Date: 10/12/04
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Modiselle: International human Rights Day
Speech by the MEC for Safety and Liaison, Mrs Maureen Modiselle, at the commemoration of International Human Rights Day, Sekhing Village
10 December 2004
Programme Director, Kgosi Mothibi, Kgosi Mankurwane, Kgosi Motlhabane, Kgosi Mabe le Dikgosi tsotlhe, Members of Provincial Legislature, District Mayors, Mayor, Greater Taung Cllr. Khonkhobe, All Cllrs; All protocol observed Ladies and Gentlemen:
We are gathered here today on a very important day on the South African Human Rights calendar, because the values that underpin our constitutional democracy are highlighted and given true effect.
The 10th of December has been observed since 1948 when international governments acknowledged the Human Rights for all to life, liberty and the security of the person. It also heralds the culmination of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children.
The 16 days of Activism campaign is intended, through a common effort by government, NGOs and other stakeholders, to link violence against women and children with human rights and to emphasise the need to make these rights real. How appropriate it is then that this period of concentrated focus on women and children's rights sees its conclusion in a celebration of these rights as human rights!
If this campaign is to have any meaning at all we must build on the heightened public awareness that has been created over the past two weeks and integrate it into the daily lives of our children, women and men. We need as a society to translate the right to dignity into a real and daily experience for all South Africans, especially the rural poor, who are vulnerable and marginalised.
Over the past two weeks I have highlighted very disturbing statistics of continuing abuse of women and children. I have also talked to the public servants in the criminal justice cluster, highlighting the need for them to take service delivery to our people very serious to ensure that perpetrators of this scourge are punished.
Our government has established institutions and legislations to ensure that people reclaim their rights to dignity. However, despite all these enabling and empowering legislation that has been passed since 1994, our people, especially women and the rural poor, continue to face marginalisation and discrimination in their homes, communities and workplaces.
Programme Director, the reason is that equality is not realised only through institutions and legislations. Quality is a value that needs to be shared and upheld by the entire community, men and women alike. The values of equality, respect and dignity, as enshrined in our Constitution, need to be our way of living and internalised if we are to put an end to the violence that is currently being directed at our country's women and children.
It is therefore, for this reason that today, as we commemorate Human Rights Day, we thought that it is appropriate to bring all these (chapter 9) institutions closer to the people to familiarise themselves with service offered. We have realised that it is the many women and children, in the rural areas, who do not have access to these facilities that more often than not suffer at the hands of perpetrators with impunity.
Our challenge, therefore, is to maintain a constant and sustainable drive to educate our people on the ground to understand and internalised the rights accorded to them by the constitution. Our objective, as government, is and must be to give substantive effect to the precious rights enshrined in our Constitution.
Programme Director; allow me this opportunity, as we celebrate our human Rights, to announce to our people one of the groundbreaking interventions made by government in the past week on the area of crime victims' empowerment.
More often than not we have been confronted by an assertion from victims of crime that our government is too lenient and friendly to criminals and does not care about the victims. Because we are a caring government, cabinet last week adopted the Service Charter for the Victims of Crime, which contains your rights as a crime victim.
These rights are as follows:
* The right to be treated with fairness and with respect for your dignity and privacy
* The right to offer information
* The right to receive information
* The right to protection
* The right to assistance
* The right to compensation
* The right to restitution
This Charter is an important instrument to promote justice for all. This is an indication of our resolve, as government, to fight crime and ensure that our people live in an environment that is crime * free, peaceful and enjoy their human rights.
I also want to make an appeal to for our people to heed the call to hand over all the illegal guns in their possession. Government has put an indemnity period within which you will not be arrested if you voluntary hand in illegal firearms at your nearest police station. This period is as of 01 January to end March 2005.
To all licensed gun owners, I request you to ensure that your guns are kept safe and away from family members, relatives, friends and children. Safety locks are indispensable and not expensive devices designed to secure guns from unintended use. Locking your guns has added benefit. It prevents a gun from being used against its owner.
Those without safety lock devices should ensure that their guns are locked and keys kept from sight of those around you. Should you not have a suitable place, please consult your nearest police station for advice or assistance.
Finally, on behalf of the North West Government, I wish everyone in the North West Province an enjoyable, safe and merry Christmas as well as a prosperous 2005. May all our dreams and wishes for the 2004 be completed projects.
As our Departmental motto states, let us together continue to create partnerships against crime and the criminals.
