Programme Director;
Mr Lazarus Kagiso Mokgosi, Premier of the North West;
Ms Nikiwe Num, Executive Mayor of Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality;
Mr Xolile Nxasana, Speaker of Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality;
Mr Fikile Mahlophe, Executive Mayor of the City of Matlosana;
Distinguished guests; Ladies and gentlemen;
It is an honour for me to return home to the North West for the provincial launch of the Milestones of Freedom Campaign.
This campaign is being commemorated through a year-long programme under the theme “Honouring the Past. Delivering the Future”.This theme perfectly captures the journey we have travelled as a nation: from the struggle against injustice to the struggle to continuously solidify are democratic gains.
Throughout this year, we have visited provinces and communities to mobilise citizens to celebrate the gains, achievements and milestones of our 32 years of democracy. We have done this mindful of the challenges that still beset many of our communities.
Mindful that the legacy of our past continues to live with us.
Mindful of the work that still needs to be done to break away from all our socioeconomic challenges mainly based on a tripod of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
Ladies and gentlemen, today’s launch forms part of the wider rollout of the Milestones of Freedom Campaign, which President Cyril Ramaphosa launched in June this year. This year’s programme brings together four defining anniversaries: 30 years since the adoption of the Constitution; 50 years since the 1976 youth uprising; 70 years since the 1956 Women’s March; and 60 years since the forced removals from District Six.
The late poet, journalist and activist Don Mattera taught us, through his seminal work Memory is the Weapon, that memory is not a passive act. It is a form of resistance.It is a weapon against forgetting, against distortion, and against erasing the struggles and sacrifices that made our democracy possible.
It is in this spirit that the Milestones of Freedom Campaign must be understood. It is not merely a calendar of commemorations. It is a national act of remembrance that calls on us to recover the truth of our past, honour those who carried the burden of struggle, and use memory as a guide for the work that remains unfinished.
Programme director, one of the defining characteristics of our democracy is our Constitution, which was adopted 30 years ago, and it stands as a bridge between our painful past and the inclusive future we are consciously constructing.
The Milestones of Freedom Campaign serves to remind us our past is vitally important because every historic occurrence we commemorate, shaped the democratic future we now inherit.
When we remember the Constitution, the 1976 youth uprising, the 1956 Women’s March and the trauma of forced removals, we are not merely looking backwards. We are gathering the moral strength to defend freedom, deepen democracy and deliver dignity to every South African.
We should never forget that under the Group Areas Act of 1950, millions of people were forcibly displaced from urban and rural lands across South Africa, including from District Six.
Successive governments since 1994 have worked to reverse the painful legacy of dispossession and forced removals through restitution, including the return of land, compensation and post-settlement support.
This history is not merely abstract. Makweteng, also known as the old location or Willem Klopperville, was a vibrant community whose residents endured decades of municipal control, segregation and racial exclusion.
As apartheid tightened its grip through the Group Areas Act, families were uprooted and moved from Makweteng to racially designated areas such as Ikageng, Promosa and Mohadin. To remember Makweteng is therefore to remember that forced removals were not only a District Six story; they were a national wound felt deeply here in the North West, and they remain part of the memory we must use to defend justice, dignity and redress.
As a nation we have used the Constitution to ensure redress for those who lost everything under apartheid. Despite challenges we have made meaningful progress in restoring dignity and hope.
One of the most meaningful and visible ways that we have done this is through land restitution. Since the inception of the land restitution process, significant progress has been made. From 1998 to 2024, the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights has settled a total of eighty three thousand, two hundred and five (83 205) land claims lodged during the initial lodgement period.
These claims represent historically dispossessed individuals and communities across the country. It is pleasing to note that the Northwest has recorded three thousand, nine hundred and eighty one (3981) settled land restitution claims since 1998.
As government we remain determined to heal the wounds of the past and to build a bridge to a better tomorrow for all. The restoration of land and the handover of title deeds contributes to healing, dignity, and long-term socio-economic justice for our nation.
Just and equitable land restitution remains a crucial instrument to redress historical dispossession, restore dignity and foster social cohesion.
Government has also invested R58 billion in land purchases, grants and financial compensation, supporting three hundred and seventy six thousand, nine hundred and seventy six (376,976) beneficiaries nationwide.
Redistribution efforts have been strengthened through post settlement support, farm viability and market access, which serve to empower and support those who wish to work the land. Programme director, the 30 Year Review Report of South Africa’s Democracy (1994–2024), supported by the findings of Census 2022, reminds us that our country has recorded many achievements since 1994.
These achievements also reflect the four areas or milestones we are commemorating this year, beginning with the adoption of the Constitution. The Constitution enshrines equality, human dignity and freedom from discrimination, laying the foundation for one of the world’s most progressive legal frameworks.
It remains the cornerstone of our democracy and ensures that all laws align with the values and spirit of our democratic order.A defining feature of this constitutional order is the separation of powers between the Executive, Legislature and Judiciary.It ensures that each branch exercises oversight over others, reinforcing accountability and the rule of law.
This framework is further strengthened by the Chapter 9 institutions, which play an indispensable role in protecting democracy, promoting good governance, and providing independent mechanisms through which citizens can seek redress and hold public institutions accountable.
These democratic gains have supported efforts to improve people’s quality of life through wider access to education, healthcare, housing, clean water, electricity, roads, social protection and improved wages. According to the 2025 General Household Survey, access to improved sanitation increased from 61,7% in 2002 to 84,0% in 2025.
We must note with pride that the North West has made tremendous progress in this regard as access to improved sanitation increased from 54.1% in 2002 to 78.8% in 2025
Nationally the percentage of South African households that were connected to the main electricity supply increased from 76,7% in 2002 to 90,6% in 2025.
