the same when
the victim is white. This would obviously serve to discourage the racist
perpetrators who might be thinking that they are advancing a white course by
killing black people and the opposite will be true for black people.
Programme Director
Every Human Rights Day reminds us of persisting human rights problems in our
own communities and around the world. Our experience and the experience of all
humanity is that people who once tasted freedom and justice can never allow
themselves to be oppressed again. In this regard we remain worried about
reports emanating from Zimbabwe regarding the current hardships and
difficulties being experienced in that country which manifests themselves
through different forms like: arrests, detention and the reported beating of
some national opposition leaders.
As a people who come from a conflict ridden past we cannot pretend not to
feel the pain which our neighbour Zimbabwe is experiencing. Like we have said
in the past, our national government remains concerned and worried about the
deepening political and economic situation north of our border and is prepared
to do whatever it takes to facilitate dialogue amongst Zimbabweans. Once again,
we maintain that it is Zimbabweans themselves and only Zimbabwe citizens who
can find a lasting solution to their domestic challenges.
Programme Director
However, human rights cannot only be political rights. They include both
economic rights and social rights as well. Our struggle was not only about
winning political rights, but was equally about securing the rights of our
people to a decent living. While our country enjoys a strong democracy and a
growing economy, this may not mean much to certain ordinary citizens who are
still struggling to make ends meet.
It is, therefore, important that we give more substance and meaning to our
political freedom by accelerating basic social services to all our people. This
means building roads network, providing housing, extending primary healthcare
to all, bringing water and electricity and providing access to education for
all. Without these services being made available, our freedom will remain
incomplete and shallow.
On this day we must all rededicate ourselves to the defence of human rights
which are guaranteed in our Constitution. We must also renew our pledge as a
nation that never again shall one person be oppressed by another.
We honour those who lost their lives in the struggle for democracy and
freedom and we celebrate a culture of human rights which is evolving every day
since the dawn of our national liberation in 1994.
The struggle is not yet over. It will continue until every human being
enjoys dignity. It will continue until poverty is eradicated, when the majority
has jobs, when the majority is able to read and write and when HIV and AIDS are
finally defeated. Let us join hands in the spirit of ubuntu to value the worth
of each human being.
Happy Human Rights Day!
Rea leboga!
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Limpopo Provincial Government
21 March 2007
