Hon Speaker, Chairperson of the NCOP, President of the Republic of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, Deputy President of our country, hon David Mabuza, hon Chief Whip of the Majority Party, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon Members of
Parliament, distinguished guests and fellow South Africans, today, 65 years ago, thousands of activists gathered in Kliptown to lay out a vision for a South Africa that we today inherit. The vision, aspirations and dreams of our people were documented in what became known as the Freedom Charter - the backbone of the Constitution, which guides the work of this House.
Comrade President as a member of this House, who is a young black woman, I stand on the shoulders of the women who played a role in the drafting of the Freedom Charter; I stand on the shoulders of Ruth First, Dora Tamana, Albertina Sisulu, Beata Lipman, and others.
Comrade President, I stand on the shoulders of the first women to form part of the first parliament of our young democracy. I can only but imagine the suffocation they endured in that boy's choir of an executive. Today, as we young women join them on these benches, I draw strength from their resilience. In fact, I stand their resilience.
Murhangeri wa tiko [Leader of the nation], it is with no doubt
that under this democratic South Africa, the future of the children of this nation can only get brighter. South African youth are doing amazing things in various spheres of society locally and internationally. Just look at ShoMadjozi's recent achievement.
However, allow me to share my activist colleague, Dr Sithembile Mbete's conversation with a 9-year-old girl whom when she asked: what do you want to be when you grow up? The young girl responded by saying "sizobona".
Allow me to share, Ms Shaeera Kalla's conversation with a 20-year- old young man at Rosebank Mall, whom when she asked what his dreams were, the young boy responded, "I have no dreams, let me first survive tomorrow".
President Ramaphosa, we must ensure that the gloom that hovers over parts of our country does not strip away young people from their right to envision to dream and imagine bright, healthy and meaningful lives. The process of envisioning one's future should not be a privilege.
Comrade President we continue to build our nation and design the social fabric of our society - sleepless nights we must have, unsettled by the realities of these two young people and many like them.
Setho seHlomphehang, Mme Modise we must khawuleza, for our inability to address some of the socioeconomic challenges of young people in our country will lead to a death of imagination among some young people in our country. Our inability to ensure that young people through the attainment of knowledge and skills are active participants in our economy will attribute to the social decay in our society. How do we build a nation when the future of the country fails to imagine their role within it?
The key to nation-building as Amilcar Cabral says: "is to rid our land of every noxious influence of oppressive culture."
How is it Mongameli [Mr President] that whilst you speak of growing South Africa through a social compact which requires contribution of various parties, through sacrifices and trade- offs, others speak about ...
Afrikaans:
... terugslaan. Regtig, agb lede! Terugslaan ...
English:
... to what? To a time when the efforts of the masses of this country to fight for the land would bear no fruits?
The above mentioned privilege Mr President is the very same privilege that underpins various hate crimes in our society.
The ANC has promised in its manifesto, to finalize the legislation before parliament, aimed at preventing and combating hate crimes and prosecution of persons who commit these offences. In line with your call to implement, masikhawuleze Mongameli [let's hurry Mr President] because this legislation will mean that no hate crime goes unpunished. Any abuse based on race, gender, religion, disability and albinism will be legally and decisively dealt with.
We must tell you that, homophobes in our society must be aware of the fact that any abusive behaviour towards the lesbians,
gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, queer, intersexuals, asexual, LGBTQIA+ will face legal consequences.
Taking into consideration the demographics of this country, and whom the life expectancy of many is reliant on, women are very fundamental to building this nation.
As we build our new nation, we are guided by the preamble of our Constitution that reads: " we aim to establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights."
Gender-based violence is one of the greatest plagues of our time. Our women are not safe, our queer bodies are not safe, the night and day scares us, the city scares us, and so do rural areas, public spaces, our homes, universities and schools too. Is there any space for us in fact in the society? If there's not, we must with the sjambok, which is the laws of this country address those issues.
