Address by Hon. Premier TSP Makwetla at the Human Rights Day Commemoration,
21 March 2007, Leandra Stadium, Govan Mbeki Municipality
Programme Director,
Members of the Executive Council, MP's and MPL's,
The Executive Mayors of Gert Sibande District Municipality and Govan Mbeki Local Municipality , Hon Clr A Gamede and Hon Clr S.Nkosi,
Mayors and councilors,
Traditional leaders,
Leaders from political parties and labour organizations,
Spiritual leaders and all community leaders in our midst,
The people of Govan Mbeki and the entire Gert Sibande District, and Mpumalanga
as a whole,
Distinguished Guests,
Comrades and Friends.
The occasion of commemorating Human Rights Day today speaks to us about the heroic deeds of generations before us whose gallant fight against injustice and repression of human freedoms created possibilities for us and future generations to enjoy human rights that are now enshrined in our Constitution.
As a nation, this day is a monumental symbol of human conquest and sacrifice that evokes the immortality of the human spirit in the quest for human liberty and dignity. We must celebrate this day so that we constantly remind ourselves about the sacrifices and the high price paid to enable us to enjoy the benefits of freedom and democracy. The celebration of this Day by our people throughout the country today sends a message that in this season of hope we have made great strides in building a people-centred society that guarantees human dignity, equality and freedom for every citizen.
In his address at the opening of Parliament (National Assembly, 25 June 1999), President Thabo Mbeki reinforced the government's commitment to the construction of a caring and people-centred society:
“What will guide us in everything we do will be the challenge to build a caring society. This society must guarantee the dignity of every citizen on the basis of a good quality of life for every woman, man and child, without regard to race, or colour or disability.
It must be sustained by a growing economy capable of extending sustainable and equitable benefits to all our people. We seek to replace a society which, in many instances, has been and continues to be brutal and brutish in the extreme.
Over the centuries this has condemned millions to a catastrophic loss of national identity and human dignity, land dispossession, classification and denigration as sub-humans, and the systematic destruction of families and communities.
The society we seek to replace was, to a significant degree, built on the law of the jungle of the survival of the fittest.
Accordingly, the weakest who were denied access to power became the landless, the unemployed, the uneducated, the surplus people deported to the so-called homelands, the victims of abject poverty.”
For all of us this our celebration today signifies progress and liberation from the ‘law of the jungle' and the human indignity of land dispossession, forced removals, torture, destruction of families and communities.
It is our responsibility to make our children and future generations treasure and protect the hard-won achievements in the creation of a rights-based society in our country. As a Province we are sending a message that you must “know your rights and accept your responsibilities”. It is incumbent upon all of us to learn about our political and civil rights so that we exercise these in a responsible manner. We need to understand what our economic and social rights are so that we take responsibility and participate actively in the progressive realization of these rights.
‘Knowing your rights' is the first step that empowers individuals and citizens to protect their rights by seeking redress in cases where there are violations and abuse of human rights. Accepting responsibility means that individuals should exercise their rights and freedom in a manner that does not infringe on other people's rights. It also means that citizens have a responsibility to cooperate with government and human rights oversight institutions in exposing ‘ugly and repulsive' elements that contribute to the violations and abuse of human rights in our communities.
Despite our successes in building a caring human rights-based society, we need to continue addressing delivery challenges posed by the State's capacity constraints to achieve the progressive realization of human rights. Poverty, infant mortality, ill-health, illiteracy, abuse of women and children, crime and homelessness continue to seriously undermine the rights of women, disabled people and children and the progress we are making in this arena.
As we celebrate advances in building a human rights-culture in our country, our efforts are undermined by those who continue to violate the rights of farm workers. Worker rights on the farms are human rights. They need to be respected and enjoyed by those of our community who work on the farms. Our partnership with organized agriculture should strengthen efforts aimed at improving living and working conditions of workers in the agricultural sector.
Safety and security rights of communities are threatened by few rogue elements bent on terrorizing citizens to achieve personal interests. The recent spate of attacks and molestation of children and women, including the elderly, cannot be allowed to continue unchallenged. Some of these perpetrators live in our communities with us, and are our neighbours and cousins. As communities, we need to take responsibility to collectively fight against these dastardly deeds in partnership with the police so that we reclaim our human dignity, freedom and security. We need to break the silence and act decisively to isolate criminal elements, build community support networks and social cohesion.
Programme Director, as we celebrate this day, let us make sure that we forge ahead with our commitment to develop and empower women; to equalize opportunities for people living with disabilities; and to protect and develop our children. Atrocities perpetrated against women and children continue undermine the values of a rights-based and caring society.
As government, we should continue to sustain our efforts to improve access to socio-economic opportunities for the disabled persons, and create safe environments for them to live in. We also need to promote and protect the full participation and equality of people with disabilities in government public programmes and services for their benefit, empowerment and development.
Government job creation and poverty alleviation programmes such as the Expanded Public Works programme and Masibuyel' emasimini will continue to target women, especially rural women, many of whom live in abject poverty, without jobs and access to basic services.
Programme Director, in our State of the Province Address last month, we tabled the government programmes and targets for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework period, as well as the implementation targets for this financial year 2007/2008. Our key programmes and targets are underpinned by an understanding of a rights-based approach to development and service delivery. It is an approach that acknowledges that as a developing Province we need to accelerate and sustain our work towards the progressive realization of second-generation rights. It is an approach that puts the poor at the centre of key development interventions so that our understanding of their economic and social rights that they are entitled to, influences the thinking and design of our programmes.
