ADDRESS BY PREMIER
Madam Speaker
President of the Republic
Deputy President
Chairperson of the NCOP
Honourable members,
WE have just emerged from the National Conference on Racism- a conference I believe made us better instead of bitter.
There are those who will argue that the conference only served to open wounds that were already healing. I disagree with that assertion. I believe that as was the case with the Truth and Reconciliation process, we need to talk about our experiences. In that way we can begin the healing process that will truly set us on the way to true reconciliation and nation building.
As a province, we are aware that it is important that we understand and take full account of the nature and extent of racism in our country and in the modern world.
We are aware that we must address the changing nature of racism and its causes and confront the complex forms of intolerance and prejudice that exist in our province and our country today.
The recent conference emphasised what we have always believed- racism; discrimination, xenophobia and bigotry are worldwide phenomena, more deep-rooted and more virulent than had been supposed.
Madame Speaker, we are often reminded that we live in a great nation – and we do. But it can be greater still.
In a province that is 60 percent rural, most of our people are at what one may call the coalface of racism several people have been attacked, maimed and killed by farmers in Mpumalanga.
We are all familiar with the incident where a farm tenant was painted silver. We are well aware, I believe, about the notorious commandos at Wakkerstroom. What we discovered was that fear lies at the heart of racial hatred.
Fear of difference, fear that economic or social position in threatened, and fear that identify could be lost in an increasingly democratised South Africa. And we concluded that if fear is a main factor, education is a key remedy. We have gone a long way in trying to address the demon of racism in the province. Through a series of meetings and workshop, we have been able to take that small but significant step of really addressing the problem.
There is particular responsibility and duty of care on governments when it comes to fighting racism, discrimination and intolerance. Governments and the political community should at all times lead public opinion, not play the race card or pander to those who claim they feel threatened by people they regard as different.
Madame Speaker, we need to reevaluate what has and has not been achieved in our fight against racism. As a province, we have met with members of the farming community, the Afrikanerbond, the Farm Dwellers Association organised business, labour, and other political parties in the province.
We met with the Mpumalanga Agricultural Union and we jointly agreed that it was wrong to ill-treat farm workers and also to kill farmers.
Our meetings went a long way in allowing members the provincial government to gain access to farms. Our meetings took us to Kriel, Secunda, Groblerdal, Hectospruit, Malelane and other areas. Some of the meetings were held in my office.
The ANC in Mpumalanga has formed a committee headed by MEC JI Mabena that aims to educate both the farmers and the farmworkers on the issue of racism and human rights.
This is done in conjunction with Cosatu and other farm tenants associations. This committee supplements an all-party committee of member of the Mpumalanga Legislature headed by MPL Mr. Windvoel.
We have gone along way in getting members of the farming community to agree that it was wrong to deny farm tenants the right to bury their dead on a farm they had occupied since birth. This unity between the farming community, labour, business, political parties and other groups will give impetus to our attempts to deal with racism.
Madame Speaker, we are challenged to work all over the world with unshakeable determination to wipe out the last vestiges of racism. Its vicious grasp knows no geographical boundaries.
Overt forms of racism may have been outlawed but discrimination persists in multiple forms, often in subtle, systemic ways. In fact, to judge from the persistence of racist attitudes in the face of often-elaborate anti-discrimination measures, we would have to admit that actions against racism to date have met with, at best, limited results.
The task before us is to devise innovative strategies to combat racism. That means not merely shaping laws and mechanisms to protect against racial discrimination, but effecting a change of minds. Let me conclude by quoting from Aung San Suu Kyi. “The quintessential revolution is that of spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in mental attitudes and values.
Without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration”.
I thank you.