Hon Chair, the first question we have to ask ourselves today is: What is the current situation in our country? This is very important in understanding the values of ubuntu and its importance to our people. Our streets are dominated by thieves and other criminals; our schools are war zones and there is a complete breakdown in authority at most levels; our families are dysfunctional with fathers raping their children, individuals abdicating their responsibilities and children defying parental authority.
I can go on for a very long time but suffice it to say that there is currently a very high degree of societal and political decay to be found in our country. With such high levels of moral degeneration, we must concede that our country is becoming a weak state. Part of the problem is the increasing level of moral relativism where nothing is explicitly wrong or inherently bad. In Afrikaans we say, "laat maar loop".["anything goes".]
The subject of today's discussion suggests that in a situation such as the one we find ourselves in, we should turn to ubuntu for the answers and remedies. There is some truth to be found in that. But ubuntu is not a switch for lights that can be flicked on and off depending on the demands of a particular situation or problem, neither is it a coat to be taken on and off depending on the weather.
In our everyday lives some very important ubuntu principles have either been ignored or jettisoned altogether. Let me mention some of these ubuntu principles. Ubuntu says that a person is a person through other people.
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. [A person is a person through other people.]
This ubuntu principle is the opposite of the Western principle of individuality. But, most importantly, this principle also means that an individual alone is not responsible for his or her failures or successes. His or her fellow beings are his or her immediate support system. His or her society must be so structured that it promotes human success.
So when we judge individuals, ubuntu does not allow for the adoption of a holier-than-thou attitude. Our society today lacks the necessary support systems for individual fulfilment. The rich are not willing to share. In the ubuntu tradition, there were safety measures against individual frailties, such as "ukusisa" [allocating something to someone so they can survive] for instance - and there would be no person in society, according to ubuntu, that would go hungry in the midst of plenty.
We have to ask ourselves here, as Members of Parliament: Do we form the necessary support systems for our colleagues or do we wait and gloat over some of our colleagues' difficulties? To such people, we would say in a Zulu aphorism: Abanabuntu. [They lack humanity.]
Another very important attribute of the ubuntu philosophy ... [Time expired.] Abanabuntu. [They lack humanity.].