Issued by: North West Communication Service
NORTH WEST PREMIER POPO MOLEFE'S ADDRESS AT A SOWETAN MAGEU NUMBER ONE FACTORY PRIZE GIVING FUNCTION PRETORIA WEST - 29 MARCH 1996
In the past ten years or so, South Africa has been rapidly undergoing fundamental changes in all aspects of its political, social and economic life. We have seen an authoritarian regime stagger and then crumble under sustained massive pressure of those that for decades had been systematically consigned to the periphery of meaningful political decision-making.
We have seen the rise of the working class as it began to chal- lenge the social order and clamour for social justice and equity.
Beginning in April 1994, the political transformation process has profoundly reduced the monopoly of state on political power and its dominance on aspects of social development.
Democratic South Africa is today underpinned by constitutional- ism and pluralism, and places great emphasis on people-centred development. Our constitutional system of government guarantees all-round equality, democracy and as little political interference in our lives as possible. Our pluralistic civil society ensures that members of minority groups are able to maintain their cultural traditions and observe their own sets of values and norms.
A free South Africa has enabled the development of single- interest groups, women's groups, youth formation, business associa- tions, political interest groups and other non-governmental organi- sations and to participate in policy formulation, implementation and monitoring.
A whole range of interest groups are making use of the democratic avenues to make strong representation to and influence the constitution making process. Labour and business associations are the joint architects of new labour policy and legislation with which each one of them seeks to accommodate its sectarian interests.
Furthermore the right of ordinary individuals to enforce their rights via an independent judiciary and the Constitutional Court is entrenched in the constitution.
In short, Chairperson, we are beginning to see civil society occupying its rightful position, if not as a worthy opposition, but certainly as a partner of the state in addressing a whole range of issues which affect our lives. We also have a Bill of Rights which provides for equality, the right to equal economic opportunity and affirmative-action for historically deprived categories of citizens.
But having made these positive observations about the relation- ship between state and society as it is unfolding in our country, it is opportune for me to now address myself directly to the topic you have chosen for me.
You are asking, Chairperson, "has ubuntu or botho any relevance in our country at this juncture of the development of our country." In other words, is there any need for our leaders in government, in business and in civil society to espouse positive and strong social consciousness and responsibility, what in our parlance we call botho or ubuntu?
Let me first argue, Chairperson, that a constitution is a form of mechanism by which society regulates itself; it is a social compact between society and authority to observe certain rules of fair play. It is ubuntu in codified form, a condensation of norms of civilised behaviour which underwent an evolutionary process through the ages.
The most important right of all in our constitution is the right to equality. But the mere fact that since April 1994 we are all constitutionally equal does not of itself make us all suddenly equal.
Our constitution and bill of rights are part of a legal framework which empowers South African citizens with certain rights; the absence of which would have prevented less powerful people from pursuing opportunities of self betterment.
Thus the right to equality is meaningless for the poor in the absence of extra mechanisms designed to enable them to enjoy those rights on the same level as the economically privileged. The profound changes that have been taking place since 1994 have only done so on the political front, the socio economic problems have been identified and addressed but have not gone away.
What is needed at this stage is to bring back our colective social consciousness or ubuntu and make it imbue all sectors of our society so that all citizens, the poor, the women, the youth and the disabled can enjoy the rights and privileges of being South Africans.
It must imbue the transformation process within institutions of government. It must be part of the ethos which drives public servants to work hard, to practice transparency, to be customer- friendly, to be accountable to the taxpayer and to care for the property of the tax payer.
Ubuntu should be the commanding principle underlying the democratization of the economy. Unless we act with good faith.and the intention to do the common good for other less privileged people, it is going to be exceedingly difficult to expect the poor not to continue to question the profanity of our socio-economic structures in terms of which a few control the means of production and the rest are either unemployed, looking for a job or are underpaid.
It would be foolhardy to expect those who voted for a better life to continue to wave the flag of freedom in conditions of social deprivation and economic inequality while the opportunity is there for all of us to live in sumptuous luxury.
