Issued by Ministry of Education
30 March 2001
In his letter to the Editors of the Cape Argus and Die Burger this week, Education Minister, Professor Kader Asmal MP, expressed his regret to the thousands of Christians who turned up at the Newlands stadium, about some of the comments he made in his speech at the Human Rights gathering in Langa. The Minister wants to put it on record that he fully accepts the bona fides of those who gathered at Newlands, and fully accepts the right of Christians as well as of particular churches, to assemble together.
As indicated in his comments after the incident, Professor Asmal stated that he strongly believes in freedom of religious association. Professor Asmal regards this as a fundamental right enshrined in our Constitution, of which he is proud to have been involved in drafting as well as in defending during the negotiations and over the last ten years.
The Minister however remains concerned that on Human Rights Day, a day in which we celebrate our freedom, the Newlands gathering sought to brand homosexuals as sinners. Such actions are clearly contrary to our Constitution, which amongst others outlaws discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
The ANC meeting, at which the Minister commented on the Newlands gathering, was about the need to protect the rights of all people with compassion and love. Fr Michael Lapsley appropriately illustrated this need when he called on people to assert for themselves that, "I am a person" and to turn to their neighbour and say, "You are a person".
The Minister says to each individual who attended the Newlands gathering: "You are a person".
Contact: Molatwane Likhethe at 082 573 0397