Let us speak of Freedom

On Tuesday next week, June 26th, we will be observing the 46th anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter. To prepare for this event, this journal has been carrying articles on the various clauses of the Charter. Nevertheless, we will perhaps have to take additional measures to familiarise greater numbers of our people with the Freedom Charter. We say this because the Freedom Charter is not merely an historical document. It remains still, an important guide about the direction in which we should all take our country as a consequence of its reconstruction and development.

For years the Freedom Charter has been a living document. Its visionary prescriptions have served as an educational tool for different generations of freedom fighters and the masses of the people of South Africa. For decades its eloquence has adequately answered the question - what kind of South Africa do we want?

Its lack of ambiguity about the nature of the South African problems under apartheid and the clear and pointed way in which it offers solutions has helped a great deal in mobilising millions of people to the cause of freedom. To those who sought to balkanise our country into separate entities as a way of entrenching the ideology and practice of racism, as well as those who thought that this country belongs to one race to the exclusion of others, the Freedom Charter's message is clear and simple - South Africa belongs to all who live in it!

The profound meaning of this correct assertion goes deeper than the legal recognition of citizenship rights. It means that the authority of those who govern the country must be derived from the will of the people. But it also means that all of us who have a legitimate claim to this country, have the responsibility to contribute to its development and progress.

We have to work to ensure that all the people to whom this country belongs are not divided by opulence at one end and squalor on the other, over-indulgence and hunger pains, rich and poor, development and underdevelopment. The first important step in the direction of bringing about a South Africa which belongs to all who live in it, was to fight for political freedom for which thousands of our people selflessly struggled for and laid down their lives.

Given the situation where the majority had been robbed of their birthright to land, liberty and peace, and where our country could not be prosperous because the majority were denied equal rights and opportunities, many patriots and martyrs arrived at the correct determination that to reverse this reality the will of the people must be paramount, hence they proclaimed: The People Shall govern!

Not only did they proclaim this, they conducted a determined, protracted and disciplined struggle to bring democracy to our land. Our democratic government is based on this important assertion made in 1955. When millions of our people patiently waited to cast their votes in two national elections and two local polls, they were giving practical expression to this bold declaration of the Freedom Charter that the people must, in reality, govern.

Today, our people know that every man and every woman has the right to vote for and stand as a candidate for all bodies which make laws and govern our country. Our people also know something else. They know that they fought hard and long to realise this fundamental right. Clearly, this is the right they will always defend and consolidate.

Later this year, South Africa will host the United Nations conference to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances. Many amongst the peoples of the world expect our country to take a lead in addressing these problems. Our experience, born of the long struggle to rid our country of racism, will prove invaluable to the eradication of racism. As we engage in this struggle, we should be guided by the words of wisdom of the Freedom Charter that: All National Groups Shall have Equal Rights!

Apart from the contribution that we will be making at the United Nation's conference, we should, as a people, examine the progress that we have made in ensuring that we create representative collectives in the bodies of state, the courts, the schools, the private sector, the media and every public and private institution. We should ensure that we are able to protect and develop all our languages and cultures and begin to build a South African identity, defined amongst others by multi-lingualism and multi-culturalism.

When whites begin to speak fluent Zulu and Sotho and blacks speak Afrikaans like any Afrikaner, then we will know that we have begun to break the barriers of our divided past. There is a challenge facing all our public and private institutions, for these bodies, themselves, constant to carry out an introspection to determine whether they have made any movement away from any form of racism.

But of importance, it is incumbent on the ANC, the Alliance and the entire democratic movement to lead a struggle in which they should assist all of us to accelerate the transformation of this country towards a non-racial and non-sexist society.

Our country is also divided between the rich and the poor. Precisely because of apartheid, the rich are largely white and the poor black. Of course there are today poor whites and rich blacks. But their numbers are so small that they do no affect the aggregate racial imbalance in wealth and income.

Therefore, when the Freedom Charter says; The People Shall Share in the Country's Wealth!, it enjoins us to take conscious and deliberate measures to ensure that the wealth of our country and the benefits of our economy are enjoyed by the people as a whole. Accordingly, government has created and continues to create opportunities for black people to engage in all the economic activities of our country.

However, government does not have sufficient resources to ensure large-scale participation of black people at all levels of the economy. We therefore urge that business should be partners in this effort, by taking very serious steps to make sure that black economic empowerment is not postponed for another day.

