Closing remarks by the Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces and head of the CPA Branch-South Africa, Honourable Mr A. N. Masondo, on the occasion of the webinar on the Commonwealth Parliamentary Programme (CPA) hosted by the Eastern Cape Province
Greetings!
Programme Director
Excellencies
Speaker of the Eastern Cape Legislature and President of the CPA Eastern Cape Sub-Branch, Honourable Ms Helen Sauls-August
Deputy Speaker of the Eastern Cape Legislature and Chairperson of the CPA Eastern Cape Sub-Branch, Honourable Mr Mlibo Qoboshiyane
Chairperson of Committees of the Eastern Cape Legislature and Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women Parliamentarians of the Sub-Branch, Honourable Ms Ntombovuyo Nkopane
Deputy Chief Whip of the Eastern Cape Legislature and Treasurer of the CPA Eastern Cape Sub-Branch, Honourable Ms Koliswa Fihlani
Members of the CPA Eastern Cape Sub-Branch Executive
Members of the Provincial Legislature
Distinguished participants
Ladies and gentlemen
Programme Director, allow me to start by expressing my appreciation for the opportunity to make the closing remarks on this important occasion of the webinar on “Tackling the Concept of People’s Democracy and Human Rights in the Context of COVID-19 and the Gender-Based Violence Pandemics” . Much has been said in elaboration of this theme. Its importance and urgency have been clearly articulated. For this we are grateful.
It is encouraging to note that the focus of this virtual seminar, which is democracy and human rights, is in keeping with the legacy of the icons who called the Eastern Cape their place of birth. I think of the likes of Walter Benson Rubusana, John Tengo Jabavu, Govan Archibald Mbeki, Walter Max Sisulu, Oliver Reginald Tambo, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Robert Mangaliso Sobukhwe, Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Bantu Stephen Biko and many others, who contributed their thoughts and intellect to the resolution of the challenges that face our society.
They made sacrifices and a serious contribution towards the realization of a free, non-racial and democratic South Africa. In his own words about what catapulted him into political activism, Oliver Tambo said that “if there was a single event that launched me on the road to ultimate involvement at the heart of South African politics, it was an assault on an African woman by her white employer in a kitchen in Fort Hare”. Perhaps a quest and a trigger of a just society.
Today we have a Constitution that he helped to give birth to which locates the Bill of Rights as a cornerstone of our democracy. The Bill of Rights enshrines the rights of all the people in our country. It also affirms the democratic values of human dignity, equality and freedom.
Today’s theme speaks to the heart of our responsibilities as parliamentarians and Parliaments as centres, anchors and promoters of people’s democracy as well as the protectors of human rights. The relevance of the theme is given prominence by the fact that the main objective of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) is to advance parliamentary democracy.
One of the Core Areas of the CPA, which also finds expression in its Strategic Plan as well as that of the Commonwealth Charter, is the promotion of human rights by our legislatures as Branches of the CPA. Therefore, our legislatures ought to act as midwives in bringing the culture of democracy into reality. They must also guarantee the protection of the rights of our people across race, gender and class.
Programme Director,
We know that many of the people in the countries of the Commonwealth, within the Africa Region and other regions within the developing world, continue to be victims of inequality, poverty, unemployment, political conflicts and natural or environmental disasters. These have a negative effect on human security and development.
The spread of the novel coronavirus has had a devastating effect on the globe. It has claimed the lives of many people and has also denied many the opportunity to pursue their livelihoods. It has impacted on the means of strengthening democracy and further reversed the gains we have made to respond to the current challenges of inequality, poverty and underdevelopment.
It is thus encouraging that even in these circumstances legislatures are taking the responsibility to utilise new platforms to strengthen democracy. This, in part, reinforces the outstanding task of implementing the resolutions we have taken in our conferences such as the 50th CPA Africa Region and the 64th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (CPC) held in Uganda in 2019.
Importantly, the Conference highlighted amongst many other things the need to help facilitate the growth of democracy for the betterment of the people of respective Parliamentary jurisdictions.
It is against this background that we must reposition our parliamentary institutions at multilateral level so as to respond to the current challenges. One of the ways of doing so is to prioritise the recovery of our economies that have been hit so hard by COVID-19 and to respond decisively to the threat of Gender Based Violence, which continues to cast a long dark shadow on our communities. We therefore thank the Eastern Cape CPA Sub-Branch for this initiative.
We should utilise the new means of engagement in order to promote collaboration as we deal with the challenges that confront us.
Our collaborative efforts should entail uniting our positions with other parliamentary institutions such as the Inter-parliamentary Union, the Pan African Parliament and the SADC-Parliamentary Forum. This should be particularly so in response to the COVID-19 and Gender Based Violence pandemics. These have revealed serious weaknesses in the manner in which we work across the public, private and non-governmental sectors.
Programme Director,
The lessons we learn from these experiences must assist us to see opportunities where there could easily be despair. As societies advance, so is the nature of our challenges. For example, it has been observed that while the Spanish Flu of 1918 became an international epidemic over the course of a year, Covid-19 spread to every habitable continent in the globe within weeks is worthy of being noted.
Therefore, in order to take advantage of the new opportunities that result from these challenges, we must increase our ability to introduce the necessary changes. Such changes must be informed by the interests of the people that we serve.
This webinar is one example of how the COVID-19 crisis has triggered our innovative capacity. It demonstrates our transitioning into a virtual paradigm in response to the pandemic. This is in line with the expectations of the 64th CPC in Uganda in 2019 where we said that “Parliaments must take steps to integrate ICT into their operations, to improve efficiency and communication and reach the populations via various technological platforms, in an effort to deepen democracy”.
Programme Director,
Allow me to end by saying that:
I appreciate the step you have all taken in utilising the new opportunity to focus us on the task of promoting democracy and human rights. Let us deepen democracy and better the lives of millions of our people.
I thank you.