The spirit of ubuntu should be the essential ingredient of the New Patriotism that we saw in full display in the World Rugby Cup and African Nations Cup tournaments. It is up to those of us who have the capacity and other means of social development to expand the New Patriotism to accommodate the less fortunate so that they too can enjoy the benefits of equal citizenship.
This is a call to civil society to be truly civil and to act towards the poor in a manner that befits a partner of government. The challenge is to the business community to translate the influence they have over government into accelerating the implementation of the reconstruction and development programme through the national strategy for growth and development.
There is a need to pool the resources that are inherent in the institutions of government and those of civil society to accelerate the development of our people in a way that is designed to meet the economic and social needs of the country and in a way that promotes individual development. Unless we embark on proactive and focused strategies to build our skills and human-resources-base South Africa is going to continue to lag behind .
There are many business companies which have invested and continue to invest in the provision and the funding of quality education for the purposes of employment creation and economic growth. By so doing they are displaying true patriotism that is infused with ubuntu. We would like to encourage those businesses which support our schools, our technikons and universities to continue in this patriotic spirit.
Ubuntu is basic to all human beings, but the sad story of our country is that the previous government, for reasons which to this day still defy logic, applied it not only selectively, but went out of its way to excoriate it from the ethos of a large section of the citizens of this country.
This political dimension makes the issue of crime a complex one. It is often difficult to draw a line between criminal activity that is induced by inner vice or sheer animality and that which is the result of the system of institutionalised racism which consigned millions to the scrap heap of non-citizens.
Fortunately, the majority of the millions who are victims of discrimination and systematic deprivation have not lost their ubuntu which they were born with and that which they learned in their families.
Indeed, the victims of the past are beginning to assert themselves quite independently of their social backgrounds. They want to be leaders of civil society, government and business.
They too suffer from the effects of rising levels of crime to the same extent as, and sometimes more than, their fellow citizens who had not been politically discriminated against.
This means to say that the criminals who are assaulting our economy are not selective, nor are they motivated by philanthrophic interests. It is therefore the duty of all of us to engage in strategies designed to curb criminal activity, wherever it rears its head. The National Crime Prevention Strategy of the government, which should be supported by all, includes public awareness campaigns which focus on violence, the abuse of women and children and white-collar crime.
Companies should assist to rid our society of Syndicated crime, fraud, forgery, corruption and other crimes of dishonesty which are usually not perpetrated by people who are necessarily unemployed or poor.
It is necessary therefore, Chairperson, to reflect again on our societal values and all round ubuntu, without which all our endeavours to curb the scourge of crime will come to nought.
If we pooled our resources and invested in measures designed to give all our people a chance to earn a decent living, crime will no longer be a complex issue. It will be easier to deal with it without engaging in a political post-mortem exercise.
Politically we have the essential elements of democracy such as free speech, free movement and other freedoms, but we need to ensure that the rights of the less powerful are not compromised by the acts of the powerful.
The ethos of ubuntu requires of us to develop and maintain a culture of human rights. We need to have dynamic institutions of civil society which can help society to become sophisticated in understanding our Bill of Rights.
A fully developed human rights culture will ensure that no political office-bearer or other person in a position of power will ever abuse that power without fear of retribution.
In conclusion, Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, we are truly blessed to have produced leaders of the quality of Aggrey Klaaste, Cyprian Lekoma, Gabriel Mokgoko, Karin Fritz and their colleagues in their respective companies, for having identified a niche in the social development process for their collective effort.
A word of distinction should be reserved for Aggrey Klaaste and his colleagues at Sowetan for having been the flag bearers of ubuntu for the past decade or so even in the face of intimidation from the side of the political authorities of the time. It is not often that mass-circulation newspapers devote whole columns to address basic human issues and for so long.
To Mageu Number One, on behalf of the provincial cabinet and the people of South Africa, I would like to say keep up the good work.