Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, Members of Parliament, I want to start my speech by quoting from the summary of the minority judgment in the Dikoko case on ubuntu by Judge Albie Sachs. I quote:
Ubuntu is more than just a phrase to be invoked from time to time to add a gracious and affirmative gloss to a legal finding already arrived at. It is intrinsic to and constitutive of our constitutional culture. Historically, it was foundational to the spirit of reconciliation and bridge-building that enabled our deeply traumatised society to overcome and transcend the divisions of the past. In present-day terms, it has an enduring and creative character, representing the element of human solidarity that binds together liberty and equality to create an affirmative and mutually supportive triad of central constitutional values.
Ubuntu is indeed South Africa's gift to the world which transcends race, class, culture and gender barriers. Ubuntu is the glue that keeps humanity together because by affirming "I am because you are," imposes an obligation on everyone to not only be his brother's keeper, but to be ready to lay down his life for the sake of his brother or sister.
I venture to say that no greater form of humanity and no greater form of patriotism than the willingness to lay down his life for the sake of others can be demonstrated by anyone. It takes an exceptional character to demonstrate hatred for a system that thrives on oppressing and segregating the indigenous and the majority, not by rhetoric and well-sounding words, but by taking up arms against all odds to fight against the system.
Indeed, no amount of love and ubuntu can surpass the action and words of the young guerrilla, Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu, when he faced the gallows of apartheid executioners and when he said with a daring voice, and I quote:
Mama, tell my people I love them. My blood will water the tree of freedom. We shall overcome, we shall overcome someday. Deep in my heart, I do believe we shall overcome.
[Applause.]
In her 2009 budget speech, with reference to plans then afoot to establish the Department of Military Veterans and directing herself to the veterans, the Minister said, and I quote:
It is indeed a poignant and significant moment for all of us who sit in these Chambers and craft laws, secure in democracy which we owe to our veterans. It has taken us as a government a long time to get to this point. We recognise that without you, we would not be who we are, where we are. Finally, you are in your rightful place and that is cause for celebration.
I stole from your words, Minister.
The formation of Umkhonto Wesizwe, MK, on 16 December 1961 was a response to the brutality of the apartheid regime towards peacefully demonstrating civilians, as evidenced by the merciless shooting of the Sharpeville and Langa peaceful demonstrators. From thenceforth, MK continually attacked centres of apartheid symbolism, and the South African Defence Force, SADF, and its agents were at pains - running helter-skelter - to try to neutralise the elusive and agile MK-guerillas.
Arguably, the turning point was the memorable humiliation and defeat in the 1980s of South African Defence Force, SADF, by MK and Cuban soldiers at Cuito Cuanavale in Angola. The battle of Cuito drove the regime to the negotiation table whose outcomes were, among other things, the integration of the armed forces under one wing ... [Interjections.]