As government, we have taken appropriate steps to redress the land dispossession of the African people. We have been true to the Freedom Charter call: The Land Shall be Shared Among Those Who Work It! We are working hard to ensure that land ownership based on race is banished forever. Through a number of laws that we have passed, we have improved the tenure rights of those who live on farms, while the land restitution process has gathered pace.

The criminal justice system has made many important advances in restructuring our courts, our police and every part of the law enforcement agencies. Although change takes time, gradually our courts are becoming more representative. Because we have implemented the demand of the Freedom Charter, All Shall be Equal before the Law, and ensured that everyone is given a fair trial, there have been many instances when criminals have taken advantage of our new legal framework. Parliament has passed a number of important laws to make it difficult for criminals to get easy bail and exploit our criminal justice system. Better co-ordination and determination to root out crime will ensure that criminals have nowhere to hide.

Those who were privileged to participate in the drafting of the Freedom Charter will agree that because of the clause, All Shall Enjoy Equal Human Rights!, we have made such strides that there is no doubt that we are amongst the leading nations where there are a pervasive freedoms of speech, assembly, expression and worship. We have to be vigilant, though, that none amongst us abuses these rights.

We will all agree that one the biggest challenges facing our democracy is the need to expand the economy and create more jobs. We have made steady progress in this regard and while there has been shedding of jobs in some economic sectors, there have been advances in others. We will spare no effort in our struggle to make real the call made 46 years ago that: There Shall be Work and Security!

Many will be aware that since 1994, enrolment in schools has gone up, meaning that many of our children are now afforded an opportunity to realise their dreams. There are still many challenges in our struggle to turn our schools into centres of excellence where 'cultural treasures of mankind shall be opened to all, by free exchange of books, ideas and contact with other lands'. Yet, we have made impressive advances in fighting illiteracy and with the collaboration of the private sector, we are introducing our scholars and students to modern technology.

When we say, The Doors of Learning and Culture Shall be Opened!, we also mean that in the current context, we should open the doors of the information and communication technology. We need to master this technology so that our country is not left behind in this age of the Internet.

Furthermore, government has in the past seven years built more than one million houses, provided water to more than 8 million people and connected electricity to many homes. We are building many clinics in the communities that have been neglected for many years. Everyday new roads are being constructed and tarred. We do all these and more, because we are guided by the advice that: There Shall be Houses, Security and Comfort!

Finally, we are part of the African countries that have been assigned to elaborate a vision of the renewal of our continent. One of the first conditions for this renewal is that we must never again expose our people to the cruelty and indecency of war and conflict, because the Freedom Charter taught us long time ago that: There Shall be Peace and Friendship. We have to achieve this stability so that we can embark on the important programmes of developing all our countries, so that sooner rather than later, we should banish poverty, hunger, disease and underdevelopment from the face of the African soil.

As we celebrate the Freedom Charter, let us do what we used to do in the past - go door to door and talk to our people about the Freedom Charter. Let us report back to our people about the progress that we have made in realising the demands of the Charter and explain the obstacles responsible for some of the delays. Let us do this clearly, patiently and honestly.

Racism in the Western Cape

Chasing the elusive rainbow

The pronouncement recently by the ANC national leadership that the Western Cape is the most racist province has evoked interesting reactions, mainly vigorous denials. This is part of a discourse which tries to deny the existence of racism in South Africa today. The aim of this discourse is to demand of the victims of racism that they drop or temper their demands for redress, affirmation and equality.

Why deny racism?

The view which seeks to deny the existence of racism today has its roots in a liberal understanding that the struggle against apartheid was a civil rights struggle (rather than a national liberation one) because the crime of apartheid was that it separated people racially and enshrined such discrimination in law. According to this view, the onset of democracy in 1994, the adoption of the new constitution and the repeal of racist legislation all mean that the struggle has run its course. Any undue reference to race or racism today is effectively therefore a blow to reconciliation.

This view ignores the fact that racial discrimination was the basis for the dispossession of the majority, ensuring inferior access for them to education, services, health, employment and opportunity.

This view has taken a pernicious turn with the emergence of the Democratic Alliance's muscular liberalism. The muscular-liberal discourse doesn't simply ignore debates about race or deny the existence of racism, but it decries such debates as illegitimate and the identification of racism as "playing the race card". It is at its pernicious best when it accuses the victims of racism and inequality of re-racialising society when they seek mechanisms for equality and equity.

