Date: 22/04/2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: J Zuma: Municipal volunteers of Ethekwini municipality
ADDRESS BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA TO THE MUNICIPAL VOLUNTEERS OF THE ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY, City Hall, Durban, 22 April 2003
The Executive Mayor of Ethekwini,
The Minister of Public Entreprises,
Provincial Ministers, MPs and MPLs,
Councillors,
Representatives of Local Government structures, Our Distinguished Volunteers,
Fellow South Africans,
It is truly an honour for me to meet with you today, as you are a special category of our citizens, who give selflessly of your time and energy for the benefit of others.
I am deeply aware that doing volunteer work can be a thankless task at most times. However, it is a crucial component of nation building and a practical example of moral renewal, when we are able to give of our time and services in this manner, without expecting anything in return.
I am therefore proud to stand in front of you, the volunteers of the Ethekwini municipality.
History will indeed record your hard work, and afford you the respect and admiration of our people for volunteering to fight poverty and underdevelopment, marginalisation and backwardness.
The services you provide are essential and are needed by the residents of this municipality, especially those less fortunate.
Our country went through a period of poor provision if not total denial of emergency services to black communities during the apartheid era.
You all know the cruel consequences of this exclusion during the violence that wracked this province years ago. Homes were burnt to the ground, and people were killed, injured and maimed in many occasions, but emergency services could not be sent to townships.
Your active involvement as volunteers within the emergency services, which now serve all in this city, is an indication of our achievements in this young democracy.
Ladies and gentlemen, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is taking its toll in this province, and as government we have prioritised care and support for those who are affected and infected by this disease, in addition to other interventions.
I am therefore very encouraged and pleased to be in the midst of volunteers who focus on home-based care. It is a very demanding and emotionally draining task, but one which needs to be done.
Given the necessity and importance of the work you do, we feel it is appropriate that we should, from time to time, give due recognition and thanks to your personal and collective contributions and efforts.
You will recall that President Mbeki called on all South Africans to give of their time, energy and skills to the nation, in our drive to revive the indigenous spirit of ilima or letsema among them.
The President asked all of us to perform this heroic task in order to advance the struggle against poverty and despair.
Together with you, thousands of people responded to become the torchbearers in their communities, the catalysts and foot soldiers of the people's contract for a better life for all.
We have seen them cleaning schools and hospitals, taking back streets from criminals, caring for the sick, the elderly and those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
They continue to act in defence of the humanity and dignity of their people, representing their best and most noble values.
We have therefore continued to mobilise our people, wherever they live, to become volunteers for reconstruction and development. The response of the people of Ethekwini to this call is therefore remarkable and encouraging - given that the call by President Mbeki was made in this very historic city last year.
This realisation that our people needed to volunteer and sacrifice in an unprecedented fashion to propel the struggle for freedom and emancipation is not new in this country.
There is behind us a historic precedent of volunteerism established by the youth of the 1940s and 1950s. We are in the unique position to set an equally significant example, as we build on this legacy, as we volunteer to construct a real African renaissance in our lifetime.
From the fierce anti-colonial wars, through the defiance campaigns and the armed struggle, our people waged a tireless, undying struggle for freedom, characterised by unprecedented sacrifices and devotion.
In this way they laid the very early seeds of the act of self-emancipation, of a people acting deliberately, consciously and voluntarily as their own liberators in the very letter and spirit of vuk'uzenzele.
Today, the attainment of democracy and freedom in our country is therefore truly an act of the people, an outcome of their self-sacrifice and volunteerism.
We can, without any fear of exaggeration or contradiction, confidently claim that throughout our entire struggle for freedom, the people emerged as genuine heroes and heroines due to their active involvement.
We proclaim this proudly, just days before the ninth celebration of our freedom on April 27, and on the eve of the first decade of freedom, which we will celebrate next year.
Today your sacrificial efforts continue to inspire many others to make voluntary contributions, in the same proud tradition of those who went before you.
The objective of their toil was liberation and freedom for a people in bondage. Today, your objective is in defence of this hard-won freedom and democracy, and to build a better life for all.
The critical challenges that we face, as a nation, are the eradication of poverty and underdevelopment, reversing the economic marginalisation of our people, and building a better South Africa and Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me reiterate, on behalf of Government as a whole, that we extend a word of thanks and sincere appreciation to all of you, who rolled up your sleeves to lend a hand in the national effort to build a better life for all South Africans.
Let us also be reminded of the volunteers who did us proud during the launch of the African Union, the World Summit for Sustainable Development and the remarkable opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup.
Thank you all for correctly doing justice to the memory of the thousands of volunteers now recorded in the annals of history.
We call on you to reinforce your resolve to sustain your noble spirit of ilima, and to remind all of us of the need to entrench the spirit of vukuzenzele.
I thank you.
