Programme Director
Members of the Executive Council
Leadership of the ANC, the SACP and COSATU
Executive Mayor of Chris Hani DM
Mayors and Councillors
Traditional and religious leaders
Ladies and gentlemen.
Programme Director, indeed I am honoured to join you today on this important occasion in which we celebrate the 19th anniversary of our freedom. Freedom Day this year is particularly significant as it also precedes the second decade since our liberation, which we will celebrate next year.
We have therefore assembled here in this historic and beautiful village of Sabalele, to celebrate as the people of the Eastern Cape, a truly historic day. We have gathered here, on this day, to rededicate ourselves to the building of a united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society. We have converged here, today, at this village which is the birth place of one of the leading giants of our struggle, Comrade Chris Hani, who made an indelible mark to the freedom we enjoy today, to commit as this generation of South Africans, to work towards the achievement of a better life for all our people.
We are here to remember. We are here for renewal. Just the other day, we had occasion to pause and remember the name of one of our own sons, Oliver Tambo, which today also looms large as we celebrate Freedom Day. Even though he died twenty years ago, he was the force that propelled us to the democratic breakthrough we achieved in 1994. On Freedom Day therefore, let us remember that OR Tambo, this shining beacon of struggle, was there when it was dark. We have a duty therefore, as beneficiaries of the efforts of his and of the great generation of freedom fighters of his time, to honour OR Tambo.
Our duty today, as we think back to how they fought unceasingly for our freedom, is to work untiringly in the service of our people. Our duty today, as we recall the sacrifices of Steve Biko and Robert Sobukhwe is the establishment of this just society they died fighting so hard for. Our duty today, as we establish ourselves as the home of legends, is to keep the flame of freedom burning. Our duty today, as we recall the ringing words of our stalwart, former President Nelson Mandela, that “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another,” is indeed to let freedom reign.
Fellow citizens, today we remember the history we made, when our country defied all odds. We remember how, with sheer determination and resolve, we confounded all predictions of doomsday, all sceptics and all naysayers, and delivered what seemed impossible to the eyes of the world: a free and fair election. We remember the throngs of people everywhere in our country which formed long and winding queues, determined to cast their ballot in our first democratic elections.
For those of us who witnessed the birth of our democracy, we remember this as if it was yesterday when our elder statesman, the son of this province, the father of this nation and the world icon Tata Nelson Mandela, stood tall and confirmed that we are now a rainbow nation, and “We enter into a pledge that we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world."
Perhaps more importantly, especially in the light of current debates in the media space about our history and our historical symbols, today serves as an important occasion to reflect on our history as a whole. An old African proverb warns that “until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter.” Let us therefore tell our story, unmediated by those who seek to tell it for us. Let our historians write about the long, hard and painful journey which required men and women of courage and integrity to traverse. Let us tell the story of how Makhanda kaNxele rebelled, how with sheer dignity and stoicism Sarah Baartman suffered so that women would be free today; how our kings led running battles with colonialists in the frontier wars.
Let us tell our children, before they start believing the faulty accounts narrated by others, that the men and women who fought for freedom were a rare breed; that they were courageous enough to put up their hands and say the exclusion of the majority of South Africans from political power by a minority was enough and had to be stopped; that not even the armoury and lethal resources of the apartheid regime could deter these heroes and heroines from accomplishing their mission of a free and democratic South Africa; and that some of those unsung heroes and heroines came from here in this province. Let us write about these and many other accounts of our struggle for national liberation. If we continue to be silent, others are going to tell different versions to the ones that are true. Let all who live today know that freedom was not free!
Indeed we are particularly grateful as a country and as province that among these heroes and heroines is the son of this district, the former commander of the MK, ithole leduna elalingoyiki ngokoyikiswa, uTshonyane, comrade Chris Hani. It was on the eve of our first democratic election in 1994, when a racist by the name of Clive Derby Lewis took the life of our struggle icon, in the most cowardly act that we never imagined. Comrade Chris Hani like many other unsung heroes and heroines played a pivotal role in the struggle for the liberation of our people and in his mind Derby Lewis and his handlers thought by killing Chris they would obstruct us from our march to freedom.
To honour comrade Chris, we have erected therefore a monument which will serve as reminder to our future generations of the sacrifices and ultimate penalties paid by many people in our country. All three of our government spheres are working tirelessly and in unison to reverse with speed the imbalances of the past which comrade Chris despised with all his heart.
UTshonyane wayengumntu owayeyithiyile intlupheko, inkohlakalo, nentlalo engekho mgagathweni. Andinayo nencinci intandabuzo yokuba u-comrade Chris Hani ebezokuvuma ngokuphandle ukuba urhulumente kaKhongolose wenza umzebenzi omkhulu noncomekayo wokubuyisela isidima somntu ontsundu kwindawo ekufanele ukuba sibekuyo. Ebezovuma kanjalo ukuba esisele nako kukunyuka umnqantsa wentaba ukuze sikhulule uluntu lwethu kwezentlalakahle nezo zoqoqosho macandelo lawo athande ukusilela ngasemva.
