the occasion of Human Rights Day, Northern Cape province, Kimberly, Galeshewe
Stadium
21 March 2009
Programme director,
Hon Minister Enver Surty,
Hon Premier Dipuo Peters,
Hon Chairpersons of State Institutions supporting Constitutional Democracy here
present:
Adv Lawrence Mushwana
Mr Jody Kollapen
Ms Nomboniso Gasa
Rev Westley Mabuza
Dr Brigalia Bam
Honourable Executive Mayor of Sol Plaatjie Municipality Mr Patrick
Everyday,
Excellencies,
Comrades and friends,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Bana beso!
Fellow South Africans,
Today we are all gathered here to pay tribute to and honour the memory of
South African heroes and heroines who sacrificed their lives in pursuit of
freedom, justice and human rights. It was on this day in Sharpeville 49 years
ago, that the apartheid security forces mowed down 69 unarmed peaceful
demonstrators and injured more than 180 others for protesting against carrying
the hated "dompas".
Theirs was a peaceful protest, a human rights exercise, to walk freely in
the streets of the land of their birth without carrying this badge of racial
oppression. The carrying of the demeaning "dompass" violated their pre-eminent
right to human dignity and inhibited their right and freedom of movement.
Chairperson,
Our nation is celebrating this historic day under the theme: 'celebrating 15
years of Freedom and Human Rights,' which itself is an appropriate theme that
signals the Human Rights achievements we have made since the epochal democratic
election of 27 April in 1994.
Today, as we honour those who sacrificed their lives, it is befitting that
after 15 years since the advent of democracy we should pause and look back at
the road traversed and reflect on what needs to be done to realise a
non-racial, non-sexist democratic society based on the constitutional
principles of human dignity, achievement of equality and freedom.
South Africa's history, of racial oppression and the denial of human rights,
through colonialism and later, the policy and institutionalisation of
apartheid, is well documented. The majority of South Africans were deprived of
the most basic services needed for survival and development. These services
were constructed as privileges to be distributed on the basis of apartheid's
distorted logic of racial preference and dominance.
It is in recognition of these realities, that our Constitution was primarily
aimed at correcting the divisions of the past and establishing a society based
on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights. We owe our
wonderful Constitution and our being as a democracy to the sacrifices of these
heroes and heroines, many of whom paid the ultimate price for us to enjoy the
democracy that we have today.
Human rights and democracy are closely linked. Democracy is rooted in values
based on respect for the equal worth of all human beings. By the same token,
full compliance with human rights presupposes a democratic society. Respect for
human rights is fundamental to a well functioning democracy. This was
illustrated in the following words of former President Nelson Mandela:
"We must promote democracy at every level of society. Democracy and human
rights are inseparable. We cannot have the one without the other."
South Africa is celebrating 15 years of Freedom and the fundamental human
rights based on the values of human dignity, equality and freedom as the
cornerstone of our democracy. It is also the respect, protection, promotion and
fulfilment of the principle of equal access to opportunity and the restoration
of human dignity that we are celebrating.
It is imperative that we should remember that one of the objectives of our
Constitution is to improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the
potential of each person. It is therefore no coincidence that our Constitution
recognises a group of rights referred to as socio-economic rights.
In doing so, we recognise that human rights and the basic social conditions
in which people live are fundamentally interconnected and therefore government
should do as much as it can within available resources to secure for all
members of society the right to education, healthcare, food, water, sanitation,
shelter, access to land and housing.
Fellow South Africans, following the demise of apartheid 15 years ago,
government had to begin with the daunting task of constructing a free and
democratic South Africa, and work towards rebuilding our ravaged economy.
This we did fully aware that it would be a long, arduous struggle which would
require vision and determination.
Besides, creating a South Africa that embraces all her people required the
enactment of laws, policies and procedures that were in line with the
Constitution.
These laws are supported by independent state institutions such as the South
African Human Rights Commission, the Commission for Gender Equality, the
Electoral Commission, Public Protector, Auditor-General and the Commission for
the promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and
Linguistic Communities.
