His Grace, Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane
Elders and Members of the Zion Christian Church Council
Members of the Executive Council
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Mayors and Councillors
Traditional Leaders
Distinguished guests
Fellow worshipers
The people of Free State
Kgotsong Masione!
I greet you all, in the name of our Lord and Creator. On behalf of the Free State Provincial Government and the people of our province, I would like to officially welcome His Grace, Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane, to the Free State.
I am truly honoured and privileged to be part of this important occasion as we commemorate the Sharpeville Massacre, which took place on 21 March 1960. Tomorrow, 21 March, all South Africans will celebrate Human Rights Day, which is a monumental symbol of human conquest and sacrifice.
We celebrate the heroic deeds of generations before us, whose gallant fight against injustice and repression of human freedoms, created an environment for us and future generations to enjoy human rights that are now enshrined in our Constitution.
This historic event reminds us of the sacrifices and the high price paid to enable us to enjoy the benefits of freedom and democracy. As we celebrate the 51st anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, we recall and salute the contributions of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) and other religious formations to the great victory of the cause of freedom and democracy in our country. Right from their inception, the African Independent Churches played a crucial role during the most difficult period in our struggle - the period of extreme repression that started with the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.
The African Independent Churches also experienced first-hand what it meant to be under Apartheid. You will recall when 400 members of The Church of God and Saints of Christ were mercilessly killed by the forces of Smuts Government in what is known as the Bulhoek Massacre of 1921 simply for demanding to be left alone in order to worship God.
The Bulhoek massacre is without doubt one of the most unfortunate chapters in the history of the people of this country. The Bulhoek massacre must serve as a constant reminder of who were are and where we come from as a nation and our religious beliefs.
It is history that must be related to our children. This is just one of many examples of the role the church played during the liberation struggle. The African National Congress (ANC) itself can trace some of its origins to African Christians, some whom broke away from the established white-led churches to form their own, such as the Ethiopian Church.
The ANC has its roots in the Christian faith, but celebrates and supports all beliefs in its broad membership and support base. We also recognise that while there is extensive religious diversity, the majority of South Africans are Christians.
Throughout our history, many of our leaders were either priests or lay preachers, for example John Mafukuzela Dube, the first President of the ANC from 1912 to 1919, and Reverend Makgatho, the second ANC President, who was a founder of one of the early African Independent Churches, the United National Church.
We must also use the period of commemorating our 51st anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre, to thank other pioneers of African Independent Churches such as Bishop Engenas Lekganyane, who founded the ZCC in 1910, Moses Mangena Mokone, founder of Ethiopian Church, Isaiah Shembe, founder of the Church of Nazareth of Shembe Church, James Dwane, founder of the Order of Ethiopia, Nehemiah Tile, founder of the Thembu National Church and many others.
They were joined by Christian priests and leaders such as Trevor Huddleston, Dennis Hurley, Beyers Naude, Michael Scott, Ambrose Reeves, Albert Nolan and others. The formation of ZCC, two years before the birth of the ANC, was a pioneering act by the oppressed to resist the theology of submission. Today, boasting millions of members, the ZCC is the largest church in Southern Africa. We salute you, Your Grace, for continuing to strengthen the church and maintaining its commitment to the poor.
This ANC-led government fully understands and acknowledges the important and critical role that the church continues to play in our society today, especially in building a society that cares and that is built on the foundations of strong moral values.
Since we took office in 2009, as government we have continued to work in partnership with the faith-based sector to give meaning to the ANC’s moral vision, based on our country’s Constitution.
We will continue to support the church and all faith-based organisations, so that together, we can release our people from the slavery of poverty. As government, we require the collaboration to strengthen our families and communities and to build a strong foundation for a caring society.
This is a society where there would be no crime, rape, child abuse, women abuse, abuse of alcohol and drugs, no lack of respect for the elderly and no breakdown of family life. The church, as partners with government, needs to continue to play a critical role in ensuring that the moral values of ubuntu such as respect for human life, and respect for each other are inculcated, especially among our youth.
The church has an important role to play in the upcoming local government elections in May. Churches are found in every corner of the country, even remote rural areas. We need to partner with you on many of our programmes, such as the rural development programme. The church must play an active role in strengthening democracy and deepening democracy such the promotion of the Bill of Rights.
The church is also critical in alleviating the suffering caused by disease, especially HIV and AIDS. We applaud the selfless efforts by the church for taking care of the aged, nursing the sick, feeding and clothing the poor and orphans. We urge the church to continue to play a role in AIDS awareness and prevention campaigns.
Your Grace, Bishop Lekganyane
Last year, His Excellency, President Zuma, told the Joint Sitting of the National Assembly that, “The defining feature of this administration will be that it knows where people live, understands their needs, and responds faster.”
In our State of the Province Address two weeks ago, we reported on the progress we are making to improve the living conditions of our people through our new service delivery strategy dubbed Operation Hlasela.
Operation Hlasela is our new strategy that puts the poor at the centre of key development interventions. We launched Operation Hlasela shortly after we took office in 2009 to improve and fast-track service delivery.
Operation Hlasela is a clarion call to all our social partners and civil society to collaborate with government and to jointly and urgently eliminate duplication and wastage, eradicate poverty, to tackle under-development and to stimulate our economy to improve the lives of our people.
- Re hlasela bofuma.
- Re hlasela bonokwane le manyofonyofo.
- Re hlasela tlhekefetso ya Bo Mme le Bana, Re hlasela kgethollo ya morabe le ya bong.
