Date: 15/04/2003
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government
Title: Shilowa: Debate during tabling of TRC Report
ADDRESS BY GAUTENG PREMIER MBHAZIMA SHILOWA TO PARLIAMENT ON THE DEBATE OF THE FINAL REPORT OF THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION, Tuesday, 15 April 2003
President of the Republic
Deputy President
Honourable Speaker
Chairperson of the NCOP
Honourable Members
Today, just over a year before we complete the first decade of freedom and democracy in our country, we are gathered in this House as representatives and humble servants of the people of South Africa to finally put behind us the ugly and unpleasant past that was characterised by gruesome violations of the rights of the overwhelming majority of our people.
This House in 1995 passed a law providing for the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission so that all South Africans could know what happened in the past, why it happened and agree on the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the evil deeds of the past are never repeated.
Through its investigations into gross human rights violations and the information gathered at many of the public hearings it conducted, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has uncovered a lot of gruesome human rights violations that were committed in defence and in furtherance of apartheid.
The TRC confirmed the point that we have always made that apartheid was a deliberate policy on which a system of government was built where the rights of the overwhelming majority of South Africans, particularly the black community, were trampled upon and security considerations ruled the roost.
The finding that there are groups of people and individuals who benefited materially from apartheid does not come as a surprise. We have always known that the majority of whites and businesses, partly because of the material benefits and privileges they enjoyed from apartheid, also contributed to the oppression and exploitation of black people through the active promotion of discriminatory measures.
State corporations were formed primarily to create employment opportunities for white people and direct public resources to the white minority. Vacancies were created, especially on senior management positions, not because they were required for the efficiency and effectiveness of the corporations but simply to create sheltered employment for white people.
The apartheid regime saw it as one of its primary responsibilities to ensure that every white person was given a stake in the system. It created a situation that no white person should feel that in the event of abolition of the apartheid system, they had nothing to lose.
Consequently many among the white South Africans were actively engaged in defending the system that gave them special privileges and oppressed the black people.
The TRC also confirmed some of the things that we knew which hitherto were hidden from the world by those who were responsible for gross human rights violations against the majority of South Africans.
Some of the victims and surviving family members had the opportunity to relate their sufferings and came face to face with the perpetrators. Some of the perpetrators came forward to tell the truth about their actions and were truly remorseful for the pain and sufferings that they inflicted on their victims.
All of us understood from the onset that the truth and reconciliation process, while it had to ensure that to the extent possible there was justice, was not about revenge or retribution. We knew that restoration, restitution and reparation were to become important outcomes of this process.
Today, on the basis of the work of the TRC, which made it possible for us to know more about our country's unpleasant past, we can all say that never again should South Africans be subjected to gruesome human rights violations.
We are now better able to march together to the new, peaceful, just and prosperous South Africa in which all citizens live in harmony and are treated equally.
The question that all of us must now grapple with is what needs to be done to alleviate the plight of victims, help to restore their dignity, end their humiliation and make them feel that reconciliation and justice has not been at their expense.
Justice demands that the concerns of victims should take centre stage in the process of reconciliation. In this context all of us need to be creative in identifying ways in which the government and the people can together participate in a process of effecting restitution, restoration, reparation and move closer towards a better South Africa for all. To do so will require a common understanding of victims of apartheid as going beyond those who went before the TRC to tell their stories.
Since 1994 the government has been implementing policies aimed at improving the lives of millions of South Africans, whose conditions were inflicted upon them by many years of neglect, repression and injustice. Significant progress has been recorded. Many South Africans have experienced a great deal of improvement in their quality of life.
We continue to implement policies and programmes aimed at improving the lives of our people, especially the victims of apartheid. In Gauteng, the work that we are doing in Alexandra, Kliptown, Bekkersdal and in other areas that have been severely ravaged by apartheid inflicted poverty will contribute towards reparation, reconciliation and transformation.
But as we are all aware, it would take a considerable amount of time and a lot more resources will be required to wipe the legacy of centuries of colonialism and apartheid neglect and injustice.
The scars that were inflicted upon our people as a result of the implementation of apartheid policies are still there for all to see.
Our country continues to be seen as a country of two nations, one extremely wealthy and skilled and the other living in conditions of abject poverty.
The overwhelming majority of black people still participate in the economy as no more than labourers and consumers of goods and services.
This work of removing the apartheid legacy and building a better South Africa can therefore not be left to government alone. Without seeking to apportion blame to anybody for their role in apartheid, we call on all historically privileged South Africans, including business, to recognise that genuine reconciliation requires addressing the inequalities, inequities and developmental backlogs that the apartheid system, from which they benefited in varying degrees, has left as the heritage of our new democratic order.
A new commitment is required from all of us government, business, professionals and other stakeholders to work together to overcome problems of inequality and underdevelopment and build a new nation.
The TRC has made findings and recommendations which create the possibility for all of us to take action to heal the wounds of the past and move faster towards a better South Africa for all.
The time to act is now. Let us act to ensure that, as we said at the beginning of the TRC process, what happened in the past is never repeated. Let this be our commitment to the new dispensation to which many paid the ultimate price.