In the North West this figure stood at 82% in 2002 and has increased to 90,9% in 2025. Households with piped municipal water increased from 9.2 million in 2004 to 15.4 million in 2024, and 84,1% of households lived in formal dwellings in 2024.
Nationally social protection has also expanded, with the percentage of individuals benefiting from social grants increasing from 12,8% in 2003 to 39,5% in 2025.Gains such as these matter because they show that the living circumstances of our people have changed.This did not happen by chance or through divine intervention.
It happened because democracy created the constitutional, institutional and policy instruments to undo the evils of the past and restore hope and dignity to all. Our national memory must therefore tell a balanced story: one that remembers both the pain from which we emerged and the measurable progress made possible by freedom.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have just concluded commemorating Women’s Month, and the 70th anniversary of the 1956 anti-pass campaign.
On 9 August 1956, more than 20 000 women of all races marched to the Union Buildings to demand the abolition of pass laws.
Their courage struck a powerful blow against apartheid and helped lay the foundation for the democratic, non-racial and non-sexist society in continued construction today.We must recall with pride that some of the women who organised and marched on that day were from this province. These names include central leaders of the march, such as Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati, and Mme Rita Ndzanga.
We must also remember Josie Mpama, born in Potchefstroom, whose lifelong activism for women, workers and the oppressed stands as a proud reminder of this region’s contribution to the liberation struggle.In recognising these heroines, we are also called upon to strengthen our national memory of the milestones that led to South Africa’s freedom.
A nation that remembers honestly is better able to teach future generations that democracy was not handed to us, but was won through organised resistance, sacrifice and the courage of ordinary people who chose justice over fear.
This is why memory must remain our weapon: a weapon against indifference, against historical amnesia and against any attempt to minimise the price paid for our freedom. These brave women stood up at a time when doing so could result in imprisonment, banishment or death. Yet they did so nonetheless, and in doing so they set the tone for the democratic, non-sexist country we have sought to build since 1994.
Guided by the Constitution, government has since 1994 introduced laws, policies and programmes to advance women’s rights.
These advances include the improvement of access to education and healthcare; expansion of economic opportunities and the strengthening of protection against discrimination and violence.
Programme director, at this stage, let us pause and remember the names of all the victims whose bodies have been found in Kempton Park and the surrounding areas.
Let us observe a moment of silence in their honour! As men, we need to be at the forefront of the fight against GBVF.
We have to clearly say not in our name, these criminals do not represent us and are an afront to the struggles that brought this country together. We need to state without any equivocation that women and all of have a right to walk our streets at anytime without any fear of attack.
That generally the perpetrator is male, if we don’t do anything even in our small spaces, it makes us complicit to this heinous crime against women and children. Programme director, with that sad note, let us turn to celebrate some of the achievements this democratic project has brought about.
Women continue to serve in senior positions especially in the public sector, especially the executive, legislature and across the judiciary.
The appointment of Justice Mandisa Maya in 2024 as South Africa’s first female Chief Justice stands as a landmark achievement, among many notable appointments across the public sector.Government has also earmarked a 40% public procurement target for women-owned businesses, using the state’s purchasing power to drive gender equality and economic inclusion.
Despite policies and legislation to advance women's empowerment and participation in all spheres of society, many women continue to face significant social, economic and structural barriers that prevent them from fully enjoying these constitutional rights. Programme Director, We also honour the legacy of the youth of 1976, whose courage exposed apartheid’s brutality and ignited resistance across the country.
Since 1994, we have sought to honour their sacrifice by opening the doors of learning and transforming an education system once defined by racial exclusion into one that is inclusive and democratic. To remember 1976 is to remember that young people were not spectators in the making of freedom.
They were agents of history! They understood that education, language, identity and dignity were central battlegrounds in the struggle against apartheid.
Their memory must continue to challenge us to invest in young people not as beneficiaries of democracy alone, but as builders of South Africa’s next chapter.
The matric pass rate has risen from 58% in 1994 to 88% in 2025, the highest since the dawn of democracy, with more than two thirds of bachelor passes achieved by learners from previously disadvantaged schools. The North West Province Matric Class of 2025, achieved an overall pass rate of 88.49%, earning the province a commendable fourth position nationally.
The results in this province and nationally show how government has worked to reshape and improve the country’s education system. They are an affirmation that our democracy is expanding opportunity to those deliberately excluded under apartheid. Through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme, students from low-income and working-class families continue to access higher education.
NSFAS has funded more than 5 million students up to the 2025/26 financial year. This funding contributes to the growth of black students in higher education from just over two hundred thousand (200 000) in 1994 to more than eight hundred and fifty thousand (850 000) in 2023.
Ladies and gentlemen, as we launch this campaign, we must remember that our road to democracy was not easy, and that the journey since 1994 has had many twists and turns. We must continue to remember the sacrifices of the generations who came before us. Our freedom is not free; it was forged in pain, loss and untold sacrifice.
Yet memory, as Don Mattera reminds us, must never be reduced to ceremony.It must be a weapon that sharpens our conscience, strengthens our unity and renews our responsibility to build a better South Africa.
Campaigns of this nature are important because they elevate the memory of our common struggle against injustice and remind us that freedom must be consciously protected in every generation. Each passing generation is called upon to guard against any possible regress, to resist the return of old inequalities in new forms.
We must resolve to use this shared memory as leverage for our continued march towards a progressive, egalitarian and developmental society.
In this way, remembrance becomes more than reflection; it becomes a democratic obligation and a source of courage for the work still ahead.The Milestones of Freedom Campaign therefore calls on us to honour the past, defend the truth of our history, draw strength from the courage of those who came before us, and deliver a better future for everyone.Let us carry these milestones not as distant dates, but as living commitments to justice, equality, dignity and freedom.
Ke a leboga!
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