Chairperson, hon members, colleagues, on Wednesday, 21 March 2007, our country will be commemorating the 47th anniversary of the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, in which over 60 unarmed and defenceless people were shot and killed by the apartheid South African police and 180 were wounded.
There were also reports of killings in similar style in Uitenhage and Langa by police who acted in defence of the apartheid state. The root cause of the peaceful demonstrations by our people was the systematic introduction of pass laws against the black majority by the white minority regime; the system that dictated where the large black majority would live, work and die.
These laws have their origins in the Cape colony in 1760, when the movement of slaves between urban and rural areas were regulated. Slaves had to carry passes from their masters. The system was subsequently extended to the whole country and further entrenched in 1945 under the Native Consolidation Act.
In 1952 the abolition of the Passes Act made it compulsory for every male African to carry a reference book. As if that was not enough, in 1960 the apartheid government introduced the Native Amendment Act, which extended the pass laws to African women, our mothers ... "wathintha abafazi wathintha imbokodo uzokufa". [You strike a woman, you strike a rock; you will die.]
Thanks to the ANC government and the people of South Africa, the United Nations and our friends across the globe. Today South Africa is free, democratic and prosperous. We all carry one single South African identity document. We have a Constitution with a Bill of Rights that guarantees all citizens the right to equality before the law, human dignity, freedom of expression, the right to peaceful assembly, demonstration, picket and petition, freedom of association, freedom of movement and residence.
As we celebrate this day each year, we must remember the great suffering and loss of lives that accompanied the struggle for human rights. We must therefore redouble our efforts to ensure that people in South Africa will never again be denied these rights. Oliver Tambo laid down his life for these rights, Chris Hani was killed for these rights, Dorothy Nyembe died for these rights, Sam Tambani was killed for these rights and the list is endless.
Many more were killed, maimed, exiled and imprisoned in the struggle to achieve human rights in this country. We pay tribute to all those heroes and heroines who gave all in the struggle to win freedom and democracy.
Comrades and colleagues, we have made impressive progress since 1994 to ensure access to clean water, housing, education and a clean and safe environment for millions of our people.
The challenges ahead still remain on this difficult path of freedom and democracy. We have to redouble our efforts to deal with the big five challenges afflicting our South African society today. They are poverty, unemployment, crime, HIV and Aids and the demon of racism that hounds us from time to time.
Never again should we ever have another Nelson Chisale murder on a farm. No other white farmer should be brutally killed in their homes or on their farms. Trade Union rights are indeed human rights. On the farms and private domestic homes, shops, factories and mines, we must rededicate 21 March 2007 to improve our relationships in society especially for the poor and vulnerable workers.
Let us push back the tide of violence against women and children in our homes, families, neighbourhood, constituencies and places of work. As we intensify our struggle for human rights, we must strengthen the Chapter Nine institutions established to promote democracy and the culture of human rights in our country and elsewhere in the world.
We must welcome the collaboration between our institutions like Cultural Religious and Linguistic Communities Rights Commission, the Independent Electoral Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality, South African Human Rights Commission and the United Nation Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights to ensure that the Africa Human Rights Day commemoration is observed each year on the 21st of October.
The 21st of October 2007 marks the 21st anniversary of the African Charter on Human and People's Rights adopted there by the Organisation of African Unity in 1981 and came into effect on the 21st of October 1986. We have an opportunity within the framework of the African Union and the United Nations to create a better Africa and a better world.
Our brothers and sisters in Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Palestine and Iraq also deserve to enjoy full democracy and human rights in line with our principles of ubuntu and human solidarity. The ANC is historically, and still remains, an internationalist revolutionary movement.
To quote Fidel Castro: "Being internationalist is paying our debt to humanity". In November 1994 Fidel Castro went on to say:
We have shown solidarity with the world. It's not our task now to talk about this solidarity. As far as our solidarity is concerned, we should do the most and talk the least. For us solidarity and internationalism are a matter of principle and a sacred one at that.
Let us - that is us as South African citizens and the ANC in particular - allow the armchair critics to do what they do best and we must continue the work tirelessly to achieve a better Africa and a better world. We have an opportunity as we speak now to do that. The SACP calls upon the country and its leaders to focus on the plight of the poor in the coming period.
In particular, the reds demand the removal of all South Africans from the credit bureau as a once-off amnesty. [Applause.] You are allowed to do that. Millions of our citizens are denied the access to participate meaningfully in the economic life of our country because of this black listing. Viva amabovu! [Viva SACP!]