Effectively this view comforts the beneficiaries of racism that they can hold onto their privileges, and accuses the victims of racism of causing racial tension when they refer to racism and their inequality. It has one single objective: to demobilise South Africans in their efforts to build a truly non-racial, and more equal society because it seeks to freeze the inequalities wrought by apartheid.

Race is embedded in the Western Cape

The national leadership of the ANC was not manufacturing a truth about racism; it was merely reflecting the lived realities of the ordinary citizens it encountered in the Western Cape. The National Working Committee (NWC) on its visit to the province in April listened to stories about life for farmworkers as they are brutalised, evicted and called all kinds of racist names; about the Simpson family in Kraaifontein being hounded out of their new house and their surprise at seeing the DA councillor defend the perpetrators; about entrepreneurs who are refused bank loans because their businesses are in "high risk" group areas; about people who suffer murders and rapes in the face of an unequal distribution of police resources; about small businesspeople being left out of the tender and contract loop; about black people who are unable to have their hair cut at `white hairdressers'; about Coloured workers being physically beaten for misdemeanours at rural workplaces; about how Africans feel completely alienated; about ongoing beach discrimination along the West Coast.

Ordinary people will tell you, and academics ought to know, the roots of racism in the Western Cape lay in the systematic planting of racial landmines in the province by the apartheid government which go off under the lightest of pressure today. The Coloured Labour Preference laws laid the foundation for long-standing hostility between African and coloured as did welfare laws such as the maintenance grants. The harsh application of influx control laws in the Western Cape created the current hostile atmosphere for Africans.

Africans were not even put on housing waiting lists because they were not supposed to belong in the province. The situation of three academic hospitals in close proximity to each other in Cape Town always meant that health care in the Eastern and Northern Cape would be undermined. The concentration of the entire organ of provincial government in the Western Cape meant that the Northern Cape had to build its governance capacity from scratch while the Eastern Cape had to build from the ashes of the bantustans. Even Cape Town's spatial form shows massive development in the North West corridor, while the South East remains dormitory suburbs, wracked by poverty.

Confront racism

The way to combat racism is not to deny its existence nor its systemic roots. Neither is it to trivialise its impact. Those who deny racism must be challenged because it is such denial which potentially entrenches our inherited inequalities. Those who feed into this discourse of denial and who ought to know better should be appealed to so that the axes they wish to grind do not strengthen the hand of those who benefit from racial inequality.

We need to strengthen and in some cases purify the capacity of our nascent democratic institutions to deal with the perpetrators of racism so that the stigma of racism does not get generalised onto entire sections of our population. It is precisely in an atmosphere of denial and party political defensiveness around racism that such generalisations occur because specific perpetrators are defended.

Ebrahim Rasool is Provincial Chairperson of the ANC in the Western Cape.

South Africa belongs to all

The answer to racism and sexism in South Africa

When the Congress of the People declared in 1955 that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white", they issued a resonant call for the end of racial oppression in this country.

As South Africa celebrates on 26 June the forty-sixth anniversary of the adoption of the Freedom Charter, this non-racial vision remains a viable antidote to continuing racial and gender discrimination and inequality.

The process of developing the Freedom Charter was itself a triumph of non-racialism. Writing in 1956 in Liberation, the newspaper of the Congress Movement, Nelson Mandela said: "For the first time in the history of our country the democratic forces irrespective of race, ideological conviction, party affiliation or religious belief have renounced and discarded racialism in all its ramifications, clearly defined their aims and objects and united in a common programme of action."

A non-racial, non-sexist South Africa remains at the heart of the objectives of the ANC. In the face of the severest persecution and repression, the majority of South Africans have consistently struggled for a non-racial and non-sexist society in which racial discrimination and inequality is eradicated, and in which the diversity of South Africans is acknowledged, affirmed and valued.

Racism continues to be a daily reality for the vast majority of black South Africans. The legacy of apartheid continues throughout South Africa's institutions, communities and attitudes, affecting black people in general and Africans in particular. Unequal access to wealth, services and opportunities denies black people the opportunity to exercise their constitutional rights.

Gender discrimination - specifically the oppression of women - is part of this apartheid legacy. Black women experience the effects of both racial and gender inequality, having the least access to resources and opportunities. African women, in particular, constitute the majority of the poor, particularly in rural areas. They are found in the lowest paid jobs and continue to bear the brunt of poverty, illiteracy and poor health, including HIV/Aids.

