Thank you, hon Deputy Chairperson. Hon members, on 21 March 1960, when masses gathered in Sharpeville to protest against the pass laws of the apartheid regime, the situation in this country was completely different from what it is today. Even those who were part of the system that oppressed the people of this country can really feel that today South Africa is different.
The AIC believes that a lot has been achieved, but a lot still needs to be done to recognise and protect the rights of individuals in this country.
Everyone can now move freely without any passbook in his or her pocket. The challenge that we still face today is that not every citizen of this country knows or enjoys his or her rights equally.
The country still has poor students who cannot complete their studies due to financial constraints, but we have this National Student Financial Aid Scheme, NSFAS, which does not satisfy all the students. In most parts of the country people still drink impure water with cattle from rivers, while in many villages in rural areas it becomes a struggle to get to health facilities, mainly because of the distance and the condition of the roads. Some villages, like Bhubezi in Matatiele, do not have electricity and are still waiting for it.
Indeed, South Africans now have and are enjoying human rights. Some of these rights cannot be celebrated by us as the AIC; for instance, we don't cherish the right that a man can get married to another man. We are against the fact that a young girl or woman should have an abortion because that unborn child is being denied life. We don't cherish that. Such rights, we believe, cannot move South Africa forward as they are in conflict with humanity.
However, we do not wish to undermine the role that was played by our leaders to change this country in order to become a home for citizens of all races. We must therefore strive to build on the foundation laid by leaders such as former President Nelson Mandela. We need to change bad attitudes and behaviour, and come together to reason together. [Time expired.]