Hon Chair, hon Minister, in my speech I will only focus on the youth and a bit on monitoring. During the annual Chris Hani Memorial Lecture in 2007, President Jacob Zuma said that political intolerance and lack of debate had resulted in the disintegration of democratic values and the destruction of nations, as witnessed elsewhere in the world. He went on to say the following.
A climate in which we resist open engagement on issues of national interest due to political intolerance or fear will never allow the growth of political consciousness.
He proceeded to quote Chris Hani, saying: We as the ANC-led liberation alliance have nothing to fear and everything to gain from a climate of political tolerance. We do not fear open contest and free debate with other organisations. Open debate can only serve to uncover the bankruptcy of our political opponents.
The events of yesterday are a contrast to Chris Hani's view. The events reminded me of the two great leaders of our struggle, President O R Tambo and President Nelson Mandela. President Nelson Mandela, at the funeral of O R Tambo, said the following as a tribute to this outstanding revolutionary of our time:
We want to know - when powerful, arrogant and brutal men deliberately close their ears to reason, and reply to the petitions of the dispossessed with the thunder of the guns, the crack of the whip and the rattle of the jail keys, is it not right to bring down the walls of Jericho!
Dear brother, dear friend, dear comrade:
You did all this and continued to maintain tolerance for your detractors and a healthy scorn for your enemies.
Today we stand watching the dawn of a new day.
We can see that we have it in our power to remake South Africa ... He also said:
Let all who value peace say together - long live Oliver Tambo! Let all who love freedom say together - long live Oliver Tambo! Let all who uphold the dignity of all human beings say together - long live Oliver Tambo! [Interjections.]
Yesterday's events remain an indictment of the core principles of the liberation of all South Africans. Our liberation struggle was based on the principle: "Fight against the domination of one race by another, one class by another, and one people by another." The Congress of SA Trade Unions incident undermines the founding provisions of our Constitution ... [Interjections.]