Programme Director,
Acting HoD Me Nchabeng Tsebe,
Executive Management and Staff of the department,
Representatives of our Chapter 9 Institutions,
Good afternoon.
We spent the best part of the yesterday in a meeting with the broad leadership of the Malamulele community in the Thulamela local municipality, Vhembe district. The purpose of our meeting with the community of Malamulele was the crime situation in the area which has reached alarming proportions. So alarming is the crime situation that the community is conducting night patrols to keep criminals from their neighbourhood.
I am raising this single incident to highlight the fact that South Africans and visitors to the country have the right to a safe and secure environment. The State in all its manifestations has the obligation to ensure that Citizens of the country enjoy all the rights prescribed by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
These rights include the right to a free and secure environment.
Failure on the part of the State to deliver on its mandate constitutes a violation of the rights of its citizens.
The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and its accompanying Bill of Rights draws inspiration from the Freedom Charter. The Freedom Charter was adopted at the historic Congress of the People on June 26, 1955 in Kliptown, Soweto.
The Freedom Charter, through its clauses, expressed the aspirations of the freedom loving people of South Africa. Allow me to remind you of the clauses of this document which has stood the test of time, and remains as relevant today as it was at its adoption in 1955:
- The People Shall Govern
- All National Groups Shall have Equal Rights
- The People Shall Share in the Country’s Wealth
- The Land Shall be Shared Among Those Who Work It
- All Shall be Equal Before the Law
- There Shall be Work and Security For All
- The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened to All
- The Shall be Houses, Security and Comfort
- There Shall be Peace and Friendship
The Freedom Charter concludes with this profound declaration: these freedoms we will fight for, side by side, throughout our lives, until we have won our liberty. Indeed our forebears “fought side by side throughout their lives” to ensure that we realize the Mission of the African National Congress of a freedom, democratic, non-sexist, non-racial and prosperous South Africa.
We meet here today to celebrate the freedoms the Freedom Charter envisaged in 1955. Many of those who fought for these freedoms never lived to see the dawn of freedom and democracy when our icon Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected President of South Africa. They paid the ultimate sacrifice; they gave the lives so that we enjoy all the freedoms we have today.
It will be a tragedy if we were to forget where we come from, and the sacrifices many made for us to live in freedom and democracy. The least we can do for these martyrs of our struggle for liberation, besides constructing statues for them and naming streets after them, is to deliver a better life to all our people. If we fail to change the lives of our people for the better, the sacrifices our martyrs have made will be all in vain.
Those of us who are seated in this room have the privilege of upholding the rights of all South Africans. The democratic government has given us all the tools to deliver on all the services the Constitution enjoins us to deliver to the people.
Our much acclaimed Constitution has created checks and balances to ensure that the State and its Organs fulfill their obligations. These checks and balances manifest themselves through the Chapter 9 institutions like the Human Rights Commission, Commission on Gender Equality and the Public Protector. These state institutions are there to strengthen constitutional democracy in the country.
Your presence here today as we conclude our celebrations of Human Rights Month is a welcome development. It gives us an opportunity to learn first-hand what your institutions are all about and how they contribute to the defence and maturity of our democracy.
We are reminded at every opportunity by the detractors of this democratic government that we are a threat to the Constitution that we sacrificed so much for. These statements are said notwithstanding the existence of our Chapter 9 institutions and the great work they are doing.
I am encouraged by the knowledge we have shared here today. We are now prepared to ensure that the rights of our people in as far as safety and security are upheld. Our mandate as the Department is to ensure the safety and security of citizens.
To fail to fulfill this obligation is a violation of the rights of citizens. These State Institutions are not going to take kindly to our violation of the rights of citizens. No one looks forward to a date with any of these institutions.
To avoid being hauled before these institutions for failure to deliver on our mandate, let us roll back our sleeves and get down to work. Our engagement with the community of Malamulele yesterday was to ensure that their right to safety and security is upheld. We are going to do this with communities throughout our province. It is within our hands to make Limpopo a safe haven for citizens and visitors.
Nelson Mandela when delivering his inaugural address after being sworn-in as the first democratic president of South Africa said:
“Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.”
Through this quote Mandela is daring us to uphold the human rights of every citizen – more especially those who have the privilege to serve like us around this table. Today we have in us the privilege to make real the promise of freedom and democracy.
People can’t enjoy human rights if they feel unsafe, and can’t go about their daily business without fear of attack by criminals.
Let us make Limpopo an oasis of safety and security, and thereby give the people of the province their right to security and comfort.
Thank you!