Each of these Institutions provided for in Chapter 9 of our Constitution has
in its unique way contributed to the deepening of the values of democracy over
the past 15 years. Along with these measures to strengthen our democracy
government has also sought to move from policy formulation to implementation,
from legislation to delivery in all areas.
In this connection, remarkable progress in strengthening the culture of
human rights and delivery in particular in the areas of economic, social and
cultural rights continues apace. We have also prioritised the provision of
basic infrastructure, increased access to primary healthcare, and made advances
in realising the right to education, access to housing, social assistance,
electricity, water and sanitation.
As government we are also alive to the reality that not all our people enjoy
human rights because they have no access to proper shelter, sanitation and
other related necessities. Realising the vision of a better life for all South
Africans is an essentially ongoing struggle which, working with all South
Africans, government is determined to make possible.
With this in mind, we have also moved to employ measures aimed at softening
the severities of poverty on those of our people who had no access to
socio-economic rights, informed by the reality that the eradication of poverty
is on long and difficult process and not an event.
In this regard, government has increasingly extended social grants to more
and more South Africans in the course of time. Since 1994 over 12 million
people in South Africa received social grants, and nearly eight million
children younger than 14 years receive child support grant. Equally, government
is aware that no human being derives human dignity from hand-outs and a
perpetual life of dependency.
Therefore the main aim of government remains enabling our people to access
sustainable jobs. Accordingly, one of our key development strategies is
education. Education is indispensable to the struggle against poverty which, in
the long term, can only be systematically eradicated by an educated, skilled
and technologically advanced populace. To this end, since 1994 access to
education has improved as we are close to reaching the 100% participation in
our primary and high schooling. Enrolment at the higher institutions has also
increased.
About 140 000 students in higher institutions of learning have been
supported through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. And yet as we
strive to improve the quality of our education and ensure that every school
going child has access to education, we equally remain committed to provide
access to other basic and essential services to our people.
Steadily but surely, we have over these 15 years of democracy extended the
provision of access to electricity, water and sanitation, among others. A
further commitment is to ensure that access to these basic services is treated
as a right which is not solely determined by the ability to pay.
Consequently, government provides free basic services to poor households: 6
000 litres of water a month and electricity worth 50 kw per month.
Access to basic services has improved substantially with potable water to 88%,
electricity to 72% and sanitation to 73%. However, more still needs to be
done.
Since 1994, there are over 1600 clinics that have been built under the
national clinic and upgrading programme. This has translated into 95% of South
Africans in 2009 living within 5 kilometres of a health facility. There is room
for improvement in the quality of the service rendered in some of these
facilities.
The HIV and AIDS pandemic still poses an enormous challenge in South Africa
and our government recognises the seriousness of this pandemic and its impact
on families and communities in general. Our Government through its
comprehensive plan on HIV and Aids is committed to the expansion of the
antiretroviral treatment. Over the last few years South Africa has currently
the largest number of people enrolled on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in the
world. There has also been some progress with regard to the struggle for gender
equality.
Chairperson,
Prior to the advent of our democracy, women suffered under the triple yoke
of oppression discriminated against as women, oppressed as black people; and
exploited as workers. Since 1994, government has embarked on a campaign to
reverse this odious history of gender oppression. Today, 30% of the
parliamentarians, provincial legislature members and councillors are women.
We must endeavour to ensure that the women of South Africa constitute 50% in
the new administration. Our government continues to fight the scourge of gender
based violence. The National Action Plan on Gender Based Violence, 2007, a
requirement of the UN declaration on gender based violence bears testimony to
government's efforts to fight against this scourge.
One of the most important rights enshrined in our Constitution is ensuring
that our people have access to courts. In addition, government is committed to
bring justice facilities closer to the poor and marginalised through building
additional courts and service delivery points for justice services to ensure
that the remote and rural communities are reached.
Since the advent of democracy, 23 new courts have been built and 58 courts
have been refurbished. These new courts are accessible to our people including
people with disabilities. There are five other courts that are still under
construction and 18 more courts will be built in the next five years.
Construction of a new High Court for the people of Limpopo will commence
soon.
