Hon Deputy Speaker, the past 18 years have shown us that our rights and freedom as citizens of South Africa cannot be taken for granted. They must be maintained and defended, and their boundaries constantly constructed according to the nature of the challenges that life brings us all. Daily we see examples of how individual and collective freedoms are challenged and defended. Each day brings new examples of how we, as South Africans, feel our private capabilities are bound by lack of service delivery, insecurity, crime and corruption.
The Western Cape government recognises that the provision of basic services for all is central to creating the opportunities that will enable South Africans to fully embrace their futures and be truly free. All South Africans deserve the same.
Our democracy was born free 18 years ago. Our sense of freedom should now be firmly held, by not merely our right to vote but from our access to basic provisions and services.
At the age of 18, South Africa's Freedom Day this year represents our rite of passage from youth to adulthood, from an emergent sense of the freedoms and capabilities we possess to ones that are held maturely and confidently proclaimed and demanded. With this rite of passage, the responsibility therefore falls upon us all to honour our past and to own our future. I thank you.