We call on the church to partner with us as we attack poverty, and fight criminal elements in our society. Operation Hlasela offers us an opportunity to work together with our social to bring about real, concrete change in the lives of our people.
Through Operation Hlasela we are also working with the private sector. For example, we have launched a programme with the Netcare Group, which operates the largest private hospital network in South Africa. We will jointly implement a nursing training programme aimed at alleviating the shortage of available human resources in this critical occupation.
Operation Hlasela is the concrete manifestation that this ANC-led government is truly a caring government which responds faster to the needs of the poor and the vulnerable in our society.
Your Grace
As government, we remain committed to five main priorities, namely Education, Health, Rural development and Land Reform, Creating Decent Work and Fighting Crime. We continue to work to improve the effectiveness of local government, infrastructure development and human settlements.
Although we still have many challenges, we have also achieved a lot. Some of our major achievements include the following:
On education, our number one priority
- In the first year of taking office we employed 1 069 temporary teachers on a full-time basis
- The construction of 13 state-of-the-art schools has been completed and platoon schools in the Free State have been eradicated
- Hostel accommodation for learners living on farms and surrounding localities has been improved
- The Department of Education is currently providing food to just over four hundred and forty four thousand learners (444 042) in one thousand two hundred and seventy four (1 274) schools as part of the National School Nutrition programme
- We have become the leading province in investing in our youth through our Provincial Bursary Scheme. A total of 4 432 learners have received full-time bursaries to pursue their studies in scarce skills areas such as Engineering, Finance, Accounting, Medicine, Mathematics and Science
- Two hundred and fifty eight (258) of these learners are orphans. The beneficiaries of these bursaries all fully representative of all race and gender groups, including the people with disability from all districts across the province
- In 2010, we spent a record amount of R154 million on bursaries and will maintain this investment. We will undoubtedly derive the long-term benefit from this initiative
- Over 400 bursary holders received their degrees and diplomas at the end of the 2010 academic year. Aligned with the five plus two priorities, the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) and the New Growth Path, the number of students who pursued studies in identified areas included:
- 673 in Education
- 238 in Engineering
- 230 in Accounting
- 220 in Medicine and other health professions
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- The province adopted a multi-pronged approach to skills development and training and implemented learnership, internships, skills programs, experiential learning and adult basic education and training. Our achievements in this regard include the following:
- 374 graduates were employed as interns in government departments
- 1 495 youth were enrolled in end-user computing learnership
- 2 120 Operation Hlasela and general workers in municipalities underwent skills development training.
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- This year, we continue our investment in deserving students. A further 1 334 bursaries have been awarded. This increases the total amount spent to R288 million. The 1 334 learners awarded bursaries this year continue to represent all districts of the province
- In addition to the provincial government allocation, some students are funded through the Operation Hlasela fund.
On health
When we took office in 2009, our health care sector was functioning at less than optimal levels. At that time, there was a critical shortage of medicine in hospitals and clinics and continuous challenges with the availability of ambulances. As the Executive Council, we were stunned at the state of operations at our medical depot when we conducted the on-site visit at the time. We realised that we had a mountain to climb to turn-around the status of health in the public sector in the Free State.
Now the tide has turned. We are continuing to improve the delivery of quality services to our people. We are definitely on the right road to deliver quality health services to our people and thereby achieving our identified outcome of a “long and healthy life for all South Africans.”
We have succeeded in recruiting highly qualified and registered professional engineers, who will start within the coming weeks to deal with all health infrastructure projects planned for the next financial year. We are confident that this team of professionals will meet our demands of quality services to be delivered by the department, our hospitals and clinics throughout the province.
The challenge of chronic non-availability of medicine at our hospitals, clinics, and the medical depot has been resolved. We do receive reports from time to time that some medication is not available, but consistently we find that in these instances, this is largely attributed to depleted stock levels from suppliers. We are adamant in our quest to find a lasting resolution to this challenge.
Creating decent work
During 2010, our province created 38 467 job opportunities through 1 384 community-based programmes. We also implemented the following initiatives:
- 374 unemployed graduates are participating in the provincial internship programme
- 1 495 unemployed youth have been enrolled in learnership programmes
- 2 120 unemployed youth are participating in skills programmes supported by the majority of the sector education and training authorities
- Employment of 501 Hlasela workers in Batho, Jacobsdal, Hennenman and Jagersfontein as part of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).
Out of the 400 bursary holders who completed their studies 113 have already been employed in full time positions as nurses, veterinarians, engineers and social workers.
Your Grace, Bishop Lekganyane
Clearly this government is working for our people. However, we still have a considerable task in ensuring that the fundamental human rights enshrined in our Constitution become a reality enjoyed by all. Our success requires the contribution of each and every one of us, young and old, black and white.
The protection, promotion and progressive realisation of fundamental human rights can only be the outcome of ongoing struggle, everyday, in every community, in every sphere of human activity. It is only when people themselves engage in social action to give meaning to the words enshrined in our Constitution that human rights will become the living thread from which our social fabric is woven. We owe it to those who were killed during the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, survivors of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre and their families. Let us together ensure that their sacrifices were not in vain.
Your Grace and fellow worshipers
In conclusion I would like to quote one of my favourite inspiration verses in the Bible. In Matthew Chapter 17 verse 20, the Lord said: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to your mountain, “move” and it will move... and nothing will be impossible for you”.
Working together we can do more!
Kgotso e be le lena. May peace be with you!
Ke a leboha.