This will go a long way in ensuring that the people of Limpopo will no longer
have to travel to Gauteng to have their matters heard by a High Court.
Government is also re-designating 23 of the 90 branch courts into full
courts.
This will ensure access to court for communities in rural, former Bantustans
and black townships. We have also sought to address the issue of language in
our justice system. Language can be a barrier for people to access justice in
our courts. In line with our Constitution, Government has introduced a pilot
project to use indigenous languages in our courts.
The objective of the pilot project is to ensure that at least one court per
region conducts proceedings in indigenous languages. This project will further
minimise the possibility of human error during translation of court
proceedings, prevent delays resulting from the unavailability of interpreters
and enhance case-flow management.
Government has also finalised legislation, developed policies and programmes
and co-ordination mechanisms to facilitate access to justice for the most
vulnerable and marginalised groups. On the rights of people with disabilities,
South Africa has recently ratified the International Convention on the
Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with
Disabilities, the first new human rights treaty of the 21st century.
This convention marks a major shift in the way in which the worldâs 650
million people with disabilities are treated. In ratifying this convention,
South Africa was one of the only ten countries in the world to do so. The
ratification of this convention means that we have to take all appropriate
measures, including legislation, to modify and amend existing laws,
regulations, customs and practices that discriminate against people with
disabilities to be in line with the Convention.
Furthermore, South Africa has been selected by the United Nations to pilot
the implementation of this convention. Despite the progress made, we recognise
that poverty constitute a violation of human dignity, which undermines the
enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. We painfully recognise that
we cannot boast to be espousing the principles of human dignity and equality
when many of our people are still living in conditions of poverty and
underdevelopment.
Government will continue with its efforts to eradicate poverty thereby
affirming the dignity of our people. In recent years we have also witnessed
some racial incidents such as those in Skierlik informal settlement and the
University of Free State as well as the violent attacks on foreign nationals.
These incidents are not compatible with the kind of society envisaged in our
Constitution.
They are inimical to the culture of human rights we are trying to inculcate.
They also detract from creating a caring and humane society.
In our quest to advance human rights, we need to aggressively promote social
cohesion, inclusion, non racism and non sexism. These incidents also serve as
not only as a reminder but as a directive to all of us, government, the Chapter
9 Institutions and civil society to redouble our efforts to ensure that the
vision of our Constitution is realised.
Our challenge, therefore, in the next 15 years is to ensure that the gains
that we have made can be experienced by all who live in this beautiful country,
black and white. To accelerate our progress, and extend its reach into every
corner of our country, we need to work together to strengthen our democracy and
inculcate the culture of human rights.
There is no doubt that our democracy will be fully strengthened and
entrenched when our people are aware of their fundamental human rights and
freedoms.
We therefore need to continue with this enormous commitment of educating our
people about their rights, especially the vulnerable groups.
Chairperson,
On 22 April 2009 most of the South African citizenry will be going out to
cast their vote thereby pronouncing on the leadership they prefer to carry the
work of government. In doing so South Africans will be exercising one of the
most important rights enshrined in our Constitution. At the centre of the
struggle for the liberation of our country was the call for adult suffrage.
Reminding us of the importance of the right to vote, in the August and
Another vs. the Independent Electoral Commission, Justice Albie Sachs noted
that:
"Universal adult suffrage on a common voters roll is one of the foundational
values of our entire constitutional order. The achievement of the franchise has
historically been important both for the acquisition of the rights of full and
effective citizenship by all South Africans regardless of race, and for the
accomplishment of an all-embracing nationhood. The universality of the
franchise is important not only for nationhood and democracy. The vote of each
and every citizen is a badge of dignity and of personhood. Quite literally, it
says that everybody counts."
As government we would like to call on all the political parties that will
be contesting this year's election to respect the political rights of our
people as enshrined in the Constitution. As we approach the election, we should
remember the importance of the principle of political tolerance and social
cohesion for our future.
We should all be committed to free and fair elections and allow all
political parties the right to have access to all voters. Political intolerance
has no place in our country. We wish you well on Human Rights Day.
I thank you!
Issued by: The Presidency
21 March 2009
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)