The central task ahead of the ANC and its cadreship in 2007 and beyond is the alleviation of poverty and its ultimate eradication. The ANC's January statement enjoin us to work tirelessly with our alliance partner and progressive forces to fight poverty, unemployment, crime, HIV and Aids, racism and sexism in the same manner as we fought against apartheid.
Let us all accept this challenge and soldier on. Hon members will be going to their various constituencies in the next few days to participate in human rights activities. And also, in April, when we will be in recess, we will celebrate our freedom and May Day. So, I wish you well in all of these activities. Go there and spread the message of hope for our country. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Chairperson and hon members, when the basic services that the government is obligated to provide are not delivered to the poor, it is not just their government policy failure or a waste of taxpayers' money; it is an infringement of their fundamental human rights.
It is so because the Constitution requires the state to promote and fulfil the rights in Chapter 2 thereof, our Bill of Rights. The socioeconomic rights are a special category of rights. They are not full rights, like your political rights or your right to free speech, but rights of access. The state has a duty to realise them progressively. They are justifiable, but they cannot be enforced in the same way that other rights may be enforced.
It is for that reason that the Constitution places a special duty on the SA Human Rights Commission to monitor and assess the progressive realisation of socioeconomic rights.
It is as a result of that task that the SA Human Rights Commission, after concluding its sixth report on economic and social rights, now intends to advise government, especially in the provincial sphere, that its delivery failures constitute an infringement of fundamental rights.
The Constitution requires that the SA Human Rights Commission must ask the relevant government departments, in both the national and provincial spheres, what they have done to realise the rights to housing, health, food, water, social security, education and the environment each year. The response from government departments, however, has been problematic. At the time of the conclusion of the fifth economic and social rights report, the SAHRC reviewed the low response rate from certain organs of state, the poor quality, and questioned the reliability of certain information. It even went so far as to suggest that perhaps its interaction with departments should be abandoned altogether in favour of fieldwork monitoring.
However, the Constitution says it must ask departments for information, and rightly so. The SAHRC attributes the poor response to lack of capacity, amongst other things. It says that there are no mechanisms and there is little commitment in place within the organs of state together to classify and store information.
The SA Human Rights Commission will now assist the departments to develop appropriate systems to capture and manage information that the SAHRC itself will ultimately request from them. Is it any wonder, therefore, that delivery does not take place when the departments responsible are not keeping track themselves?
Delivery in the sphere of socioeconomic rights should take place primarily at the provincial level, where Parliament sends the vast bulk of taxpayers' money every year when we vote for the Budget and the division of state revenue.
The SA Human Rights Commission has now decided to bring the unsatisfactory situation to the direct attention of the Premiers, and to advise them that, judged on human rights standards, non-delivery is unacceptable.
In addition to this, it intends to engage directly with the provincial legislatures. This, I believe, is an excellent approach, for it is a fact that our provincial legislatures do not legislate that much, but they do specialise in oversight. This they do very well, judged on the record of the official opposition MPLs at least.
It is a regrettable fact that the National Assembly does not appear to do justice to the SA Human Rights Commission's work in general, and its socioeconomic reports in particular.
The SA Human Rights Commission appears before a number of portfolio committees, which ought to profit greatly from its socioeconomic work, but these appearances are said to be haphazard and unco-ordinated from its point of view, while the National Assembly as a whole does not appear to engage the commission's reports at all.
We have at our disposal the work not only of the SA Human Rights Commission, but also that of other Chapter 9 institutions like the Auditor- General. The DA now annually analyses the audits of provincial departments provided by the Auditor-General, and draws public attention to trends and patterns. Alarmingly, the latest analysis of the nine departments of health, show the large-scale mismanagement of tendering and procurement procedures. In disturbingly many cases, this appeared to swing bids in favour of departmental employees or their associates. In our analysis, there is a crisis of deteriorating financial probity and corruption which, in addition to the poor management we highlighted last year, was causing many provincial hospitals to fail to provide a decent, acceptable service.
All this happens while the SA Human Rights Commission reminds us that the population dependent on public health services is currently estimated at 80% of all South Africans, and growing, and that we would be well advised - economically and in every other respect - to honour our national and international obligations on the right to health.
We must ensure equal access to quality health services and "we", hon members, means us too. If socioeconomic delivery is not taking place, that is a failure, not only of the ANC-led government - as we are so often reminded - but also of the institutions which are supposed to hold government to account. That, hon members, is us. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr Chairperson, twelve years since South Africa achieved democracy, the harsh laws that denied so many the right to basic human rights have gone, but many more challenges remain for us today.
The realisation of strong human rights principles, the fight against poverty, including the fight for a safer South Africa, is a fight that we must wage with diligence and vigour, and one that we cannot afford to simply continue fighting half-heartedly.
South Africa has one of the few constitutions in the world that include economic and social rights in its Bill of Rights. Some of these rights are: the right to housing, the right to basic health care, the right to adequate food and the right to education.
Human rights are those basic and fundamental rights to which every person, for the simple reason of being human, is entitled. Yet, so many people in South Africa are denied these basic rights due to extreme poverty. People who don't have access to the labour market and little or no basic access to services and resources today, nearly 13 years since the dawn of democracy, remain severely disempowered.
A recent report by the United States Department of State Human Rights reported that the magnitude of crime in South Africa should be considered a human rights violation. Among the crimes it notes as human rights violation, are over 23 500 children raped and over 1 000 children murdered. The report states that the number of violations can be laid at government's door because it fails to provide a safe and secure climate.
The SA Human Rights Commission will celebrate Human Rights Day 2007 by embarking on a week-long Human Rights Week campaign, which we all applaud. On its website, the SA Human Rights Commission states:
This year, the commission has identified the destructive effects of crime on South African society as needing immediate and urgent attention. Due to its cross-cutting nature, the impact of crime is felt across all socioeconomic fields, jeopardising the universal benefits of the Bill of Rights.
Most importantly, it says: "The achievement of equality, eradication of poverty and the deepening of democracy cannot be realised in the context of the high crime rate."
Today, in remembrance and honour of those who lost their lives during the Sharpeville uprising, we must renew all efforts to promote human rights and intensify the struggle against poverty. What we see in Zimbabwe today is what we saw in Sharpeville in 1960. Such inhuman violations must never set foot on African soil again. Otherwise, we will be judged as spectators when our neighbour's house is on fire. I thank you, Sir. [Applause.]
Chairperson, hon members, promoting human rights and fighting poverty are both very important objectives. Therefore, it is quite ridiculous to suggest that these important matters can be constructively discussed in 60 seconds. What, indeed, is the purpose of the debate and of the parliamentary theme "Let's deepen the debate"?
There is really no point in cramming a few platitudes into one minute and then calling that a proper engagement with the topic. The ANC knows its own views. Why should it get vast portions of each so-called debate in order to listen to itself and to repeat itself? The point of the debate is obviously to hear alternative views, but these can never be properly expressed, or seriously considered, if they are crammed into brief sound bytes.
Indeed, it is insulting to the many people that live in poverty who also happen to represent a sizable portion of our constituency, to pretend that anything useful can be said or changed about their plight or upliftment in the space of one minute. Thank you. [Time expired.]
Chairperson, let me see how I do with my sound byte. Our commitment to human rights is enshrined in our Constitution but for many of the poor and marginalised this commitment rings hollow. This commitment rings hollow for the thousands of fishing families along our coast who have been left destitute without any form of livelihood being provided for by the government.
It rings hollow for the millions of rural people who still do not enjoy the basic services of water, sanitation and electricity. It rings hollow for the one in ten children who needlessly die before their 5th birth day as a result of disease or poverty. It rings hollow for the millions of people who still live in shacks without the hope of housing being provided.
The ID believes that we need to commit ourselves to the social democratic vision contained in our Constitution and commit substantial resources to bridging the divides between what is in the Constitution and the daily reality that so many South Africans are subjected to. We need to extend the Child Support Grant to 18 years of age, implement a large-scale rural development programme, start building sustainable livelihoods and speak out forcefully against human rights abuse in the world, and then we can truly celebrate Human Rights Day in this country. [Time expired.]
Modulasetilo, maloko a a tlotlegang a Palamente, bangwe bao ba leng teng kwa ntlo phatlhalatseng ya rona. Ke lebogela go bua mo nakong e ya meriti e seng ka nako ya mampa a kolobe, gonne moAforika ga a nke a di atlhatlha sentle ga e le ka nako ya mampa. Fa ke bua jaana ke batla ke tlisa mo phatlhalatseng gore fa e ka bo e se ka chatara ya batho, eo e kileng ya tlhomamisiwa ka ngwaga wa 1955 kwa Kliptown, re ka bo re sa fitlhelela diphitlhelelo dingwe go akaretsa le ditshwanelo tsa botho.
Ditshwanelo tse, ke tse di ungwetseng mongwe le mongwe. Ga ya ka ya nna motse re feta wa balala, wa baruakgomo re tsena nao jaaka mo nakong e e fetileng. Go ya ka karolo ya bobedi ya Molaotheo wa Aforika Borwa, batho botlhe ba na le tekatekano. (Translation of Setswana paragraphs follows.)
