Chairperson, this coming Saturday, the people of KwaZulu- Natal, government and royalty, will be commemorating two very important South African figures - Princess Pixley ka Isaka Seme and UMntwana Mcwayizeni. We are commemorating their lives because they contributed to building the cohesion in the society in KwaZulu-Natal and contributed to peace and security of the people of KwaZulu-Natal.
UMntwana Mcwayizeni fought a lot against intolerance that ravaged the people of KwaZulu-Natal for decades. Inkosazana Uphikisile ka Seme of course, is a woman who gave birth to a son of the the ANC - Pixley ka Seme. We sometimes see the parents in the child and we thank this woman of South Africa for giving us a stalwart that fought for human dignity.
I stand here today, on behalf of the ANC, to share its contribution to the human rights of the people of South Africa, Africa and the world, from the liberation struggle era to the birth of the developmental state and to the current milestones that the ANC government achieved in the short space of time of its rule. The ANC is fighting and eradicating deprivation, injustice and poverty.
We owe this, as the Deputy Minister alluded, to some heroes, many of whom are dead, many of whom have shed blood for us to appreciate this day. We are paying tribute to the forefathers and fore founders of this 99-year-old movement, who were persuaded by their conviction that the conditions and the circumstances under which the oppressed people of South Africa were living were inhumane and unjust. They therefore warranted this course of liberation that led to the birth of the developmental state in 1994.
The history entailed in the processes that led to the formal ushering in of the human rights regime in South Africa has been characterised by intense political, social and economic efforts to eradicate the ills that have ravaged our society for more than 300 years. I hope I am correct. I am not saying 400 years, in case somebody tries to be smart. It was particularly done by those who made themselves the architects of the system and rooted themselves deeply on the basis of race, colour, creed, gender, age and disability. They continuously, as we hear today from the speaker of the Western Cape, resisted the change and the transformation for a better life.
That history began with the exploration by the Dutch and the Portuguese, the arrival of the Settlers, which was followed by the destruction of the human systems of the African people through the colonial wars which eroded the values of ubuntu and the collective living of our families in South Africa.
Since the inception of the Industrial Revolution, with the discovery of mineral resources, the political revolution which established various forms of governance systems excluded and deprived the majority of the people. The agrarian revolution dispossessed our people of land and, therefore, the liberation path for the forefathers of the ANC was inevitable, as contained in the activities that were undertaken leading up to 1955.
There were activities by the Congress of the People in 1955 which adopted the Freedom Charter, the Defiance Campaign, the declaration of the armed struggle and the recalling of the conference in Pietermaritzburg that called for the defence and the protection of the human dignity of the majority of the people of South Africa.
They had to mobilise the people to fight against this deprivation, discrimination and impoverishment, all of which had dehumanising effects. The liberation struggle had multifaceted elements. Some became high profiled, whilst others remained essential for the total realisation of the just and humane co-existence of our people. One of the elements is human rights in general and human dignity. We cannot emphasise enough the importance of human dignity.