For more information contact: Thabo Masebe on 082 410 8087
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government, 15 April 2003
Source: Gauteng Provincial Government
Title: Shilowa: Debate during tabling of TRC Report
ADDRESS BY GAUTENG PREMIER MBHAZIMA SHILOWA TO PARLIAMENT ON THE DEBATE OF THE FINAL REPORT OF THE TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION, Tuesday, 15 April 2003
President of the Republic
Deputy President
Honourable Speaker
Chairperson of the NCOP
Honourable Members
Today, just over a year before we complete the first decade of freedom and democracy in our country, we are gathered in this House as representatives and humble servants of the people of South Africa to finally put behind us the ugly and unpleasant past that was characterised by gruesome violations of the rights of the overwhelming majority of our people.
This House in 1995 passed a law providing for the establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission so that all South Africans could know what happened in the past, why it happened and agree on the steps that need to be taken to ensure that the evil deeds of the past are never repeated.
Through its investigations into gross human rights violations and the information gathered at many of the public hearings it conducted, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has uncovered a lot of gruesome human rights violations that were committed in defence and in furtherance of apartheid.
The TRC confirmed the point that we have always made that apartheid was a deliberate policy on which a system of government was built where the rights of the overwhelming majority of South Africans, particularly the black community, were trampled upon and security considerations ruled the roost.
The finding that there are groups of people and individuals who benefited materially from apartheid does not come as a surprise. We have always known that the majority of whites and businesses, partly because of the material benefits and privileges they enjoyed from apartheid, also contributed to the oppression and exploitation of black people through the active promotion of discriminatory measures.
State corporations were formed primarily to create employment opportunities for white people and direct public resources to the white minority. Vacancies were created, especially on senior management positions, not because they were required for the efficiency and effectiveness of the corporations but simply to create sheltered employment for white people.
The apartheid regime saw it as one of its primary responsibilities to ensure that every white person was given a stake in the system. It created a situation that no white person should feel that in the event of abolition of the apartheid system, they had nothing to lose.
Consequently many among the white South Africans were actively engaged in defending the system that gave them special privileges and oppressed the black people.
The TRC also confirmed some of the things that we knew which hitherto were hidden from the world by those who were responsible for gross human rights violations against the majority of South Africans.
Some of the victims and surviving family members had the opportunity to relate their sufferings and came face to face with the perpetrators. Some of the perpetrators came forward to tell the truth about their actions and were truly remorseful for the pain and sufferings that they inflicted on their victims.
All of us understood from the onset that the truth and reconciliation process, while it had to ensure that to the extent possible there was justice, was not about revenge or retribution. We knew that restoration, restitution and reparation were to become important outcomes of this process.
Today, on the basis of the work of the TRC, which made it possible for us to know more about our country's unpleasant past, we can all say that never again should South Africans be subjected to gruesome human rights violations.
We are now better able to march together to the new, peaceful, just and prosperous South Africa in which all citizens live in harmony and are treated equally.
The question that all of us must now grapple with is what needs to be done to alleviate the plight of victims, help to restore their dignity, end their humiliation and make them feel that reconciliation and justice has not been at their expense.
Justice demands that the concerns of victims should take centre stage in the process of reconciliation. In this context all of us need to be creative in identifying ways in which the government and the people can together participate in a process of effecting restitution, restoration, reparation and move closer towards a better South Africa for all. To do so will require a common understanding of victims of apartheid as going beyond those who went before the TRC to tell their stories.
Since 1994 the government has been implementing policies aimed at improving the lives of millions of South Africans, whose conditions were inflicted upon them by many years of neglect, repression and injustice. Significant progress has been recorded. Many South Africans have experienced a great deal of improvement in their quality of life.
We continue to implement policies and programmes aimed at improving the lives of our people, especially the victims of apartheid. In Gauteng, the work that we are doing in Alexandra, Kliptown, Bekkersdal and in other areas that have been severely ravaged by apartheid inflicted poverty will contribute towards reparation, reconciliation and transformation.
But as we are all aware, it would take a considerable amount of time and a lot more resources will be required to wipe the legacy of centuries of colonialism and apartheid neglect and injustice.
The scars that were inflicted upon our people as a result of the implementation of apartheid policies are still there for all to see.
Our country continues to be seen as a country of two nations, one extremely wealthy and skilled and the other living in conditions of abject poverty.
The overwhelming majority of black people still participate in the economy as no more than labourers and consumers of goods and services.
This work of removing the apartheid legacy and building a better South Africa can therefore not be left to government alone. Without seeking to apportion blame to anybody for their role in apartheid, we call on all historically privileged South Africans, including business, to recognise that genuine reconciliation requires addressing the inequalities, inequities and developmental backlogs that the apartheid system, from which they benefited in varying degrees, has left as the heritage of our new democratic order.
A new commitment is required from all of us government, business, professionals and other stakeholders to work together to overcome problems of inequality and underdevelopment and build a new nation.
The TRC has made findings and recommendations which create the possibility for all of us to take action to heal the wounds of the past and move faster towards a better South Africa for all.
The time to act is now. Let us act to ensure that, as we said at the beginning of the TRC process, what happened in the past is never repeated. Let this be our commitment to the new dispensation to which many paid the ultimate price.
For more information contact: Thabo Masebe on 082 410 8087
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government, 15 April 2003
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