[Ms M L MATSEMELA: Chairperson, hon members, as well as those in our public gallery, it is a pleasure to deliver my speech in the afternoon, but not at midday because an African cannot apply his mind well during lunch. Let me bring your attention to the fact that if it was not because of the Freedom Charter, which was adopted in 1995 at Kliptown, we wouldn't have achieved some of the things we have, which include human rights.
These rights benefited everybody, unlike in the past where they were only enjoyed by certain people, and excluded others. According to Chapter 2 of the Constitution of South Africa everyone is equal before the law.]
Speaking on the occasion of the 95th Anniversary of our movement, the ANC, at Emalahleni in Mpumalanga this year, President Mbeki, quoting the resolutions of the 2005 National General Council, had the following to say: The central challenge our movement faces in the second decade of freedom is to defeat poverty and substantially reduce the level of unemployment. This means that the ANC government must develop a coherent development strategy, identifying where we need to move to and what strategic leaps we need to get there.
Undoubtedly, today's topic could never have been more relevant. Further, the ANC's draft Strategy and Tactics, which is being work-shopped with all our constitutional structures on an ongoing basis, says:
The National Democratic Revolution, NDR, seeks to ensure that every South African, especially the poor, experiences an improving quality of life. It seeks to bring the best traditions of a developmental state, represented by an efficient state that guides national economic development and mobilises domestic and foreign capital to achieve this goal.
This perspective is indicative of the ANC's long-term commitment to the resolution of the scourge of poverty, unemployment and other social ills guided by people-driven and people-centred principles.
To fight poverty, the ANC-led government is guided by numerous policies and a sound fiscal regime that not only provides for well over 11 million citizens through social grants, 7 million of whom are children supported by a Budget of R62,4 billion, but continues to employ all the wisdom in the world in order to ensure the human rights of all South Africans, especially socioeconomic rights.
This means that grants constitute more than two thirds of the R89 billion budget of social development. Government has already started, through National Treasury, to establish a poverty line that will be used as a measure of the incidence of poverty so that we do not use inappropriate instruments in determining poverty in our society.
Furthermore, more efforts are being made to oil the wheels of economic growth so that there can be development and redistribution at an accelerated pace. Women and children bear the brunt of poverty in our society and it is important closely to monitor the implementation of socioeconomic rights such as water, sanitation, education, health, housing, social security and food.
While our Constitution says these must be realised progressively, there can be no doubt that government does not seek to hide behind this proviso. Instead, the more the fiscus expands, the more the benefit to the population, especially those that are underprivileged. An example is the nonpayment of tax by all those who earn R3 583 per month, thus giving back R8,4 billion back to the taxpayer.
I am not unmindful of those who have no means of income at all, the majority of whom are women. It is for this reason that I wish to join in with all those in our country who have called for the sustenance of the Extended Public Works Programme and the transfer of skills. The poor must be empowered to take care of their own lives. Nothing is as emancipating as the ability to throw off the yoke of poverty and ignorance.
No doubt that we will take forward our struggle against poverty only if we understand that human rights are indivisible and interrelated.
Incidentally, the Nobel Laureate for Economics, Amartya Sen, defines poverty as: "The lack of certain capabilities, the core of which would include education, food security, water, social security, health and shelter."
We must continue the fight against poverty across all spheres of government, in all the departments and other organs of state. Necessarily the women of our country, who constitute over 50% of the population, must be at the head of this struggle. We believe that women's rights are human rights.
Ke ka moo, ke ratang gore bomma, a re se e tlogeleng go e tshwara ka fa bogaleng, gonne mosadi ke mooka o nyaa le mariga. [I would therefore like to encourage women not to stop intervening, as we usually do, to save the situation.] In conclusion, six days before the celebration the Human Rights Day, we call on all South Africans to mobilise themselves into a strong battalion that will persistently and consistently push back the frontiers of poverty in order to ensure sustained development of humanity. I thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, the critical question is whether the state is succeeding in its constitutional obligations towards the progressive realisation of socioeconomic rights, particularly in the fight against poverty.
The ACDP believes that the greatest challenge in delivering services to the poor lays not so much with government policies, but in the implementation of such policies. This was confirmed by the 2002 Taylor report, which stated that: "The barriers to access, especially in regard to the poor, remains administrative and institutional."
The ACDP appreciates that some 12 million citizens now receive social grants and that a comprehensive social welfare pension system is proposed. Presently there are sufficient funds for housing, education and health, yet hugely inadequate capacity to actually deliver services due to corruption, patronage and a shortage of skills.
