Programme Director,
MEC for Education: Hon Mchunu,
MEC for Social Development: Hon Thusi,
Organised Labour,
Organised Business,
Learners who with us here today,
Ladies and gentlemen.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak to you today about the matter that is gradually destroying our society. I have been given a task to speak on subjected we are all familiar with, the moral decay in our society.
The chairperson of the social cluster of the provincial executive council, the MEC for Education Hon Mchunu, has given me a broad scope in terms of our input but, I will try to be as concise as possible, since the chairperson will, at later stage, give a broad perspective on the subject matter.
I am also conscious of the fact that we will have enough time in commissions to engage on these issues. Therefore, I will raise some practical issues as opposed to making this an academic exercise.
Program director, allow me to quote one of the greatest leaders of our time, a visionary par excellence, Oliver Tambo, when he said “Through struggle we are cultivating a sense of common nationhood, embracing the entire people, wherein various cultural strains are seen as components of a united people`s national culture rather than works of separate identity; where diversity lends variety and richness to the experience of life in society.”
We are assembled here today precisely because we are engage in a struggle that cannot only be fought by government alone but, needs all of us to put our shoulders to the wheel.
Over the years we have witnessed high levels of moral decay in our society:
- Where as a people we have shown no respect for our own culture
- Where young people no longer have respect for their parents and I am using the word parents deliberately here
- Where violence , drugs and substance abuse is the order of the day
- Where people have lost respect for life
- Where parents molest their own children
- Where men who are seen as defenders of the community derive pleasure in sleeping with babies
- Where parents drink with their own children
- Where learners smoke cigarette in full view of the public
- Where it has become normal for children as young as 12 to be pregnant
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Where elderly people and women in particular have become
targets of violent crimes in our communities
I can count a number of issues that are be devilling our society but, because of time constraints, I chose these few. The biggest question that needs to be responded to by this gathering is what has gone wrong and what we can do to turn this situation around for all of us to live a better life.
We can’t pretend as if everything is well and good. Neither can we look away whilst our nation is being destroyed by these evil forces. It is high time that we all come together and put a lid on this deviant behaviour which is eroding the moral fibre of our society. We need to go back to our roots and rebuild our nation, we need activists for this campaign who will go out and preach the values ubuntu.
What happened to the culture of ‘all children are ours or your children are my children? Let’s bring it back! Let us not look away when children engage in negative behaviour. Nip it in the bud. Let’s bring back our culture of socialising a young person where culture and values are instilled to the younger generations systematically.
Let’s create an environment, particularly in African communities where people can be proud of who they are, obviously not at the expense of being influenced by other cultures. Before you embrace other cultures you must first be proud of your own. We live in times when anything that is African is seen to be backward and embrace everything that is foreign to our cultural values.
Program director, some of the issues I have raised above can be attributed to the breakdown of family structure in our society. A great deal of literature in this area has indeed confirmed the vulnerable nature of the family in South Africa. Recent studies indicate that the family was facing various challenges which were undermining its ability to function optimally.
These studies noted that family life in the conventional sense did not exist for many South African children, for example, almost 25 per cent of the country’s under-18s were growing up without their biological parents.
Apart from the breakdown of family structure, challenges of unemployment and poverty still persist in this country despite the number of progressive interventions our government continues to make. Another challenge that is worth mentioning in this forum is that of high levels of cultural intolerance in this country. This manifests itself in various forms, the most common ones being the racism, tribalism and xenophobia.
Ladies and gentlemen, the role of the Department of Arts and Culture is crucial in discouraging such a deviant behaviour in our society. It should play an essential role in anchoring South African society in its traditional value systems of Ubuntu while recognising the changing global order.
This department has to engender a sense of pride and belongingness to the nation regardless of race, gender, ethnicity and nationality. In collaboration with other government departments Arts and Culture has developed and implemented a plethora of programmes in an attempt to address the scourge of moral decay in our society. I want to implore this house to make proposals on how these programmes can be enhanced so that they can have a desired effect in our communities.
Programme Director, it is common cause sport and recreation are essential for national development, as they are central to human growth. They are also important catalysts for the realisation of mental health, and general health and social well-being. And our programmes are designed to address the following:
- The use of sport and recreation in the fight against anti-social behaviour, and social evils, such as crime, juvenile delinquency and drug abuse
- Mainstreaming physical education in schools and institutions of higher learning- we officially launched this programme with MEC Mchunu in Umzimkulu yesterday.
- Making sport and recreation accessible to people by building facilities
- Encouraging previously disadvantaged groups, such as women, people with disabilities, the youth and rural communities to participate in sport.
Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, I want to express my profound gratitude to the organisers of this conference for allowing us an opportunity to share our experiences on a subject that has a potential of undermining the tremendous progress we have made as a country in attaining a better life for all.
Thank you!
