Honourable Speaker
Honourable Premier and Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the Legislature
Executive Mayors, Mayors, Honourable Speakers, Chief Whips and
Councillors
Chairperson of SALGA and the Executive Committee
Director General of the province
Head of Departments
Marena le Dikgosi
Veterans and stalwarts of our Liberation Struggle
Distinguished guests
Comrades and friends
Ladies and Gentlemen
Madame Speaker, I stand here in the context of the human rights month and on the eve of our Human Rights Day, 21 March. This is the meaning upon which I anchor this speech for our work is about rights; the right to a home, the right to services.
At the core of the human factor lies the innate need to survive, to thrive, and to grow in every possible way towards self actualisation. For this, humanity needs a nurturing environment; first a sound home, then a community, a society, a country and the world; these provided in a well coordinated, integrated and sustainable manner.
This creation of an enabling environment for nurturing humanity is at the core of the responsibilities of the two departments - cooperative governance for working together coherently in government towards integrated sustainable development; and human settlements for providing decent shelter which is a basis for overall sustainable development and human progress.
Our work is cut out as a constitutional right; the right to a home and the right to a government that serves its people justly and consistently. These are stated in Chapter 2 of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights in the clause:
There shall be Houses, Security and Comfort; and in Chapter 3 and Chapter 7 for co-operative government mainly. Chapter 12 of the Constitution is the cornerstone of our work in Traditional Affairs.
Madame Speaker, this budget vote is also presented within the context of a year punctuated by several anniversaries of important milestones in the history of our democratic dispensation.
Chief among the memorable milestones is the celebration of 60 years of the Women's March to the Union Buildings in 1956. Other anniversaries are; the 40 year celebration of the June 1976 Youth Uprising as well as the 26th anniversary of the release of our iconic Madiba from prison in February 1990.
Presenting this speech in the Human Rights Month, makes the context even more relevant to acknowledge all our heroes, who laid down their lives for us to have the rights that we now enjoy. We reaffirm our clarion call that their lives were not lost in vain.
We have learnt from the struggle leaders of other nations like Guizeppe Mazzini of Italy that, "the tree of liberty grows stronger when watered with the blood of the Matyr" and also that "the dagger of an (liberation seeking) assassin becomes deadlier when sharpened on the tombstone of the Matyr."
To this end government has decided to celebrate this important day, 21 March 2016, this year as the National Day Against Racism as an effort to rebuke and discourage the recent upsurge of inhumane incidents of racism in our country.
The activities and interventions to be embarked upon will, indeed, be a befitting memorial for these matyrs that died in 1960. The tree of liberty has, indeed, grown stronger after being watered with their blood! Read more [PDF]
