Hon Chair, I do not want us to distort history. I think we must accept that those who came before us, our forefathers, who managed to actually fight for the freedom of this country, have made it possible for us to enjoy our rights, including the right to vote and the right of freedom of association. I just want to thank them for that.

However, I also want to say that there is too much that we still need to do. The majority of black people still feel that prisoners are better fed than good citizens. They still believe that as long as they live in squalor in informal settlements, they don't enjoy the rights that are enshrined in our Constitution. We still live in a society where there are great disparities in wealth and millions of our people are still living in deplorable conditions and in great poverty.

We must know, however, that these conditions existed before we attained our democratic dispensation, and for as long as these conditions continue to exist, our foundational values, enshrined in our Constitution, will remain a farfetched dream.

The real threat to our democracy and not achieving these rights is that most of the leaders we have today are enriching themselves and causing our people to lose trust in the leadership that is currently in power.

We must first acknowledge that the status quo is not sustainable when a few keep acquiring more wealth and the majority are subjected to abject poverty. We can't have a country where the majority depends on social grants for their survival, while those who were chosen to lead become arrogant, living in opulence, stealing tenders, and yet they are celebrated. Our people are watching, and if we don't stand up, we will lose the historical opportunity that we have today.

I do not think we can talk about human rights without pushing robustly for structural economic change. We should also place greater emphasis on quality education because it is paramount to lift our people out of their unfortunate situation.

I think what we need to do is to agree and accept that poverty is still racially distributed. We need to change that because we can't have a majority who are born poor and die poor, whereas there are a few who are born rich and even forget how many cakes they have in their fridges. So we need to change that as soon as possible.

We can romanticise, we can fight and we can howl, but when we leave this place we face our families and our communities who do not know where their next meal is going to come from. So I urge all political parties to treat this as a matter of urgency.

While we are earning our salaries here, there are some people who do not know what to feed their children. Thank you.