Chris Hani would agree that we have largely addressed basic needs of our people that relate to civil and political rights as our constitution enshrines them. Of course more work needs to be done. We must work harder to defeat the triple challenges facing government – poverty, unemployment and inequality. We must reverse the legacy of neglect of rural areas; we must fight the scourge of crime and corruption; and we must attend with all urgency to the education and health needs of our people. We cannot allow these challenges to continue unaddressed in our society and communities. We still have too many people who are poor. There are too many people without jobs. There are too many people without houses. There are still too many children who study in dilapidated schools.
The people centred society which we committed to establishing in 1994 remains a dream, as violence against women and children continues unabated. Every day the media covers horrific stories of ill-treatment, abuse, rape and violence against women and children. Clearly, we cannot proudly proclaim that we are a free nation while women and children are, themselves, not free to enjoy our freedom.
To correct this, men have an important role to play in advancing affirmative social values and mending the social fabric that is clearly been torn apart by the behaviour of those who, in reality, are behaving like animals. Men have an important message to give to their compatriots that: "Real men do not abuse."
As we continue in our work to transform the lives of all our people, we need to pay particular attention to the youth. This is because there are increasing challenges facing young people today such as substance abuse, unemployment, crime and the absence of adequate good role models in many of our communities. Indeed, many of our young people have to face difficult challenges, at times without parental and adult guidance.
All of us, as a society, need to inculcate among the youth the ethos and ethics that help build great and successful nations; we need to help bring about a spirit of resilience in the face of what would seem formidable odds; we need to bring up young people who know that to sustain the progress of the last 19 years we need skills and better education.
Siyayazi sonke into ethi amanani awaphosisi. Kubalulekile ukuba ndinikhumbuze apho sisuka khona nalapho sikhoyo ingakumbi xa kufikelelwa kwinkonzo ezingundoqo. Uninzi lwethu luyakukhumbula ukuba amanzi sikhe sawasela neenkomo, amahashe nedonkey ngexesha lengcinezelo. Uninzi luyakukhumbula ukuba umbane ibiliphupha nje ukuba umntu omnyama anganawo, ingakumbi ezilalini. Uninzi lwethu lukhumbula kakuhle ukuba ugutyulo lwelindle kwindawo zabantu abamnyama ibiyinto engaselwangaso ngexesha lengcinezelo. Uninzi olunyanisekileyo luyakuvuma kanjalo ukuba ulwakhiwo lwezikolo, ikliniki nezibhedlele kwindawo ekuhlala kuzo abantu abamnyama yayingusoze isitulo sodaka ngexesha lengcinezelo.
As we therefore tell the true story of liberation, we must also the tell story of what we have done since 1994. Since 1996 our Province has shown an increase in households residing in formal dwellings (from 47.6% in 1996 to 61.8% in 2011). According to the census, conducted in October 2011, 84.7% of South African households use electricity for lighting (up from 70.2% in 2001), 73.9% use electricity for cooking (up from 52.2%), and 58.8% use electricity for heating (up from 49.9%).
The results also show a significant improvement in access to piped (tap) water in South Africa, with the number of households with no access dropping to 8.8% in 2011 from 15.6% in 2001.
Nearly half, or 46.3%, of households have tap water inside their homes (up from 32.3% in 2001), while 27.1% have tap water inside their yards (down from 29.0%), 11.7% have tap water on their community stand less than 200 metres from their homes (up from 10.7%), and 6.2% have to walk more than 200 metres to reach tap water on their community stand (down from 12.4%).
The numbers don’t lie. Census 2011 also showed a marked improvement in household sanitation in the country, with 60.1% of households using flush toilets (toilets connected to the public sewerage system) in 2011, up from 51.9% in 2001. The use of chemical toilets (from 1.9% to 2.5%) and pit latrines with ventilation (from 5.7% to 8.8%) were slightly up, while the use of unventilated pit latrines dropped from 22.8% to 19.3%, and of bucket latrines from 4.1% to 2.1%.
The numbers don’t lie. Trends in school enrolment and overall educational attainment of the country’s population have improved since 1996. While the data shows disparities across the population groups, the results show a steady increase among Black Africans from 70.7% in 1996 to 74.5% in 2011.
It is heartening to note that the proportion of the country’s people who completed higher education has increased from 7.1% in 1996 to 12.3% in 2011. Those are the numbers and the significant improvements in all the areas I have mentioned are achievements of the African National Congress Government between 1996 and 2011. Abantu bayathanda ke ukusuka ngo 1994 xa bebala. Andivumi kemna, kuba kaloku sichithe almost two years sigutyula umbolo worhulumente wengcinezelo elulawulweni, phofu sisawugutyula nangoku. Ewe kona indima enkulu ekuhambiseni ezinkonzo ndigqiba ukuzikhankanya siyenzile, kodwa kuninzi ekusafuneka sikwenzile, nesikwenzayo ukuphucula ubomi boluntu.
Now that we have achieved political freedom, all our efforts and energies should be directed towards freeing our people from poverty, unemployment, and the scourge of violence and crime. On this Freedom Day we are called upon to consolidate our hard-won freedom so that we realise our vision of attaining a better life for all. Accordingly, the Theme of these Freedom Day celebrations is: Towards consolidating our socio-economic freedom’
This constitutes a call to the entire people of the Eastern Cape to unite in action to speed up the process of change in our country to realise our common dream to ensure that all South Africans enjoy a better life.
I wish all people of the Eastern Cape and the nation a happy and peaceful Freedom Day.
I thank you.