Our government policies and programmes are premised on the need to enable citizens to enjoy their rights of access to education. The introduction of ‘no fee' schools policy points to the government's commitment that no child will be denied access to education because his or her parents are poor. Education is a human right for every child.
To date, Mpumalanga has declared 983 schools as ‘No Fee Schools” and thereby reaching out to four hundred and four thousand, four hundred and thirty one (404 431) learners who will receive free education. As parents, we need to know these rights so that principals do charge school fees in these schools .
Programme Director, the creation of a caring society will be realized through our improve access to health care and welfare services for the poor in the Province. As we announced in the State of the Province Address, we are allocating financial resources to support Home Community Based Care centers that provide community-level support for vulnerable families. We have committed to training and employing more nurses and social workers to provide health and welfare services to our communities.
Through the hospitalization programme, we are ensuring that our hospitals and primary health care centres respond to the needs of our communities. We want our communities to enjoy their right to have access to adequate health care facilities and services. We continue to expand the capacity of our emergency health services so that we are able to respond to emergency needs to save lives. Everyone has a right to life.
A rights-based approach to development requires of us to empower communities to take decisions and responsibility for their own development. Public participation and social accountability are key elements of the rights-based approach we need to take towards developing our communities.
As we celebrate the Human Rights Day, the message we are sending is that ‘taking responsibility for your rights' means that as communities we should actively take part in the development of Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) for our localities to influence the nature of development and the progressive realization of our rights. We need to monitor the implementation of development programmes that impact on the attainment of our rights by engaging with our councilors through development fora and izimbizo . Our political leaders and government officials are ‘duty bearers' for the development of our areas, and should therefore be subjected to public scrutiny by communities. As communities, we need to ensure that the progress in addressing our economic and social rights is not undermined by those who vandalize community infrastructure for self-interest. We need to report those who divert resources earmarked for development programmes to their needs for self-interest and accumulation of personal wealth at the expense of achieving social and economic rights for the poor.
When, for example, vandalism of sanitation and water services infrastructure takes place in our communities, you must be aware that it is a violation of your rights to access clean water and decent sanitation. To protect these rights, communities have a responsibility to partner with authorities to ensure that these destructive elements are bear full responsibility for their irresponsible actions.
Programme Director, our developmental flagship project ‘ Water for All' is intended to achieve the roll-out of water services infrastructure to communities by 2010. As government, we are focusing financial and programme management resources to ensure that the right of access to clean water is achieved. The central role of community participation and interaction will ensure that municipalities are able to identify beneficiaries of this project, especially in areas affected by poor water services infrastructure. The responsibility on communities will be to support government by ensuring that the realization of their rights is not undermined by vandalism and theft once the services have been provided.
Colleagues and Friends, the “Everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being; and to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations” To respond to this human right to the clean environment, we are prioritizing the ‘Greening of Mpumalanga' as part of the main flagship project ‘ Heritage, Greening Mpumalanga and Tourism' .
Mpumalanga is endowed with the scenic and pristine environment. It is important that we implement sustainable environmental management practices to protect our environment from degradation. The ‘greening agenda' should see the Province expanding areas under conservation to make sure that biodiversity, including sensitive ecosystems, is protected for the benefit of present and future generations.
We should improve the health profile of the environment that we live in through the implementation of effective waste management practices to prevent diseases resulting from poor environmental management practices and pollution. Our municipalities are expected to improve capacity for hazardous waste disposal to create a clean environment for communities. To advance the vision of a green Province, communities will be supported to plant grass and trees in the areas where they live. Community cleaning campaigns will take place in every municipality to promote and educate our citizens about the significance of caring for the environment. Our efforts reflect our commitment to an environmentally clean Province, which will benefit the Province in achieving other economic and social rights resulting from tourism growth and job creation.
As part of exercising their rights to a clean and healthy environment, communities are encouraged to educate their children about the importance of caring for the environment. Taking responsibility for your rights means that we should stop all littering in public places and use designated place for waste disposal. Our socialization at home should inculcate a culture of taking responsibility for the environment.
Programme Director, poverty and unemployment remain as human rights issues that must be addressed by the Province. To half unemployment and reduce poverty by 2014, we need to implement economic development programmes that contribute to economic growth and create needed jobs in the Province. To this end, the Province is prioritising economic development initiative along the Maputo and Moloto development corridors to unlock growth and the creation of job opportunities. In addition, our road infrastructure projects for the repair and maintenance of coal haulage routes in Gert Sibande should generate job opportunities for the people of the region.
For us, all these economic development opportunities mean that the Province puts a high premium on the progressive realization of economic rights as a necessary condition of achieving total emancipation from the indignity of underdevelopment and poverty. Indeed, every citizen has a right to work in order to earn a living from an honest day's labour, and in the process to develop to their fullest potential.
Comrades and Compatriots, our nation has reached a point of no return in its quest and attainment of a humane and caring society that respects human dignity and freedoms. Never should we allow any distractions by a minority of sinister elements in some sectors of our community from the path of realizing a culture of respect for human rights. This day should be the day when we commit to forge ahead with resolute tenacity to achieve human rights for all.
Year after year, as this day comes and goes, our country's mission to consolidate a human rights-based culture in our lives must continue to prosper. Let the spirit and sacrifices of many martyrs of our land inspire the efforts of many generations to come until we attain a society of our dreams.
I thank you.