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Date : 10/09/2004
Source: North West Provincial Government
Title: N Rasmeni: Community Builder of the Year awards


ADDRESS BY THE NORTH WEST MEC FOR SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, MS RN RASMENI, COMMUNITY BUILDER OF THE YEAR 2004, 10 September 2004

The Programme Director,
Members of Provincial Legislature,
The Executive Mayor, Cllr. N Hlangwana and other councillors
Kgosi Jeff Montshioa,
The Acting DDG, Rre Seth Ramagaga,
All government officials present,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

The community builders we are honouring this evening, share company with a long list of memorable great men and women of our country.

Tonight their names are being written in the annals of our collective memory as grateful fellow compatriots.

Throughout history, our country has produced great men and women who stood up to lead our people in finding the correct answers to the challenges of the time. They are heroes and heroines that stood up motivated not by a desire for financial reward, self-gratification, social recognition or status, but by the need to solve an urgent issue of national importance.

Many of those that we know and remember, we tend to attach a political label on them. The truth is, at the time, these people did not regard their actions as political in the sense of party politics and elections to high office.

I am speaking here of Solomon Plaatje, Zacharia Matthews, Moses Kotane, Frances Baard, Onkgopotse Tiro, Seretse Kgama, Beyes Naude, and many other heroes and heroines who have departed these lands to join the stars of our firmament.

As you may recall in the case of some of them, many were prohibited from doing what they regarded as ordinary work by the political rulers of the time, because somehow these rulers were terrified of every assembly of unarmed people, even small ones like churches and women learning something about the virtues of breast-feeding.

I am speaking here of harmless ministers of religion, primary school teachers, university lecturers, students, doctors, lawyers, domestic workers and even uneducated people.

I am also talking about people who were touched by the poverty, diseases, underdevelopment and lack of choices of the masses of people in rural settlements and shanty-towns, and decided to do something about it.

Many of our leaders of today can testify to the vital contribution that these volunteers made to the betterment of the lives of entire communities. Very often these volunteers would be the difference between life and death, knowledge and ignorance, progress and underdevelopment.

We are fortunate that since after liberation there are people who continued on the footsteps of our memorable stars of yesteryear.

Today, we honour the contribution that today's civic-minded volunteers are making to the realisation of the ideal of a better life for all.

We lift their names above our heads because they are doing extraordinary things in a world dominated by extraordinary selfishness, greed and gratuitous cruelty.

They burn the midnight oil and walk long distances, often without food and money, to comfort the sickest of the sick and the poorest of the poor.

Tonight we bask in the glory of the young people whose precocious sense of duty must either put to shame or motivate those who are waiting for handouts. Perhaps these young people are not aware of the scale of their contribution to nation building or the lasting impact that their activities are going to have on the lives of those that they touch.

We salute those who run projects aimed at the eradication of poverty, hunger and unemployment in rural and urban areas. Poverty compromises people's ability to enjoy their basic human rights. Those who lack basic amenities cannot enjoy the other rights in our constitution.

The combination of poverty and illiteracy is devastatingly powerful. The poor and illiterate cannot enjoy the freedom of movement and of residence. They usually stay in an environment that is harmful to their health and well-being.

Those who volunteer in the field of poverty relief and literacy are transferring the power of being able to choose, the power of being able to avoid drinking poison, the power of saying no when you have to say no, or yes when you have to say yes.

We appreciate those whose agenda is to fight crime and criminality by targeting school children. They are planting the seeds of tomorrow's nation which will be informed by the values of respect to the property rights of others, respect for the bodily integrity and security of others and respect for life.

We are also honoured that we have young paralegals who have partnered the municipality of Leeudoringstad in providing legal advice to those who need it to arrange their personal affairs.

It is extraordinary that you have decided to become the ears, eyes and brains of the weak and vulnerable. We need more of these public-spirited people because many of our people have fallen victim to loan sharks, the so-called machonisa, corrupt self-styled leaders who sell municipal houses, messengers of the court who remove basic household property without due process, and other parasitic criminals.

A special word of appreciation must go to those who work among vulnerable children, such as orphans, homeless children and those with disabilities. We have hundreds if not thousands of these children in our townships and villages.

Many of these we chase away as they beg on street corners. We tell them to go back home. Home to hunger, loneliness, cold and abuse. It is about time we faced the truth of reality and seek ways of addressing these social ills. Most of beggars do not choose it as a profession. Those of us who have the means and time to do more than we do during the period of 8:00 to 16:30, must have an introspection and ask ourselves the question; is this all I can do for my country, my province, my neighbour?

You will realise that the total social expenditure of national, provincial and local government put together only scratches the surface of the scale of the needs of South Africa's children.

You will realise that many of us are just doing the bare minimum, which is stated in our job descriptions. You will realise that we have spare time, spare food, spare clothes and spare money, which, if it were efficiently used, it could change, someone's life forever.

How many of us give to charity? How many people do we employ in our companies and households? Charity is not a monopoly of religious bodies, rich people or retired professionals. It is not the job description of non-governmental bodies or old women. Charity is the rent that we pay for the privilege to live on earth.

Tonight we are going to salute many charitable people, among these are members of pension communities. They are safeguarding the money and dignity of our parents and grandparents against abuse, robbery, theft and exposure.

I also recognise those who give life-skills training to our young people. Many young people think life has been unkind to them. They lost parents, they are not attending school, they are unemployed and they live everyday as it comes.

It is such young people who are vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. They are likely to fall pregnant a few times before they reach 20 years of age.

Those who teach them the ability to make life decisions, how to write a CV, how to plan for one's future, how to resolve conflicts and how to do family planning are true community builders.

I am also aware that, among us, we have volunteers who use multi-purpose centres to the maximum as part of community development. They have seen the need to develop the skills of young people in performing arts, sports and culture from these community centres.

In their category are those that have confidence in the sporting prowess of aspiring footballers and netball players. Theirs is a mammoth but satisfying task to link talented but undeveloped sports people with professional bodies in Gauteng. They are convinced that their efforts are not in vain.

Chairperson, on that note I wish to congratulate the Acting DDG Seth Ramagaga, his talented, dedicated and gracious team for continuing on the tradition of our government to honour and recognise ubuntu, grace and love wherever it is given freely in our province.

Our province needs men and women of vision and those that can see the challenge and rise to it when challenge presents itself.

Leaders are not born, but leaders are made. They are made by the extraordinary pressures of the circumstances in which their fellow citizens find themselves at one particular time.

Leaders do not have a throne on which they sit and from which they command people to do tasks. They lead by doing, often working more than the followers.

In the morning they rise before everyone else. They miss lunch and other meals. They work until after everyone has gone to bed.

Leaders do not wait for people to vote them into position before they can start working for their people. They work first and get recognised later. They do not work for recognition and do not ask for recognition.

Tonight, we are happy to have leaders among us.

It is their chance to sit down and have somebody speak about them for a change. It is their chance to be served. Tomorrow, they go back to their extraordinary occupations.

Thank you.

Issued by: Department of Social Development, North West Provincial Government
10 September 2004

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