As government we shall continue to do our best in building a people's contract for a better life for all. In this process, you are all implored to lend a hand during our second decade of democracy in building a better South Africa and a better world.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Safety and Liaison,
North West Provincial Government
10 December 2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Modiselle: International human Rights Day
Speech by the MEC for Safety and Liaison, Mrs Maureen Modiselle, at the commemoration of International Human Rights Day, Sekhing Village
10 December 2004
Programme Director, Kgosi Mothibi, Kgosi Mankurwane, Kgosi Motlhabane, Kgosi Mabe le Dikgosi tsotlhe, Members of Provincial Legislature, District Mayors, Mayor, Greater Taung Cllr. Khonkhobe, All Cllrs; All protocol observed Ladies and Gentlemen:
We are gathered here today on a very important day on the South African Human Rights calendar, because the values that underpin our constitutional democracy are highlighted and given true effect.
The 10th of December has been observed since 1948 when international governments acknowledged the Human Rights for all to life, liberty and the security of the person. It also heralds the culmination of the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence against Women and Children.
The 16 days of Activism campaign is intended, through a common effort by government, NGOs and other stakeholders, to link violence against women and children with human rights and to emphasise the need to make these rights real. How appropriate it is then that this period of concentrated focus on women and children's rights sees its conclusion in a celebration of these rights as human rights!
If this campaign is to have any meaning at all we must build on the heightened public awareness that has been created over the past two weeks and integrate it into the daily lives of our children, women and men. We need as a society to translate the right to dignity into a real and daily experience for all South Africans, especially the rural poor, who are vulnerable and marginalised.
Over the past two weeks I have highlighted very disturbing statistics of continuing abuse of women and children. I have also talked to the public servants in the criminal justice cluster, highlighting the need for them to take service delivery to our people very serious to ensure that perpetrators of this scourge are punished.
Our government has established institutions and legislations to ensure that people reclaim their rights to dignity. However, despite all these enabling and empowering legislation that has been passed since 1994, our people, especially women and the rural poor, continue to face marginalisation and discrimination in their homes, communities and workplaces.
Programme Director, the reason is that equality is not realised only through institutions and legislations. Quality is a value that needs to be shared and upheld by the entire community, men and women alike. The values of equality, respect and dignity, as enshrined in our Constitution, need to be our way of living and internalised if we are to put an end to the violence that is currently being directed at our country's women and children.
It is therefore, for this reason that today, as we commemorate Human Rights Day, we thought that it is appropriate to bring all these (chapter 9) institutions closer to the people to familiarise themselves with service offered. We have realised that it is the many women and children, in the rural areas, who do not have access to these facilities that more often than not suffer at the hands of perpetrators with impunity.
Our challenge, therefore, is to maintain a constant and sustainable drive to educate our people on the ground to understand and internalised the rights accorded to them by the constitution. Our objective, as government, is and must be to give substantive effect to the precious rights enshrined in our Constitution.
Programme Director; allow me this opportunity, as we celebrate our human Rights, to announce to our people one of the groundbreaking interventions made by government in the past week on the area of crime victims' empowerment.
More often than not we have been confronted by an assertion from victims of crime that our government is too lenient and friendly to criminals and does not care about the victims. Because we are a caring government, cabinet last week adopted the Service Charter for the Victims of Crime, which contains your rights as a crime victim.
These rights are as follows:
* The right to be treated with fairness and with respect for your dignity and privacy
* The right to offer information
* The right to receive information
* The right to protection
* The right to assistance
* The right to compensation
* The right to restitution
This Charter is an important instrument to promote justice for all. This is an indication of our resolve, as government, to fight crime and ensure that our people live in an environment that is crime * free, peaceful and enjoy their human rights.
I also want to make an appeal to for our people to heed the call to hand over all the illegal guns in their possession. Government has put an indemnity period within which you will not be arrested if you voluntary hand in illegal firearms at your nearest police station. This period is as of 01 January to end March 2005.
To all licensed gun owners, I request you to ensure that your guns are kept safe and away from family members, relatives, friends and children. Safety locks are indispensable and not expensive devices designed to secure guns from unintended use. Locking your guns has added benefit. It prevents a gun from being used against its owner.
Those without safety lock devices should ensure that their guns are locked and keys kept from sight of those around you. Should you not have a suitable place, please consult your nearest police station for advice or assistance.
Finally, on behalf of the North West Government, I wish everyone in the North West Province an enjoyable, safe and merry Christmas as well as a prosperous 2005. May all our dreams and wishes for the 2004 be completed projects.
As our Departmental motto states, let us together continue to create partnerships against crime and the criminals.
As government we shall continue to do our best in building a people's contract for a better life for all. In this process, you are all implored to lend a hand during our second decade of democracy in building a better South Africa and a better world.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Safety and Liaison,
North West Provincial Government
10 December 2004
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