Hon Deputy Speaker, His Excellency the President, the Deputy President, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members and guests, sanibonani, siyabulisa, dumelang, sthokoze, goeiemiddag [good afternoon].
Through you, Speaker, to the hon President, I joined the ANC in 1956 at 20 years of age. I joined because I believed that the struggle for our liberation needed each one of us. It was not a difficult decision because the values and nobleness of the movement, and its campaign to liberate the nation from oppression and discrimination, were things I believed in.
This year, we are celebrating 100 years of the ANC, a milestone few liberation movements achieve. We owe the progress, development and survival of this glorious movement to the core values and principles on which it was founded. Frustrated by the massive oppression of the African people in the land of their birth and by the draconian regime which sought to enforce separateness as a way of life by denying the majority of the people their basic human rights, the ANC took up the fight for our freedom. Chief Albert Luthuli, when accepting his Nobel Peace Prize in 1961, characterised the inhumanity as such:
There can be no peace until the forces of oppression are overthrown. Our continent has been carved up by the great powers; alien governments have been forced upon the African people by military conquest and by economic domination; strivings for nationhood and national dignity have been beaten down by force; traditional economics and ancient customs have been disrupted, and human skills and energy have been harnessed for the advantage of our conquerors. In these times there has been no peace; there could be no brotherhood between men.
Look how far we have come.
Our progressive and widely lauded Constitution and Bill of Rights inspire hope and pride. But with every year that we celebrate our freedom, it seems ever more apparent that from some quarters we are urged to forget the past. Those who bemoan our remembering the past, forget that when we remember, we also acknowledge our past. Tracing the history of how we came to have the finest Constitution and Bill of Rights in the world cannot be separated from the significant role the ANC played in the creation of these documents. [Applause.]
Since the formation of the ANC, its central focus has always been the fight for equality and human rights for all. The vision of creating a better life for all began in May 1923, when the ANC conference in Bloemfontein adopted, inter alia, a resolution on a bill of rights. It called for equal treatment of all people, much like many of the constitutions of countries today in which an equality clause is included. It demanded access to land, equality before the law and participatory voting rights.
In 1943, in response to the Atlantic Charter, the Africans' Claims - Bill of Rights - was drawn up to reflect the post-war demands of the African people. The document, which was rejected by Jan Smuts, demanded, amongst other things, full citizenship rights for the African people. It also called for the abolition of political discrimination based on race; universal adult suffrage; equality before the law; freedom of residence; the right to education, freedom of trade and occupation; the provision of adequate medical and health facilities for all people; and the repeal of all discriminatory legislation. These demands found expression in the 1955 Freedom Charter of the ANC, which addressed fundamental human rights.
I am tracing these important and landmark documents, not only to remind us of, but also to highlight the fact that these documents and their contents influenced and shaped the country's own Bill of Rights and Constitution. During our multiparty negotiations it was the ANC that pioneered and campaigned for the Bill of Rights. This fact is contained in our historical documents and cannot be willed away, no matter how loud the calls for us to forget.
For the longest time the majority of the country's population were victims of crimes against humanity. We were a tortured, traumatised and violent country. Gross human rights violations were a daily occurrence and, when we emerged into the light of freedom, our therapy came in the form of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We debated whether to speak out or forget. Our collective morality ruled and we tried to heal by telling our stories. We tried to make over our souls, an "RDP of the soul" as it was called.
We have travelled a very painful and divided path. Celebrating the birth of a movement - which led the way for us to celebrate our humanity - should be an inclusive path. The protection of our fundamental and comprehensive human rights, as enshrined in the Constitution, cannot be taken for granted nor lull us into complacency. Building a caring society in which citizens respect the rule of law and one another, where the basic needs of our people are taken care of and necessary services delivered, is paramount. We are a diverse nation, and it is our strength. And by uniting in our diversity by celebrating our differences, we grow as a people.
We said then, as we do now, that such human rights violations will never be tolerated. Our laws and institutions today stand ready to protect and defend our humanity. The values, which underpinned the formation and development of the movement, must constantly serve as a reminder that only when these values are shared do we become formidable.
We take comfort from the state of the nation address, wherein the President set out his plan and vision for the coming year. He outlined the massive infrastructure programme, geographically focused programmes, projects focusing on health and basic education, information and communications technology and regional integration. All of these projects work to further our social and human rights in terms of addressing the triple challenge of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
And if we waver from our objectives for whatever reason, let us remember the words of one of our foremost leaders of the ANC, Nelson Mandela:
The justness of our cause had to be matched by the methods and morality of our organisation. And we can today in all humility claim that our liberation movement had throughout its existence sought to have its conduct informed by those enduring values of humanity. As in all human undertakings, there were failings, but it was the overall adherence to those informing values that ensured our liberation movement its place in history.
Hon President, Deputy President, Speaker and hon members, I would like to say...
... ?iki?a dira le molapo, mphago wa dira ke meetse. Phala t?a mona marula di a tloga. [Legoswi.][... there is a dire need to provide basic services for our people. I'll end here. [Applause.]]
Business suspended at 16:17 and resumed at 16:34.