Home Affairs is a good example as it plays a central role in enabling access to public services. Its services fall far short of basic, acceptable standards. Unless urgent corrective steps are instituted in this and other departments and municipalities, the low level of public service delivery will frustrate the state's attempts to meet its constitutional obligations in the fight to alleviate poverty in our country. Thank you.
Chairperson, in this 37th anniversary of Sharpeville/Langa Day, the PAC is disgusted that the political parties gathered here are shy to mention that the PAC spearheaded that campaign on that particular day.
The 21st of March 1960 was a day when the PAC of Azania launched the Anti- Pass Campaign in terms of which African people were to leave their passes at home and surrender themselves for arrest at the nearest police station. The slogan for the campaign was, "No bail, no defence, no fine".
Lest we forget, on that fateful day - 21 March 1960 - Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe and the PAC leaders surrendered themselves to the police for refusing to carry passes. Despite that, Sobukwe had written to the Police Commissioner that the campaign was non-violent, Mr Blanch.
The police responded with brutality, killing 68 people in Sharpeville and 28 people in Langa, here in Cape Town. Lest we forget, the spilling of the blood of those innocent sons and daughter of Africa, the Sharpeville/Langa Massacre was a turning point of our liberation struggle in this country. The blood of those sons and daughters of the soil and the blood of many martyrs of our liberation struggle will never be left unnoticed.
During this Human Rights Day, the PAC of Azania is calling for the release of all members of Apla - Azanian People's Liberation Army - political prisoners.
It will be a great act of human rights by the President, hon Thabo Mbeki, and the ANC-led government to release members of Apla and all other freedom fighters incarcerated in the prisons of South Africa. The PAC has been making this call and we are still repeating this call today. Thank you. [Applause.]
Thank you, Chairperson. As a democracy governed by constitutional supremacy, which enshrines human rights and is central to our governance and existence through the Bill of Rights, a duty is incumbent on the government and every citizen to celebrate, enjoy and frolic in the rights that our freedom and liberation has given us.
The MF however finds a realisation of importance each and every individual has to play in this development. Liberation and growth is fundamental to meeting our goals. As democracy, we remember our horrid past of apartheid, as we look at the war-infested countries and human atrocities around the globe, hoping that they too shall have peace, freedom and respect for human life.
We pray that they too shall live in a nation of rainbow colours, cultures, religions, sex, shapes and sizes. We, however, wonder how many South Africans in reality are aware of the rights that we have in South Africa. The levels of crime, which many attribute to poverty, show a clear disrespect for human life.
Over the past few days news has been dominated by reports of murder of little girls, not to mention the growth in statistics of human trafficking.
Liberties are said to allow people to enjoy their lives and to maintain a harmonious state, but the reality is that we have evil people in society who find it right to rob us of this.
I cannot imagine what goes through a victim's mind in those last few breaths. But it is worse when I think of what must constitute the mind of a perpetrator when committing the crime. The sheer ability to take a life makes me feel so ill. And the punishment that these families have to endure for the rest of their lives makes the sentence we legislate seems a day in the park for the criminals. We have to tackle our crime situation in South Africa. We are a government of the people by the people, and the people have spoken. They do not want crime; they want us to act.
The MF calls for the recognition of the call of the nation an immediate action to stamp out crime; enforce punishment equivalent to the pain and suffering of the victims and the loved ones. Human rights are, and should be, a counterfoil in every sector of our daily lives. But discipline of an unruly person who jeopardise our democracy is unacceptable. Our Constitution certainly cannot shield our doom. The MF celebrates human rights and condemns all forms of atrocity. Thank you. [Applause.]
Chairperson, the FD believes that quiet diplomacy on human rights violations provokes other social ills such as poverty and instability. Because of the human rights violations in Zimbabwe the poor of that society are crossing over to our border despite the possibility of repatriation. There are hundreds of children in their early teens who are running away to South Africa looking for food, employment and a decent home. Poverty is a violation of human rights.
In the dark days of apartheid we did not welcome quiet diplomacy to bring apartheid to its knees. Zimbabwe, once the bread basket of Africa, has now become the pariah state because of its violations of human rights. However, their fighting back for justice and to have food on their table should be our fight as well.
Our fight against oppression has not been achieved through quiet diplomacy, but through the sacrificial will of the people, with the help of international support and to labour for a society built on universal human rights.
The same universal human rights apply to the Zimbabwean people. That includes their politicians. Those rights cannot be applied selectively to only those in power who want to keep the little they now have in the hands of the few. The redistribution of human rights and economic resources is what we called for.
In conclusion, we are calling for human rights for all the citizens of Africa now. Thank you.
