The more we are told we cannot call ourselves by who we really are the more we entrench apartheid from generation to generation. This was said by the North West Premier, Thandi Modise, during the Human Rights Day commemoration at the Ikageng Stadium, in Tlokwe Local Municipality.
She said everyone had the right to dignity, and denying someone their identity was an infringement of their right.
The Premier said during apartheid, Afrikaners came and changed names of towns in this country, giving examples of Tlokweng which was changed to Potchefstroom, Matlosana which was changed to Klerksdorp and Huhudi which was changed to Vryburg.
'These name changes were a violation of our rights because it meant that we were being denied our identity.
'Today we are here to celebrate the heroes and heroines who stood up against these violations and said enough is enough,' said Modise.
She said it was on this day that the people of this country were declaring to the world that they were not going to allow the apartheid government to make them strangers in a country of their birth.
She, however, emphasised that the youth of today needed to understand the pain and torture people went through to ensure that they enjoyed the benefits of human rights today, adding that they needed to be aware that every right had to be exercised responsibly.
'It took us a long time to get to where we are now and it will still take us a while to undo the damage done by apartheid,” she added.
The Premier said regardless of the situation, the youth had to study hard. “They should know their history. They should draw relevance between their current circumstances and their past. They should be made to understand the hard work that had won us our freedom and rights.”
She said young people had to benefit from the land of their forefathers and it was only then that they would be able to defend their beings as citizens second to none and as people who should always aspire to live in harmony with other people.
“We cannot regard ourselves as totally free when a farmworker still faces the worst form of exploitation and deprivation,” she emphasised.
The Premier further said that we could not, as a country, continue celebrating the fullness of “our rights without acknowledging the abuse which children and women suffer at the hands of their parents and partners”, pointing out that every crime had gone down in the province but domestic violence and abuse still remained rife.
“We cannot sit back and allow criminals to steal and own the night, depriving space to enjoy their own rights at such times of our day,” said Modise.
Modise called upon mothers to speak out when their children bring home stolen goods as this would be disciplining them and teaching them responsibility.
“We must work hard to fight racism,” she said.
She said the people of this country should fight to retain South Africa which was non-racial where everyone lives in harmony.
This year marked the 50th Anniversary since the Sharpville Massacre as well as 17th Anniversary of the post-apartheid Human Rights Day.
It was on this day in 1961 when fallen heroes and heroines of this country braved the day by emphatically declaring that the pass laws were not only a hindrance to their movement but also dehumanising to them as black people. On that day 69 people were shot and killed by the police.
Source: North West Provincial Government