Issued by The Presidency, 22 April 2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: J Zuma: Municipal volunteers of Ethekwini municipality
ADDRESS BY DEPUTY PRESIDENT JACOB ZUMA TO THE MUNICIPAL VOLUNTEERS OF THE ETHEKWINI MUNICIPALITY, City Hall, Durban, 22 April 2003
The Executive Mayor of Ethekwini,
The Minister of Public Entreprises,
Provincial Ministers, MPs and MPLs,
Councillors,
Representatives of Local Government structures, Our Distinguished Volunteers,
Fellow South Africans,
It is truly an honour for me to meet with you today, as you are a special category of our citizens, who give selflessly of your time and energy for the benefit of others.
I am deeply aware that doing volunteer work can be a thankless task at most times. However, it is a crucial component of nation building and a practical example of moral renewal, when we are able to give of our time and services in this manner, without expecting anything in return.
I am therefore proud to stand in front of you, the volunteers of the Ethekwini municipality.
History will indeed record your hard work, and afford you the respect and admiration of our people for volunteering to fight poverty and underdevelopment, marginalisation and backwardness.
The services you provide are essential and are needed by the residents of this municipality, especially those less fortunate.
Our country went through a period of poor provision if not total denial of emergency services to black communities during the apartheid era.
You all know the cruel consequences of this exclusion during the violence that wracked this province years ago. Homes were burnt to the ground, and people were killed, injured and maimed in many occasions, but emergency services could not be sent to townships.
Your active involvement as volunteers within the emergency services, which now serve all in this city, is an indication of our achievements in this young democracy.
Ladies and gentlemen, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is taking its toll in this province, and as government we have prioritised care and support for those who are affected and infected by this disease, in addition to other interventions.
I am therefore very encouraged and pleased to be in the midst of volunteers who focus on home-based care. It is a very demanding and emotionally draining task, but one which needs to be done.
Given the necessity and importance of the work you do, we feel it is appropriate that we should, from time to time, give due recognition and thanks to your personal and collective contributions and efforts.
You will recall that President Mbeki called on all South Africans to give of their time, energy and skills to the nation, in our drive to revive the indigenous spirit of ilima or letsema among them.
The President asked all of us to perform this heroic task in order to advance the struggle against poverty and despair.
Together with you, thousands of people responded to become the torchbearers in their communities, the catalysts and foot soldiers of the people's contract for a better life for all.
We have seen them cleaning schools and hospitals, taking back streets from criminals, caring for the sick, the elderly and those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.
They continue to act in defence of the humanity and dignity of their people, representing their best and most noble values.
We have therefore continued to mobilise our people, wherever they live, to become volunteers for reconstruction and development. The response of the people of Ethekwini to this call is therefore remarkable and encouraging - given that the call by President Mbeki was made in this very historic city last year.
This realisation that our people needed to volunteer and sacrifice in an unprecedented fashion to propel the struggle for freedom and emancipation is not new in this country.
There is behind us a historic precedent of volunteerism established by the youth of the 1940s and 1950s. We are in the unique position to set an equally significant example, as we build on this legacy, as we volunteer to construct a real African renaissance in our lifetime.
From the fierce anti-colonial wars, through the defiance campaigns and the armed struggle, our people waged a tireless, undying struggle for freedom, characterised by unprecedented sacrifices and devotion.
In this way they laid the very early seeds of the act of self-emancipation, of a people acting deliberately, consciously and voluntarily as their own liberators in the very letter and spirit of vuk'uzenzele.
Today, the attainment of democracy and freedom in our country is therefore truly an act of the people, an outcome of their self-sacrifice and volunteerism.
We can, without any fear of exaggeration or contradiction, confidently claim that throughout our entire struggle for freedom, the people emerged as genuine heroes and heroines due to their active involvement.
We proclaim this proudly, just days before the ninth celebration of our freedom on April 27, and on the eve of the first decade of freedom, which we will celebrate next year.
Today your sacrificial efforts continue to inspire many others to make voluntary contributions, in the same proud tradition of those who went before you.
The objective of their toil was liberation and freedom for a people in bondage. Today, your objective is in defence of this hard-won freedom and democracy, and to build a better life for all.
The critical challenges that we face, as a nation, are the eradication of poverty and underdevelopment, reversing the economic marginalisation of our people, and building a better South Africa and Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me reiterate, on behalf of Government as a whole, that we extend a word of thanks and sincere appreciation to all of you, who rolled up your sleeves to lend a hand in the national effort to build a better life for all South Africans.
Let us also be reminded of the volunteers who did us proud during the launch of the African Union, the World Summit for Sustainable Development and the remarkable opening ceremony of the Cricket World Cup.
Thank you all for correctly doing justice to the memory of the thousands of volunteers now recorded in the annals of history.
We call on you to reinforce your resolve to sustain your noble spirit of ilima, and to remind all of us of the need to entrench the spirit of vukuzenzele.
I thank you.
Issued by The Presidency, 22 April 2003
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