ADDRESS BY PREMIER
All around us we witness violence in interpersonal relations and families. Violence against women and children.
I know that your invitation to me was to speak on gender violence. But then the issue of physical assault, rape and HIV/AIDS are interrelated.
So I will touch on all three.
Gender violence is still a taboo subject. In many places it is considered a private matter, not to be discussed publicly. This is an unacceptable situation. Gender violence, rape and other forms of sexual abuse are gross violations of human rights.
For too many South African families, gender violence rips apart the fabric of their lives. It is a tragedy they must confront every day. For too long, women who have been victimised fought a lonely battle. For too long, gender violence was an issue kept behind closed doors, treated as a purely private family matter.
Despite the fact that it usually does occur at home, despite the fact that victims are almost always women and children, gender violence is not just a family problem that neighbours can ignore, not just a woman's problem men can turn away from, it is our problem.
We are told that today over half of all new HIV infections worldwide occur in those under 25 years old. Many of these infections result from violence.
Even young children may contract HIV from forced sex, often with close acquaintances, such as family members or 'trusted' friends.
Mothers often know that their children are being abused, yet are afraid to speak out. But I want to stress that the health consequences of abuse are not limited to the obvious risk - getting infected with HIV by the abuser.
Children who are abused are wounded in their self-esteem; they feel dirty, ashamed, they lose faith in others. Later in life this may lead to many kinds of AIDS risk behaviour such as drug use, prostitution and unprotected sex.
For boys too, physical abuse as a social norm is carried over from generation to generation.
Boys who watch their fathers abuse their mothers are more likely to become abusers themselves, thus perpetuating the cycle. Some people may look on male violence against women as legally intolerable, but it is still considered an acceptable part of life in many societies, including by its victims.
Gender violence clearly remains a subject of passionate debate in many parts of the world. There is something we can do.
As government we have given the highest priority to combating these evils.
Uneven though progress has been, and though all these things continue to occur at totally unacceptable levels, we can speak with confidence of turning the tide.
And to the extent that we can do so, it is because sectors of our society and communities, including religious institutions, have begun to reaffirm the moral value which are the condition of any decent society.
Our fight against crime has of necessity been a complex one with a wide range of practical measures. It has required the reshaping of a police force formerly oriented and deployed to protect minority interests and suppress resistance.
It has meant acting to root out corruption in all arms of the criminal justice system; and enhancing the capacity of the police at both managerial and operational level.
It has required the building of a partnership of security forces and the communities they serve, and an emphasis on co-coordinating all the operational forces and state agencies in a focused way.
It has meant tougher laws to strengthen the hands of judicial officers. All this is leading to more effective law enforcement, as is increasingly recognised.
As we tackle the issues of moral regeneration, HIV/Aids, racism and poverty, let us do so constantly thinking about our ultimate goal: A better life for all – black and white.
Believe me when I say the best efforts of government to bring lasting change for the better will fail if we do not repair the moral fabric of our society.
Greed and disrespect for others; a lack of community feeling and social responsibility – these are spiritual enemies of our efforts to build a new society in which we can live in harmony with one another, in peace and prosperity.
As religion fortified us in resisting oppression, we know that it can help strengthen us to carry out the mission that history has given to our generation and the next - to make a reality of our hopes for a better life for all.
Religious communities have a vital role to play in this regard. Just as you took leading roles in the struggle against apartheid, so too you should be at the forefront of helping to deliver a better life to all our people.
Amongst other things you are well placed to assist in building capacity within communities for effective delivery of a better life.
This better life is not only about delivering jobs, houses, education and health services. It is also about eliminating anything which threatens our hard-won gains.
It is about making South Africa a safe place to live in.
Crime is a menace that disturbs any country. It hampers our efforts to build a society in which everyone's rights are respected.
While even one person feels insecure in our land, we will not rest. Government is doing its best but we face huge obstacles even from within our ranks.
When we speak of crime we are also referring to the corruption which is undermining our efforts to build a better life.
What is most distressing is that of those who plunder public resources for their own benefit include former fighters for freedom as well as those from the former apartheid machinery.
Overcoming crime and corruption and our other problems in the field of education, unemployment and poverty, requires every person to become part of the solution instead of simply being a spectator.
In our schools and our places of worship, people should be encouraged to share in creating the atmosphere our land needs. As religious leaders you are responsible for creating a climate of honesty, responsibility and discipline. As a society we should all reject those who steal bread from the mouths of little children or from the elderly or the poor.
We count on the religious fraternity to help us restore the moral values and the respect for each other that were destroyed by the inhumanity of apartheid.
Men in particular, should come together and take resolute action to reverse this tide. Rape, especially of young children can tear our social fabric apart.
We can, and have strengthen the legal framework, both at the international and national level, is obviously crucial.
Yet the best of laws will have little effect if there is not the will to enforce them. Nor will they have any impact if we do not seek to change attitudes, particularly among men and in local communities. This is where the real change will come from.
As government we firmly believe that respect and concern for human rights, including the rights of the child as well as equality between men and women, must be at the core of a collective response to this disease.
The Domestic Violence Act contains a particularly innovative feature -- granting of a temporary Protection Order in cases where the court is satisfied that the actions of the aggressor pose "imminent harm" to the complainant.
This ruling allows protection of the health, safety, and well being of the applicant and includes provision for the aggressor to be evicted from the matrimonial home while continuing to provide monetary relief to the applicant.
We must to build a sense of civic morality in our communities. We MUST begin with the RDP of the soul.
As a people we must create a climate in our province and our country hostile to crime, including crimes of corrupt practice within both the public and private sectors.
We surely must do whatever is necessary to effect that RDP of the soul.
Real men don't rape. Real men don't abuse women.
I thank you.