Chairperson and hon members, more than 53 years ago, South Africans from all walks of life resolved in Kliptown that the people shall share in the country's wealth. This resolution was aimed at dealing decisively with the question of poverty, inequality and extreme underdevelopment in some parts of our country, and it becomes more relevant when you address such issues, particularly in rural areas, and its communities.
Soon we will celebrate the Human Rights Day. In our celebrations it will be important to promote human rights as tools to intensify the struggle against poverty, particularly as it affects our rural poor masses, of whom the majority live in conditions and an environment of abject poverty.
Human rights should be used as tools to rescue our people from the burden of poverty they experience in rural areas due to underdevelopment. Lest we forget, our country is ravaged with stark inequality and poverty by design and those who bear the brunt, unfortunately, is the large majority of black South Africans. Most of them live in rural areas, which in the past were referred to as Bantustans or homelands, designed by the arch architect of apartheid, former Prime Minister, Dr H F Verwoerd, who, in his own words said:
We are giving the Bantu, as our wards, every opportunity in their areas to move along the road of development by which they can progress in accordance with their ability.
These words were said within a context of only having blacks as hewers of wood and drawers of water, as well as in terms of the Group Areas Act. In this new democracy, which many people fought for, and even died for, with others maimed, it is clearly stated in the Constitution that the people will have equal human rights - in terms of Chapter 2 of the Constitution. The challenge we have in our action is whether indeed black people in particular realise these rights in their quest for a better life for all. For, according to Jill Natrass, in a book Up Against the Fence:
The growing special dislocation between capital that was being invested in the economy and the settlement patterns of the population meant that the capital stock became increasingly a source of wealth for those people who were fortunate enough to have access to it and conversely a source of poverty for those who were excluded.
That is my emphasis.
At the same time, the continued of the black group from the political process rendered them politically unable to force thorough a reallocation either of additional education resources to increase their access to higher paid jobs in the modern sector of factors, inputs specifically designed to upgrade the black rural areas.
I cannot agree more. This is a known fact, but we seem to forget what we have gone through and what we have been subjected to. Of paramount importance is that this challenge should not be limited to government only but to all South Africans, particularly the affluent, economically resourced, section of our society. Abazalwa benama account emabhange abeke izimali ezinkulu bathi zitshaliwe. Namanje badla baze bakhohlwe ukuthi kukhona abalambileyo. [I mean those who were born with huge wads of cash in bank accounts claim that they are invested. And they spend this money and even forget that there are hungry people out there.]
The business community, banks and internationals have a role to play in the creation of a caring society.
Yini indaba kungabibikho amabhange ezindaweni zasemakhaya kanti amabhange ahlale eqhosha ngenzuzo enkulukazi njalo njalo? Yini kungabibikho zitolo emakhaya kanti izitolo ezikhona zihlale ziqhayisa ngenzuzo enkulu njalo ekupheleni konyaka? Abanye babantu abathola umhlomulo bahleli nathi lapha. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[Why, for instance, are there no banks in rural areas, because the banks are always declaring huge returns? Why are there no shops in rural areas as they always declare huge returns at the end of each year? Some of the people who benefit from all this are with us here.]
Our Constitution dictates, in Chapter 2 of the Bill of Rights that everyone should have equal rights. It becomes imperative to spell out some few rights that would assist us in the creation of a caring society: Equality; human dignity - everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected; the right to life; the right to property; freedom of movement; the right to housing - no one may be evicted from their home or have their home demolished without an order of the court made after considering all the relevant facts.
Sibona abantu bekhishwa ezindlini izinkantolo kodwa ubone ukuthi cha awuhlonishwa lo Somqulu Wamalungelo abantu esinawo, ngoba vele abantu laba esikhathini esiphambili ababekade bengamakhosi, bekugwebela ukuhamba emgwaqweni. Kufanele siyibheke le nto ukuthi singakwenza kanjani ukubeka amakhosi sicabange ukuthi azosilungisela nathi sithole amantshontsho ngoba nawo afuna ukudla la mantshontsho futhi ningakaqali nina ukudla la mantshontsho. (Translation of isiZulu paragraph follows.)
[We see people evicted from their houses through court orders and that is evident that our Bill of Rights is not respected because these are the very people who were the bosses even during the previous dispensation. They would even punish you just for walking on the road. We have to address this thing and be very careful when we give them certain positions because we cannot expect them to do what we want them to do when they have their own agendas.]
All these rights are an attempt to intensify the struggle against poverty. This is the key objective of the ANC government - working together to fight poverty for a better life for all. Against this background, in the past we have seen a violent suppression and a violation of basic human rights that led to forced removals in terms of the Group Areas Act, forced cheap labour and job reservation in terms of the Job Reservation Act; inferior segregated education in terms of the Bantu Education Act; creation of certain areas as reserves where surplus labour and undesirable people were dumped and hidden in terrible conditions of poverty, areas where there has been no economic development plan, no infrastructure of any kind in terms of the Influx Control Act - these areas were commonly known as homelands or Bantustans or, some, independent national states.
