Union Buildings, Pretoria 27 April 2001
Minister Mdladlana
MEC's
Mayors and other representatives of local government
Your Excellencies Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Distinguished guests
Fellow citizens
Today marks the 7th anniversary of the dawn of freedom for the people of South Africa. It is a day of joy and celebration. Seven years ago, on 27 April 1994, South Africans voted in the country's first democratic elections. Images of long queues of South African citizens, most of whom were waiting to cast their votes for the first time in their lives, were beamed across the world.
It was this act which signalled a decisive break with the abhorrent system of apartheid and the advent of democracy in our country. Together we created the possibility for the realisation of the vision for which our people had fought and died.
It was on this day that we began the destruction of apartheid and created the possibility for all of us to work together for a better life.
Today we celebrate the victory of a people united against apartheid. We celebrate victory over a system, which brought misery, prejudice, endemic diseases and rampant poverty to the overwhelming majority of the country's people.
We celebrate our freedom. We celebrate the achievements of our democracy.
We celebrate our new constitution which guarantees fundamental human rights for all South Africans and commits us to work together to build a united, non-racial and democratic South Africa based on the will of the people.
Poor communities, women, workers, youth, rural communities and people with disabilities have benefited directly from government policies and programmes and continue to receive focused attention.
Today more South Africans have access to housing, health care, basic education, food, electricity, water and social security grants.
The sick can now be attended to at clinics and other health care facilities near to where they live. Learners now have the right to decent education.
Parents have the right to participate in the running of our schools. Many more people now own their own houses and land. Many more now have access to childcare grants, pensions, poverty relief and other social welfare services. Many more communities now have running water and electricity and will soon have access to free basic services.
Our police are now committed to serve the people and work with communities to stamp out crime and build safe communities.
As we prepare to celebrate workers day, we do so in the knowledge that we now have labour laws that entrench workers rights and lay the basis for the transformation of our workplaces and our economy.
These are just some of the fruits of freedom that we are celebrating today.
But as we celebrate what freedom has meant for us, we also know that we want freedom to mean more. It must mean freedom from poverty and unemployment, freedom from racism and sexism and other forms of discrimination.
Freedom must mean economic growth and job creation. It must mean better access to finance.
There are still many challenges we face in building a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous South Africa.
Dire poverty continues to exist, with black people, women, children, the disabled and the elderly being worst affected. We need to continue to work to eradicate poverty, racial inequalities and socio-economic disparities.
As government we have committed ourselves to prioritise job creation and poverty eradication. We are forging ahead to implement our economic growth strategy to build more infrastructure, to attract more investment and create more jobs.
We pledge to implement the code of good practice on people with disabilities once finalised.
The fight against HIV/Aids and many other diseases remains one of our biggest challenges as a government and a people. We can and must do more to intensify this fight.
We must continue to confront and challenge racism in our country. There are still some South Africans who are determined to take us back to apartheid.
We must not aid their cause by acting like them in response to their racist attitudes and actions. Unlike in the past, victims of racism now have recourse to the law. In addition, each one of us has a duty to ensure the elimination of all forms of racism and sexism within our homes, the workplace, churches, social clubs, schools and communities.
We must work hard to encourage the emergence of a common South African identity. This common identity we speak of is one where we all see ourselves as South Africans first and foremost. Let us all take pride in our achievements as a nation.
Issued by
Office of the Premier Gauteng Provincial Government