anniversary of the Divine Life Society
12 September 2006
Honourable Minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad
His Holiness, Sri Swami Sahajanda
Ethkewini Mayor, His Worship Obed Mlaba
Worshippers
Ladies and gentlemen
Namaste, Vanekom
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to be here to celebrate the 119th
anniversary of the Divine Life Society. The work by the Society to the moral,
education and spiritual upliftment of all communities of this country,
especially of this province, is highly appreciated. This Society has already
made clear and vivid footprints for the past five decades in the service of the
poorest of the poor in this country, especially in this province.
Striving for Satyagraha
Today Mahatma Gandhiâs principles of Satyragaha are being lived out in the
work the esteemed Sri Swami Sahajanda and his followers who carry out
development work in our communities.
Satyagraha is a form of community development and self-improvement and when
employed by the Mahatma it was not only used for passive resistance and
disobedience to the oppressor, but as a mechanism about how to develop the
community and how to make people self-sufficient. And that is what the Divine
Life Society is about today.
This esteemed organisation has built schools, houses and other forms of
infrastructure for community empowerment. It has taken the word of Satyagraha
and given true meaning to it: to build the nation from the bottom up. Even in
the way you have propagated your religion you have emphasised the humanity of
your religion and selflessness.
During this year, the provincial government is paying homage to our heroes
of the past including Mahatma Gandhi, Inkosi Albert Luthuli, John Dube and
Inkosi Bhambatha, heroes of peace, development and fighters of oppression. And
we have commemorated their lives and their principles with several heritage
programmes celebrated throughout this year.
The Divine life is truly an incredible inspiration to us as human being and
given life to Satyagraha 100 years on.
At the end of the month, as we in the Provincial Government celebrate the
100 years anniversary of Satyagraha, we will have on our shores the Prime
Minister of India, Manmohan Singh and a delegation of over 100 people who will
visit Durban and South Africa at the invitation of President Thabo Mbeki.
Divine intervention
I am glad that the Divine Life Society of South Africa had heeded our call
and put itself firmly behind our campaign to create prosperous, peaceful and
just KwaZulu-Natal. Our participation is a sign of the partnership our
government has with this Society. However, this partnership with the Divine
Life Society does not begin today. Over the past year for example, this society
donated about R60 million towards community uplifting projects in our province.
This includes the 600 classrooms in poor and rural areas, to whose construction
this society contributed. We remain eternally grateful to the society and its
leadership for such selfless acts.
As a man of God who serves our country through the Grace of His Master Sri
Swami Sivananda is a humble person and always wishes to remain an unsung
hero.
It is worth acknowledging that Swami Sahajananda has dedicated his life to
serve the poorest of the poor people in our country for the past 55 years. Even
now at his present age of 81 years, he still continues to devote his energy and
efforts towards peace and development of our people in our country. His notion
of people is simple and easy to demonstrate. Your contribution of over 250
projects ranging from educational, social health, religious, literature
distribution and peace centres is worth high praise.
The Divine Life Society has been working in partnership with the Office of
the Premier and the Provincial Government in the past decade. Together, we have
completed over 281 projects, including:
* 263 houses being built at Parkgate
* Peace and Skills Training Centres in Ezingolweni and Ntambanana
* Peace Booklet s which is in English and Zulu and which will be distributed to
all schools.
It is highly impressive to also mention here that Swami Sahajananda, as a
Leader of Divine Life Society of South Africa, is dedicated and fully committed
to serving humankind irrespective of colour, creed and/or religious
affiliation. If we are to bring about a new dawn for our province, we need to
learn from example of the Swami. There is no room for pettiness or bickering
amongst religious organizations while our people live in dire poverty. We need
to cast aside our prejudices and come together as religious formations, united
in our action to turn the fortunes of our province around. We can achieve this
while still remaining distinct religious organizations.
Public Private Partnerships
We cannot go it alone towards development of this province. The
establishment of joint ventures with community organisations, traditional
businesses, black businesses as well as technology and skills transfer has many
benefits.
If we forge partnerships such as these we encourage others to work with the
government to invest in infrastructure to eliminate service backlogs in
under-serviced areas, especially the black townships and rural areas, in order
to meet our people's basic needs.
Basic infrastructure services can also reduce poverty and contribute to job
creation. Through the various public works programmes government has over the
last few years ensured that the provision of infrastructure takes place in a
manner that enhances job opportunities for the unemployed, especially
women.
We can only build our province together with our communities and this will
enhance service delivery and a better life for all. The people of this province
salute the Divine Life Society for their divine intervention towards
development.
Thank you
Issued by: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial
12 September 2006