An unhealthy unsustainable situation was created. Our people, particularly black people, led by the people's organisation, the ANC, struggled against this injustice to an extent, together with their leaders, that they were prepared to sacrifice their lives. Therefore, the Bill of Rights in our Constitution should be used as a tool to intensify our struggle against poverty, particularly in rural areas.
Our task, as South Africans, is to ensure that everyone has inherent dignity and the right to have their dignity respected and protected. This can only be achieved if we ensure, amongst a whole range of other rights, that no one may be subjected to slavery, servitude or forced labour.
All of us need to work together in the spirit of Batho Pele to correct the injustices of the past, particularly business and social service providers. The academics should also have a change of mindset and work towards contributing in the fight against poverty by ensuring that basic human rights are observed.
Uhulumeni emzamweni yakhe uyazama ukulungisela abantu ukuthi bathole konke okufanele bakuthole kodwa siyazi ukuthi amandla kahulumeni awekho kangako. Siyacela kongxiwankulu laba abanezimali ezisemaceleni nezinye ezikwamanye amazwe basondele ukuzosiza ukuthi silwe nobuphofu.
Sesizibekile izakhiwo zomasipala ukwenzela ukuthi abantu bakwazi ukubambisana nathi ngoba ngaphandle kokusebenzisana nabo, ngeke sikwazi ukwenza lo msebenzi ngendlela efanelekile. Siyacela laba bantu babambe iqhaza entuthukweni yabo. Siyilungisile nemithetho ukwenzela ukusebenza ngokubambisana ikakhulukazi ezindaweni zasemakhaya, phakathi kwamakhosi nomasipala.
Siyanxusa nasezisebenzini zikahulumeni ukuthi ake ziyeke ukungabi nanhlonipho, nokungabi nazwelo, nokuphatha kabi abantu bethu. Into abayifundiswa yilowaya baba engimbize ngegama ukuthi yangena egazini ukuthi baphathe kabi abantu bethu. Benza leziya zinto ezazenziwa ukhomishana.
Abanye bayakhuluma lapha bathi uhulumeni ayikho into ayenzile. Bakhohliwe ukuthi iminyaka engamakhulu amathathu besiphansi kwengcindezelo enzima kodwa kufanele bafundiswe ukuze babone ngoba banamehlo nje ababoni kunjalo nje bahleli lapha eKapa ezindlini ezinkulu eziphindwe kathathu.
Abake baphume baye ngaphandle baye kobona ukuthi kwenzekani ukuze basize nabo. Shona emakhaya, uzobona ukuthi ugesi sesiwufakile, amanzi ahlanzekile sesiwafakile. Lona umgamu esesiwuhambile, imigwaqo siyayilungisa, imitholampilo siyakhile, izikole sizakhile ngayo le mali encane enye eniyifihlayo ukuze singakwazi nokuthatha intela kuyo.
Kubalulekile ukuthi abafowethu mhlawumbe beze lapha kuKhongolose ngoba ababoni ngale ndlela esibona ngayo ukuze sikwazi ukuthi sihambe nabo bakwazi ukubona. Kodwa-ke futhi abafuni ukubona ngoba bayazi ukuthi uma bengabona ngapha namehlo azovuleka babone nabo ukuthi le nto abayenza ayilungile. Lokhu kungaholela ekutheni bagcine sebebona kufanele bahlephule kulokhu abakuthatha ngendluzula, babele abanye abantu. Ngiyavumelana nobaba uZulu, ukuthi mhlawumbe intuthuko ihamba kancane, kodwa baba siyayenza imizamo ukuthi intuthuko iqhubeke. Siyacela-ke ikakhulukazi lapho KwaZulu-Natali ukuthi amakhosi nohulumeni wasemakhaya ophethe babambisane nathi ukulungisa le ngxaki.
Abanye bathi uhulumeni akaphumeleli. Angeke-ke size siziphendule lezi zinto ezishiwo yilaba bantu ngoba abanye babo bama ezindaweni zokushumayela emasontweni beshumayeza abantu abalambile, abahluphekayo, abaziniki nesikhathi sokuthi babasize babone ukuthi bayazithola nezinhlelo ezibekwe uhulumeni.