Mr President, you speak to the establishment of the Gender-Based
Violence and Femicide Council; and as we acknowledge the launch of the Gender-Based Violence Hearings and the Sexual Offences Court in the 5th administration.
As we work towards social connectedness and building an intersectional society, we must include the representation of young women and gender non- conforming bodies in the structures that will lead these processes and institutions. However, we must also acknowledge, Mr President, that the scourge of patriarchy won't be solved by solely increasing the representation of women in an oppressive system but rather the dismantling and breaking down of any institution and societal construct that entrenches patriarchy. To quote American Iranian activist Hoda Katebi: "a seat at the table does not mean you are off the menu".
Hon Fikile Masiko, a Whip deployed by the governing party to the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, together let us work to whip patriarchy out of this society. Let us whip it, whip it real good.
Hon Lamola, our Constitution is considered a world-leading document; we must conceptualize and design a world-leading response to gender-based violence. As per our manifesto, we must capacitate and equip the police and the court system to support survivors of gender-based violence and sexual assault.
Mr President, as we increase the visibility of police we must ensure that our people do not live in fear of our police nor are they triggered by police.
Our police must not assimilate the intolerance of the apartheid police who when overseeing protests nor must they regurgitate sexual harassment towards victims entering police stations.
Hon Cele appreciating the contribution to youth employment through training 5000 young people into the police; we must ensure that we harness a blooming police force whose actions will resonate with a democratic South Africa through programmes like Conflict Negotiation, Mediation and Resolution Training and Rehabilitation programmes.
Core to the student protests of 2015-16 was nation-building. Our generation reminded society that you cannot build a nation whilst others are left behind academically and economically. Out of that came great strides in the sector of higher education, however, consequence of our call for free quality and decolonized education, talented young South Africans like Kanya Cekeshe find themselves behind bars; others charged, expelled, suspended, emotionally scarred and politically despondent.
Comrade President, the unconditional release of Kanya and all others must be prioritized by your administration. We call for your presidential pardon.
Comrade President, South Africa being one of the greatest leaders of the african continent, we endorse your call for a world-class visa regime, best academic minds on the continent must collaborate with our academics and universities and all our institutions. Our children must go to great Kingdoms of Mali and Ghana to learn of our majestic and glorious history and young African learners must come here to learn our history.
Our LGBTQIA+ community members in other countries who do not feel safe must feel safe in South Africa.
President we want you to finalize the legislation on language in our schools. African languages must be taught in schools, they must be institutionalized; more importantly, we need to create societal value of our languages. As the Vice-Chancellor of University of Cape Town, Prof Phakeng says "In South Africa, someone can speak nine official languages and still be deemed illiterate and not fit for employment".
Comrade President, we create value in our languages by ensuring public servants must learn them, in Mdantsane, doctors speak and diagnose our patients in isiXhosa, and teachers must be able to teach foundational topics in mathematics in more than one language.
Fellow South Africans, our world is changing, technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution have the potential to be great equalizers of our time, however they may also drive the greatest concentration of wealth and deepen inequality. Fellow South
Africans, as we work to build our nation in this 4IR, we must ensure that the 4IR does not happen to us but that we inform how it unfolds in our country.
Allow me to lobby you, President to use our education system as a niche to achieve what you intend to achieve in building a national democratic society.
I heard my good friend Nomangxongo Sixishe at the pre-state of the nation address debate with the youth, quote me in saying, we must use schools to propagate and harness a special type of South African that will grow to be charged with the desire to drive out all these isms that burden our society; racism, sexism and classism.
Let work from the words of Thomas Sankara, who implores citizens to: "become active agents in the transformation of their society instead of remaining spectators".
President ...
IsiZulu:
... Masisheshe, sigeze, sifezekise.
E n g l i s h :
You have set out the line of marching Mongameli [Mr President], we are lobbied and we commit ourselves to executing it. Thank you very much.
Afrikaans: