Date: 16/02/05
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs
Title: Mapisa-Nqakula: Debate on State of the Nation Address
Address by SA Minister of Home Affairs, Hon NN Mapisa-Nqakula, on the occasion of the second Day of the Debate on the State of the Nation Address by President Thabo Mbeki, National Assembly, Cape Town
16 February 2005
Madam Speaker
President Thabo Mbeki
Deputy President Jacob Zuma
Honourable Members
Cabinet Colleagues
Friends
We dedicate this debate to 50 years of the Freedom Charter. To the aspirations that our people had for their country, their wish for a future their children should have, and the un-diminishing hope that such a future is realisable.
We have made a lot of reference in the past to a group of people called "the architects of Apartheid". Today, I think the time is right for us to make some reference in recognition of what I will call the architects of freedom or the architects of democracy if you may. At a time when it was difficult to hope, and our nation was embroiled in war, hatred and suffering, these architects of freedom envisaged for our country, a future that to many seemed like a utopia that can only remain a dream. They declared through the Freedom Charter, that South Africa belongs to all who live in it black and white.
Our President has challenged us to test the reality of such a commitment and to assess whether we are on track to realise the goals of the freedom charter and most importantly whether we have the capacity to implement that which is outstanding in this work. In essence what have we been doing to justify our eminent place in the architecture of freedom and democracy?
Cde President, we agree. We also believe that this a challenge to which we should respond and engage honestly, with a view of isolating those areas in our respective responsibilities that have been addressed, identify the limitations and shortcomings and properly plan for the tasks ahead.
Ten years on, an assessment of our work as a government cannot merely be based on broad policy statements and commitments in principle.
Honourable Members and Friends, It is easy to make demands if you are not in government, because you are not the one to implement them, and the same can be said for those who developed the Freedom Charter. But what has distinguished the liberation movement under the leadership of the ANC, was the fact that they had no illusion about the Apartheid government ever implementing these clauses and that in fact they were making this demands for a future government to implement, an ANC Government. We had made these bold undertakings, and today we will be honest enough to judge our work against that basis.
This is what we said:
Firstly, that No one shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without a fair trial. No one will be condemned by the order of a Government Official: In the past ten years we have moved swiftly to transform a judiciary whose purpose in the past has been to perpetuate the subjugation of the majority of people to oppression and indignity.
We have emphasised the need for a criminal justice system that is based on the uttermost respect for human rights and the sanctity of human life.
At our own insistence, no one individual is above the law and all of us including all of us here are subjected to same law and of course are accorded similar rights as all everyone else.
Maybe we have an opportunity to correct the myths that are being spread. For instance, a man has come into our continent, funded a programme of destabilisation and assassinations, and then our courts gave him back his freedom. Despite our known strong views and efforts of our President in bringing peace to Africa, we did not seek to intervene and force the courts to condemn this man who admitted to undermining our efforts by fuelling war and the killing of Africans.
Again, as you might know, another man who is known to be responsible for biological warfare against our nation, who was given his freedom in the courts. He also walks free without fear, in the knowledge that this government will not do anything to him as long as the courts have set him free. Whatever our views, whatever power we are perceived to have, we choose to suffer in silence.
The principle of fair trial, as envisaged in the Freedom Charter is centrally embedded in our system, but of course there have been those that have sought to undermine it. Relic twigs and stubs of the past system that refuses to embody this new ethos have continued to run amok in our courts trampling on these fundamental rights of all our people.
Anybody who dares to challenge some of the dubious decisions taken in our courts has been intimidated into accepting these in the name of the independence of the judiciary. To demonstrate that this is neither about independence nor interference, we have also seen people within the judiciary itself, being attacked for challenging some of these decisions.
For the record, the ANC government is the only government in this country that has ever established the independence of the judiciary and that we will continue to defend it like the many other gains of democracy.
Maybe the problem to the argument is the attempt at separating Transformation of the judiciary from Independence of the judiciary. For us it is not a question of one or the other. In a nutshell, the ANC is transforming a judiciary which, by the way, was never independent. The independence of the judiciary therefore is as a result of its transformation. If the argument is that the judiciary is not a subject for transformation, then those who advance such an argument should come out clearly and say so.
The transformation of the Judiciary therefore remains a key challenge for this government and for this country.
We also said that, all laws that discriminate on the basis of race, colour or belief shall be repealed The biggest challenge facing the architects of democracy has always been that of reversing the damage done to our society by years of racial discrimination and animosity throughout our country.
Again, since 1994 a lot of work has gone into eliminating racist laws as demanded by the Freedom Charter. As Minister of Home Affairs when I look at some of the marriages we officiate and register, I sometimes wonder whether people remember that there was a law in this country that outlawed union of couples across race.
Today, our entire nation has been mobilized behind the commitment to build a nation and reconcile our past.
I must say, Madam Speaker that because racism was so institutionally and systemically entrenched, the mere repealing of laws was not going to suffice in healing our society of this scourge.
Understandably there have been a lot of areas in our society that have served to perpetuate racism. These have included access to the mainstream economic activity, jobs (particularly outside the public sector), and other social engagements.
So Madam Speaker, while a lot of work has been done in this regard, the challenges continue.
Yesterday the leader of the opposition challenged us from this podium to choose one path or the other. We were challenged not to continue our obsession with race because "we are going to fall short of the practical goals we have set for our country's progress."
This sounded like a man with a full stomach who tries to ask those who are hungry not to speak of their hunger, because "for the sake of progress", they must forget their hunger and concentrate on work to be done.
Not only did it end there. In an opportunist way, we were told Afrikaans speaking South Africans should be allowed to have Afrikaans medium schools to the exclusion of others because the rest of us have our own English medium schools. The presumption is that the rest of us, who constitute the majority in this country, are English.
If the argument should be made that Pedi speaking children should go to Pedi medium schools, and those that speak Zulu should do the same, what implications will that have for a South Africa that is non-racial and unified, a country that belongs to all who live it, black and white.
Let's not advise each other to keep quite about our history, for if we do not teach our children the truth, there is a great danger that they might repeat the same mistakes we made.
In this regard comrade President, we were encouraged by your recognition of those white South Africans who when it was still difficult, took the first initiative to make contact with the ANC. To their list I will like to add a group of women who were the first to come and meet with women guerrillas of the ANC in Zimbabwe. These women were mostly mothers of children who were in the Apartheid army fighting in the frontline against us. They had shared with us their reasons for sacrificing their children to the defence of a system we were fighting.
We also shared with them our perspective and our commitment to our course. We spoke, we shared and we understood each other, we cried, we agreed. There are others amongst us in this House, who never made such an effort, but are the first ones to point a finger.
Madam Speaker, the architects of freedom and democracy have also said, that All shall enjoy Human Rights. What have we done to justify our association with them?
They said: All shall be free to travel without restrictions from countryside to town, from province to province, and from South Africa abroad.
They had raised these issues during influx control, during curfews, and other restriction. Today we are proud to say South Africans of all walks of life enjoy the pride of a common citizenship. The constitution guarantees these rights and the state has carried out its obligation to ensure that every South African is proud to be identified with this nationhood.
Honourable Colleagues, before I sit down, I think we need to commend parliament, particularly through the portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs, for the hearings they have conducted on the issue of Xenophobia.
The hearings themselves were important for two reasons, firstly they gave us an opportunity to bring about awareness on the issues, while at the same time they created space for national dialogue to seek solution together.
We believe that in line with the freedom charter, South Africa has got an obligation to heal the wounds and the divisions that have separated us from the rest of the world. Not only should we just take our place amongst these nations of the world, but make our contribution in making it a better world.
Let history judge us on our ability to learn from the past to become a better people, instead of denying it and hiding it from our children and the world. That is the better option.
Thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Home Affairs
16 February 2005
Source: Ministry of Home Affairs
Title: Mapisa-Nqakula: Debate on State of the Nation Address
Address by SA Minister of Home Affairs, Hon NN Mapisa-Nqakula, on the occasion of the second Day of the Debate on the State of the Nation Address by President Thabo Mbeki, National Assembly, Cape Town
16 February 2005
Madam Speaker
President Thabo Mbeki
Deputy President Jacob Zuma
Honourable Members
Cabinet Colleagues
Friends
We dedicate this debate to 50 years of the Freedom Charter. To the aspirations that our people had for their country, their wish for a future their children should have, and the un-diminishing hope that such a future is realisable.
We have made a lot of reference in the past to a group of people called "the architects of Apartheid". Today, I think the time is right for us to make some reference in recognition of what I will call the architects of freedom or the architects of democracy if you may. At a time when it was difficult to hope, and our nation was embroiled in war, hatred and suffering, these architects of freedom envisaged for our country, a future that to many seemed like a utopia that can only remain a dream. They declared through the Freedom Charter, that South Africa belongs to all who live in it black and white.
Our President has challenged us to test the reality of such a commitment and to assess whether we are on track to realise the goals of the freedom charter and most importantly whether we have the capacity to implement that which is outstanding in this work. In essence what have we been doing to justify our eminent place in the architecture of freedom and democracy?
Cde President, we agree. We also believe that this a challenge to which we should respond and engage honestly, with a view of isolating those areas in our respective responsibilities that have been addressed, identify the limitations and shortcomings and properly plan for the tasks ahead.
Ten years on, an assessment of our work as a government cannot merely be based on broad policy statements and commitments in principle.
Honourable Members and Friends, It is easy to make demands if you are not in government, because you are not the one to implement them, and the same can be said for those who developed the Freedom Charter. But what has distinguished the liberation movement under the leadership of the ANC, was the fact that they had no illusion about the Apartheid government ever implementing these clauses and that in fact they were making this demands for a future government to implement, an ANC Government. We had made these bold undertakings, and today we will be honest enough to judge our work against that basis.
This is what we said:
Firstly, that No one shall be imprisoned, deported or restricted without a fair trial. No one will be condemned by the order of a Government Official: In the past ten years we have moved swiftly to transform a judiciary whose purpose in the past has been to perpetuate the subjugation of the majority of people to oppression and indignity.
We have emphasised the need for a criminal justice system that is based on the uttermost respect for human rights and the sanctity of human life.
At our own insistence, no one individual is above the law and all of us including all of us here are subjected to same law and of course are accorded similar rights as all everyone else.
Maybe we have an opportunity to correct the myths that are being spread. For instance, a man has come into our continent, funded a programme of destabilisation and assassinations, and then our courts gave him back his freedom. Despite our known strong views and efforts of our President in bringing peace to Africa, we did not seek to intervene and force the courts to condemn this man who admitted to undermining our efforts by fuelling war and the killing of Africans.
Again, as you might know, another man who is known to be responsible for biological warfare against our nation, who was given his freedom in the courts. He also walks free without fear, in the knowledge that this government will not do anything to him as long as the courts have set him free. Whatever our views, whatever power we are perceived to have, we choose to suffer in silence.
The principle of fair trial, as envisaged in the Freedom Charter is centrally embedded in our system, but of course there have been those that have sought to undermine it. Relic twigs and stubs of the past system that refuses to embody this new ethos have continued to run amok in our courts trampling on these fundamental rights of all our people.
Anybody who dares to challenge some of the dubious decisions taken in our courts has been intimidated into accepting these in the name of the independence of the judiciary. To demonstrate that this is neither about independence nor interference, we have also seen people within the judiciary itself, being attacked for challenging some of these decisions.
For the record, the ANC government is the only government in this country that has ever established the independence of the judiciary and that we will continue to defend it like the many other gains of democracy.
Maybe the problem to the argument is the attempt at separating Transformation of the judiciary from Independence of the judiciary. For us it is not a question of one or the other. In a nutshell, the ANC is transforming a judiciary which, by the way, was never independent. The independence of the judiciary therefore is as a result of its transformation. If the argument is that the judiciary is not a subject for transformation, then those who advance such an argument should come out clearly and say so.
The transformation of the Judiciary therefore remains a key challenge for this government and for this country.
We also said that, all laws that discriminate on the basis of race, colour or belief shall be repealed The biggest challenge facing the architects of democracy has always been that of reversing the damage done to our society by years of racial discrimination and animosity throughout our country.
Again, since 1994 a lot of work has gone into eliminating racist laws as demanded by the Freedom Charter. As Minister of Home Affairs when I look at some of the marriages we officiate and register, I sometimes wonder whether people remember that there was a law in this country that outlawed union of couples across race.
Today, our entire nation has been mobilized behind the commitment to build a nation and reconcile our past.
I must say, Madam Speaker that because racism was so institutionally and systemically entrenched, the mere repealing of laws was not going to suffice in healing our society of this scourge.
Understandably there have been a lot of areas in our society that have served to perpetuate racism. These have included access to the mainstream economic activity, jobs (particularly outside the public sector), and other social engagements.
So Madam Speaker, while a lot of work has been done in this regard, the challenges continue.
Yesterday the leader of the opposition challenged us from this podium to choose one path or the other. We were challenged not to continue our obsession with race because "we are going to fall short of the practical goals we have set for our country's progress."
This sounded like a man with a full stomach who tries to ask those who are hungry not to speak of their hunger, because "for the sake of progress", they must forget their hunger and concentrate on work to be done.
Not only did it end there. In an opportunist way, we were told Afrikaans speaking South Africans should be allowed to have Afrikaans medium schools to the exclusion of others because the rest of us have our own English medium schools. The presumption is that the rest of us, who constitute the majority in this country, are English.
If the argument should be made that Pedi speaking children should go to Pedi medium schools, and those that speak Zulu should do the same, what implications will that have for a South Africa that is non-racial and unified, a country that belongs to all who live it, black and white.
Let's not advise each other to keep quite about our history, for if we do not teach our children the truth, there is a great danger that they might repeat the same mistakes we made.
In this regard comrade President, we were encouraged by your recognition of those white South Africans who when it was still difficult, took the first initiative to make contact with the ANC. To their list I will like to add a group of women who were the first to come and meet with women guerrillas of the ANC in Zimbabwe. These women were mostly mothers of children who were in the Apartheid army fighting in the frontline against us. They had shared with us their reasons for sacrificing their children to the defence of a system we were fighting.
We also shared with them our perspective and our commitment to our course. We spoke, we shared and we understood each other, we cried, we agreed. There are others amongst us in this House, who never made such an effort, but are the first ones to point a finger.
Madam Speaker, the architects of freedom and democracy have also said, that All shall enjoy Human Rights. What have we done to justify our association with them?
They said: All shall be free to travel without restrictions from countryside to town, from province to province, and from South Africa abroad.
They had raised these issues during influx control, during curfews, and other restriction. Today we are proud to say South Africans of all walks of life enjoy the pride of a common citizenship. The constitution guarantees these rights and the state has carried out its obligation to ensure that every South African is proud to be identified with this nationhood.
Honourable Colleagues, before I sit down, I think we need to commend parliament, particularly through the portfolio committee on Foreign Affairs, for the hearings they have conducted on the issue of Xenophobia.
The hearings themselves were important for two reasons, firstly they gave us an opportunity to bring about awareness on the issues, while at the same time they created space for national dialogue to seek solution together.
We believe that in line with the freedom charter, South Africa has got an obligation to heal the wounds and the divisions that have separated us from the rest of the world. Not only should we just take our place amongst these nations of the world, but make our contribution in making it a better world.
Let history judge us on our ability to learn from the past to become a better people, instead of denying it and hiding it from our children and the world. That is the better option.
Thank you.
Issued by: Ministry of Home Affairs
16 February 2005
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