Siyayizwa i-PAC. Sisebenzile nayo kakhulu futhi ngizwile ukuthi ike yaphendulwa leyo nto lapha. Kwakulungiselwa ukuthi simashe sonke ngendlela efanele kodwa nina nabona ukuthi manisheshe niyokwenza lokho. Siyakubonga ngoba lokho kwasiza, kodwa kuseyiwona lowo mzabalazo wokuthi asiqhubeke siye phambili. Bekuyoba kuhle uma beningabuyela ekhaya ukuze mhlawumbe sithole amandla adlula lawa esinawo.
Ubaba uGreyling we-ID ukhala ngabantu abaziphilisa ngokubamba izinhlanzi nangezinye izinto. Sithi-ke thina : abanobuchwepheshe nolwazi mabasize. I- ACDP ikhala ngombiko kaTaylor. Iyakhohlwa ukuthi le khomishana yabekwa yilo hulumeni ukuze isisize ukuthi sibheke kabanzi ukuthi kujule kangakanani ukuhlupheka kwabantu bethu.
Ibekelwe ukuthi sibe nendlela esemqoka necacile kithina ukusiza abantu ngayo. Uyasho ukuthi izinga lokuletha izidingo liphansi. Mhlawumbe uqinisile, kodwa kuhle akhumbule ukuthi ukuthatha kwethu umbuso, sathatha yonke le mfucuza eyayisicindezela, savumelana nani sicabanga ukuthi nineqiniso nizosisiza ukulwa nale mpi kanti ningamaxoki, ningama menemene, nizoyinyathela le nqola ingayi phambili.
Ngicela into eyodwa: Sideleleni sizenzele into yethu futhi sizimisele ukuthi sizoyenza siphumelele noma ikanjani. Ngiyabonga. (Translation of isiZulu paragraphs follows.)
[The government, in it's efforts, is trying all it can to provide services to the people but we, of course, understand that the government does not have enough resources. We appeal to the capitalists who invested their monies in other countries to join us and help to fight poverty.
We have created municipal structures so that people can work with us because without co-operating with them, we will not be able to do this job properly. We urge people to take part in their development. We have also amended certain pieces of legislation to ease partnerships, particularly in rural areas, between the traditional leaders and municipalities.
We also urge public servants to stop being disrespectful, arrogant and discourteous towards the public. This thing of ill-treating our people was instilled in them by that gentleman whose name I mentioned earlier on. They are doing those things that were done by the Commissioner. Some people here claim that the government is doing nothing. They have since forgotten that we were under oppression for 300 years, but we must educate them because they have eyes, yet they do not see, and they stay here in Cape Town in huge houses that are three times bigger than some.
These people must go out there to the people and see what is happening there so that they can also help. We have at least installed electricity in remote villages, and we have given people clean water. That is the progress we have made thus far, we are maintaining roads, we have built clinics, and we are building schools with the limited money that we have because the rest of the money you have hidden somewhere so that it cannot be taxed.
It is important for our brothers to join the ANC because they do not seem to see things the same way we do and we will walk with them so that they too can see. Furthermore, they don't want to see because they know that if they can see this side, their eyes will be opened and they will understand that what they did was not good. This can make them see that what they took by force should be brought forward so that it could be shared with other people.
I echo the sentiments of Mr Zulu that the progress, as far as the development is concerned, is slow, but, maybe, sir, we are making efforts so that the development could move a little faster. We appeal, particularly there in KwaZulu-Natal, that the traditional leaders and the local government would work with us in addressing this problem. Some are saying the government does not succeed. We cannot comment on these things simply because some of the people who say these things stand in pulpits in churches and preach to hungry people and the poor. They don't even have the time to help and see to it that they get programmes to be introduced by the government.
We understand the PAC and we have worked with them before. I have heard that this point was responded to in this House. We were all preparing to have a lawful march, but you decided to do it before us. We appreciate that because it helped, but the struggle continues and we are going forward. It would be good though if you returned home so that we can be more powerful than we are now.
Mr Greyling of the ID is lamenting the conditions of the fishermen and other things. What we are saying is that those who have skills and knowledge should assist. The ACDP is unhappy with the Taylor report. It forgets that this commission was appointed by this government to assist in evaluating the seriousness of poverty amongst our people.
The commission is in place for us so that we can have a clear programme to help the people. It states that the level of service delivery is poor. Maybe it is correct, but remember that when we took over, this government inherited all the bad that was used to oppress us, and we even agreed on certain things with you because we assumed that you are honest, that you will help us in fighting this war, but you are hypocrites, impostors, you stand in the way of progress.
I am pleading for one thing from you: Just simply allow us to do our own thing and we are positive that we will do it successfully no matter what. [Thank you.]]
Debate concluded.