Date: 27/04/2005
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molewa: Freedom Day celebrations
Welcome address by North West Premier, Ms Edna Molewa, on the Freedom Day celebrations at Reagile Stadium, Kgetlengrivier, Koster
Minister of Sport and Recreation, Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile
Minister of Provincial and Local Government, Fholisani Sydney Mufamadi
Deputy Ministers present
Honourable Members of Parliament present
MECs and Members of the North West Provincial Legislature
Executive Mayors, Mayors, Local and District Councillors
Traditional Leaders, Members of the Religious Community
The Communities of Koster, North West and Beloved People of South Africa
I am greatly honoured to welcome our distinguished guests, Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers, who have joined us today to celebrate our freedom and officially mark the beginning of our 12th year of freedom and democracy.
These honoured guests and the rest of South Africa understand deeply the meaning of this day and the countless sacrifices, struggles and the ultimate price many of our country’s citizens had to pay in order for us to attain this freedom.
Our honoured guests, South Africa and the world also understand that for us, April is a very emotional part of our calendar. After all, it was in April 1652 that Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape of Good Hope, beginning what was to become the colonisation of our land by foreigners and the continued conflict between the indigenous people and the colonisers.
Subsequent years resulted in the people being robbed of their birthrights to land, property, liberty and peace by various forms of government based on racial discrimination, injustice and inequality.
It was also in April 1993, Honourable Ministers, that one of the fearless revolutionaries and selfless leaders of the liberation movement, a South African Communist Party leader and member of the African National Congress NEC, Chris Thembisile Hani, was maimed in front of his house in Boksburg on that Easter Weekend.
History also tells us that his death, in addition to the many struggles being waged in the country and abroad, marked a turning point in the struggle for liberation, forcing the final return to the CODESA negotiations that finally ushered South Africa into the April 27 General Elections in the following year to signal the decisive break with the past.
It was therefore understandably with visible emotions in April 1994 that the revolutionary dawn of freedom reverberated throughout the mountains, valleys and rivers of our country South Africa, as throngs of people cast their votes for the first time in their lives to determine the government of their choice.
The ideal of a free and democratic South Africa in which all people lived in equality before the law and with equal opportunities became a reality on this day, 11 years ago, when a government based on the will of the people was voted into power in a free and fair election.
Having based most of our liberation struggles and the kind of society we wanted to build on the founding doctrine of our democracy, the Freedom Charter, whose 50th Anniversary we celebrate this year, we were determined to prove to the country and the world that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.
Distinguished Guests, Fellow South Africans
I mention these historical events to emphasise the point that our freedom was fought for and won, not given freely. The freedoms we enjoy today are a result of our collective struggles, together both black and white, in which we engaged to make a reality, a South Africa that belongs to all, united in our diversity.
Today as we celebrate freedom, we are starkly reminded of the historical task of continually building a province and a country that truly belong to all who live in it.
Until all South Africans are free from hunger and poverty, until all of us are free from disease and underdevelopment and until we can all walk freely without fear of crime and victimisation, South Africa would have attained the ultimate freedom for which many laid down their lives.
The country and all our people will continue on the path of celebrating our diversity, creating a new identity of shared patriotism and actively working towards nation-building and national reconciliation.
This we will collectively do to give true effect and meaning to our country’s motto: ’Diverse People Unite’ and together, side by side, strive to realise the vision of a united South Africa at peace with itself, the continent of Africa and the world.
April will therefore forever remain an important and emotional part of our history, during which we are reminded both of our collective past as well as our common destiny as South Africans.
On this Freedom Day on 27 April 2005, we thus call on all our patriots, black and white, young and old, here and abroad, to heed the call of the Freedom Charter, to spare neither strength nor courage and join all those people who love their country in building a South Africa that truly belongs to all.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
27 April 2005
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: Molewa: Freedom Day celebrations
Welcome address by North West Premier, Ms Edna Molewa, on the Freedom Day celebrations at Reagile Stadium, Kgetlengrivier, Koster
Minister of Sport and Recreation, Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile
Minister of Provincial and Local Government, Fholisani Sydney Mufamadi
Deputy Ministers present
Honourable Members of Parliament present
MECs and Members of the North West Provincial Legislature
Executive Mayors, Mayors, Local and District Councillors
Traditional Leaders, Members of the Religious Community
The Communities of Koster, North West and Beloved People of South Africa
I am greatly honoured to welcome our distinguished guests, Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers, who have joined us today to celebrate our freedom and officially mark the beginning of our 12th year of freedom and democracy.
These honoured guests and the rest of South Africa understand deeply the meaning of this day and the countless sacrifices, struggles and the ultimate price many of our country’s citizens had to pay in order for us to attain this freedom.
Our honoured guests, South Africa and the world also understand that for us, April is a very emotional part of our calendar. After all, it was in April 1652 that Jan van Riebeeck landed at the Cape of Good Hope, beginning what was to become the colonisation of our land by foreigners and the continued conflict between the indigenous people and the colonisers.
Subsequent years resulted in the people being robbed of their birthrights to land, property, liberty and peace by various forms of government based on racial discrimination, injustice and inequality.
It was also in April 1993, Honourable Ministers, that one of the fearless revolutionaries and selfless leaders of the liberation movement, a South African Communist Party leader and member of the African National Congress NEC, Chris Thembisile Hani, was maimed in front of his house in Boksburg on that Easter Weekend.
History also tells us that his death, in addition to the many struggles being waged in the country and abroad, marked a turning point in the struggle for liberation, forcing the final return to the CODESA negotiations that finally ushered South Africa into the April 27 General Elections in the following year to signal the decisive break with the past.
It was therefore understandably with visible emotions in April 1994 that the revolutionary dawn of freedom reverberated throughout the mountains, valleys and rivers of our country South Africa, as throngs of people cast their votes for the first time in their lives to determine the government of their choice.
The ideal of a free and democratic South Africa in which all people lived in equality before the law and with equal opportunities became a reality on this day, 11 years ago, when a government based on the will of the people was voted into power in a free and fair election.
Having based most of our liberation struggles and the kind of society we wanted to build on the founding doctrine of our democracy, the Freedom Charter, whose 50th Anniversary we celebrate this year, we were determined to prove to the country and the world that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.
Distinguished Guests, Fellow South Africans
I mention these historical events to emphasise the point that our freedom was fought for and won, not given freely. The freedoms we enjoy today are a result of our collective struggles, together both black and white, in which we engaged to make a reality, a South Africa that belongs to all, united in our diversity.
Today as we celebrate freedom, we are starkly reminded of the historical task of continually building a province and a country that truly belong to all who live in it.
Until all South Africans are free from hunger and poverty, until all of us are free from disease and underdevelopment and until we can all walk freely without fear of crime and victimisation, South Africa would have attained the ultimate freedom for which many laid down their lives.
The country and all our people will continue on the path of celebrating our diversity, creating a new identity of shared patriotism and actively working towards nation-building and national reconciliation.
This we will collectively do to give true effect and meaning to our country’s motto: ’Diverse People Unite’ and together, side by side, strive to realise the vision of a united South Africa at peace with itself, the continent of Africa and the world.
April will therefore forever remain an important and emotional part of our history, during which we are reminded both of our collective past as well as our common destiny as South Africans.
On this Freedom Day on 27 April 2005, we thus call on all our patriots, black and white, young and old, here and abroad, to heed the call of the Freedom Charter, to spare neither strength nor courage and join all those people who love their country in building a South Africa that truly belongs to all.
I thank you.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, North West Provincial Government
27 April 2005
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