Remarks by the Minister of Small Business Development, Ms Lindiwe Zulu, At the Occasion of the Motlekar Holdings BBQ Awards at Emperors Palace
I am honoured and humbled to be standing here this evening. It is not very often that you get the opportunity to be in the midst of so many of South Africa’s most influential black businesspeople, entrepreneurs and industrialists under one roof. It is a privilege, indeed!
We are here to honour outstanding achievers in black business and industry in our country. We are here to say well done to the movers and shakers in the world of black business and industry. As we pay tribute to the recipients of the Motlekar Holdings BBQ Awards, we do so content that the dream of building an inclusive economy that benefits all is not an elusive dream.
We are here to celebrate these hard-working men and women who consciously chose to take the initiative and take their destinies into their own hands. In their own humble and heroic ways, they have contributed to the positive profile of black business. We are here to celebrate black pride and black excellence. So tonight, we celebrate the night of the stars.
One of the most striking things about South Africans that continues to confound critic and admirer alike, continues to be our incredible capacity to rise everyday to defeat despair and steadfastly refuse to be passive participants in the process of rebuilding our country. The stars, whose achievements we are celebrating tonight, could have chosen to wallow is self-pity given the immensity of the obstacles placed in their way. Instead, they chose to pull themselves up to create a better life for themselves and their fellow citizens.
Their resilience and achievements, despite formidable odds, reminds me of a song by our own Lira (written by Labi Siffre), Something inside so strong! This beautiful song could be referring to the ugly legacy of apartheid when it says:
The higher you build your barriers, the taller I become The farther you take my rights away, the faster I will run You can deny me, you can decide to turn your face away No matter 'cause there's
Something inside so strong I know that I can make it
Though you're doing me wrong so wrong You thought that my pride was gone
Oh, no, something inside so strong there's something inside so strong
The more you refuse to hear my voice the louder I will sing You hide behind walls of Jericho, your lies will come tumbling Deny my place in time, you squander wealth that's mine
My light will shine so brightly, it will blind you 'cause there's something inside so strong
I know that I can make it
But you're doing me wrong so wrong You thought that my pride was gone Oh, no, something inside so strong there’s something inside so strong
Brothers and sisters
When they insist we're just good not enough When we know better
Just look them in the eyes and say:
“I'm gonna do it anyway. I'm gonna do it anyway!” Because there's something inside so strong
And I know that I can make it!”
Indeed, with the laws of the land and economic policies heavily stacked against black business and policies destined to squeeze them out of economic activity, the black enterpreneurs of yesterday and those we are celebrating tonight said: “We’re going do it anyway! Because there is something inside us that is so strong!”
The story of the early NAFCOC generation is a perfect reminder that the higher you build your barriers the taller I become. The farther you take my rights away, the faster I will run! They can deny your place in time, they can squander the wealth that is yours, but each time, you will rise like a phoenix and claim your rightful place. Because inside you, there is something so strong! – and that is you capacity to succeed against odds!”
The competence, merit and excellence personified by the recipients of tonight’s awards communicates a message that black business has no business playing second fiddle to white business. Their success is the most practical and visible response to the clarion call our government is
making for all of us to play their part in the ongoing reconstruction and development of our country.
In the true spirit of vukúzenzele, the enterpreneurs we are recognizing tonight did not ask: “What will our government do for us?” Instead, they are posing the most challenging question: “What can we do to create a better life for ourselves and our fellow patriots?” So tonight, we are gathered here to say “thank you” to them for responding to this question in the most direct manner and practical manner.
Our freedom and democracy has liberated South Africans from a culture of passive submission to a culture of v’ukuzenzele and to make a complete and decisive break with our ugly past. 1994 gave our people a passport to take control of their lives and responsibility for their destiny. The heroes and heroines we are recognizing tonight are the embodiment of vukuzenzele.
Tonight, we celebrate the work of our fellow citizens who seized the opportunities brought by our democracy and freedom to accomplish what was a dream a mere twenty years ago. They have refused to be placed into pigeon-holes. They have refused to be passive recipients of government services. They have refused to be passive spectators in the ongoing reconstruction and development of our country.
Instead, they consciously chose to dirty their hands, and not pontificate from the pulpit; to contribute rather to complain or criticize from the sidelines; to make mistakes and rise up again in the course of creating a better life for themselves and their fellow citizens.
Indeed, we are here today to reward and acknowledge excellence in service of our communities. They have become the crystallization and personification of Vuk’uzenzele. By putting their collective shoulder to the wheel, they have contributed immensely towards improving the lives of our people for the better. I am confident that together, we will succeed to turn the tide against poverty, unemployment and inequality.
Indeed, government alone cannot overcome the challenges of poverty eradication and job creation. It is for this reason that our clarion call is for a partnership so that our collective wisdom and muscle can be brought to bear on all the scourges that make it difficult for many of our countrymen and women to taste the fruits of our liberation.
Programme Director, Ladies and Gentlemen, we have come a long way in twenty years of democratic rule. Acting together, we have made decisive advances and our goal of building a South Africa that truly belongs to all is now firmly within reach. We continue to register good progress in our effort to broaden access to basic services. We must continue to unite behind our programme of radical economic transformation.
We are succeeding in positioning our economy on a growth trajectory that will allow us to respond more appropriately to our developmental needs. We have recorded many a milestones along this long and difficult journey. We were only able to achieve this impressive record of success because of the commitment of ordinary men and women of our province, some of whom we are honouring tonight. But more still needs to be done.
We must work harder together to ensure that small business and co- operatives become the true economic growth catalysts and job creators. Indeed, this sector will be the engine and backbone of our economy if we work together.
Government is confident that together, hand by hand, we will be able to eradicate the legacy of many years of apartheid and colonialism. Collectively, we will succeed in rebuilding our once battered society. Let us all remain informed by our resolve never to abandon our vigilance.
We are proud of the achievers of today and are moved by their dedication and resilience. On this special day, we want to salute these special individuals, organisations and corporate citizens who continue to occupy the front trenches in the struggle to ensure that all our people can say with confidence that our country belongs to them too.
The road ahead that lies ahead is long and hard. The huge legacy we seek to eradicate will not surrender with sheepish timidity. It demands that all of us must put our collective wheel to the shoulder.
Congratulations and well done to our award recipients!
I thank you.