The ANC's non-racial tradition is founded on a commitment to rid South Africa of all the barriers that have been constructed to separate white from black. Many of these barriers have been broken down. A democratic constitution is now in place, with a Bill of Rights guaranteeing freedoms equally to all South Africans. Apartheid laws have been scrapped and are being replaced by a volume of progressive, developmental legislation. The security forces have been integrated. The public service is becoming more representative.

But not all the barriers have been broken down - a point made by ANC President Thabo Mbeki in a speech to parliament in 1998 when he characterised South Africa as a country of 'two nations'. This is not to abandon the desire for, nor the possibility of, a common nationhood. Rather it is to simply state the reality of South African society - that it is comprised of a small group of people enjoying relatively high levels of wealth and opportunity and a larger group who live in poverty. The smaller group is overwhelmingly white and the larger group is overwhelmingly black.

Every second South African born today with a black skin is likely to be poor. A South African born with a white skin, by contrast, has a one in a hundred chance of being poor. This reality of race in South Africa is perpetuated, among other things, by ongoing manifestations of racism in society - whether in the form of the mistreatment by white farmers of their workers, the refusal of banks to finance loans in certain residential areas or the failure of the private sector to address in any meaningful way the extremely skewed representation of blacks and women within its ranks.

Racism does not only take the form of isolated assaults or murders. The killing of Tshepo Matloha in the Northern Province earlier this year was an abhorrent act condemned by South Africans across the political and colour spectrum. Yet the event opened the lid on a town sharply divided by continuing racism. This racism is reflected in the distribution of resources within the town, by power relations between black and white and by the contempt with which black residents are daily treated by their white counterparts.

By bringing all forms of racism and sexism to light, exchanging views and allowing people to express themselves South Africa can make progress in addressing these forms of discrimination. South Africans need to struggle against racist and sexist attitudes and develop an approach of 'zero-tolerance' to sexist and racist practices.

It is necessary to address racial and gender discrimination and inequality in its many institutional and social forms. This includes changing the skewed distribution of resources through the equitable distribution of state funds, a programme of black economic empowerment (including women's economic empowerment), affirmative action, land reform and social development. It requires the transformation, in terms of composition, culture and focus, of institutions like the judiciary, public service, private sector, police service, security forces and parastatals. Essential to this are programmes to promote multi-culturalism, multi-lingualism and tolerance in all our educational institutions and other important sites of social development.

To this day, the Freedom Charter remains the clearest, most concise and most enduring expression of a programme to end racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination in South Africa.

Join the national celebration of Freedom Charter Day on Tuesday, 26 June 2001 at the Johannesburg City Hall from 12.30-14.00.

MORE INFORMATION

• 'Reconciliation and Nation-building'. Speech to parliament by ANC President, Thabo Mbeki, May 1998
• The Freedom Charter
• Information about the Congress of the People

Young people

Child poverty among South Africa's most pressing challenges

Concern with the rights of children and young people is reflected in a number of clauses of the Freedom Charter. The charter declares the rights of children to special medical care, recreational facilities, crèches and social centres. It says education should be free and equal for all children. Education should teach the youth to love their people and their culture, to honour, humanity, liberty and peace. Orphans should be cared for by the state. Child labour should be abolished.

The rights of children and young people to protection, survival, development and participation have been enshrined in the Constitution. Government has committed itself to reducing poverty and securing the rights of children by ratifying international instruments on the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter of People's Rights.

The vulnerability and special needs of children are recognised in the National Programme of Action for Children in South Africa, which aims to secure the rights of children to survival, protection, development and participation through policy, budget repriotisation and social service delivery. This should facilitate a reduction in child poverty. These initiatives are prioritised across government and are supported by systems and processes of monitoring, evaluating and reporting on progress made to address the situation of children.

The Constitution provides an explicit framework on the socio economic rights of children, defined as people under the age of 18 years. It declares a child's best interests of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child. While the constitution provides an overarching framework for the attainment of the rights of children it has also made possible the promotion of accountable, transparent and democratic systems of governance in the delivery of such rights.

But policy and institutional changes do not automatically translate into improvements in the quality of life of children.

One major challenge the democratic government had to confront was the lack of accurate information on the nature and extent of problems experienced by children. Recent studies on poverty and inequality and on the situation of children, together with credible census data, provide a basis for reliable programme decisions.

As state institutions, such as the police, gain legitimacy those who experience violence, abuse, exploitation and other violations are increasingly reporting such incidences. It is now possible to develop a baseline of information on the dimensions of poverty, the special problems experienced by children and young people and the risks they are exposed to.

Evidence suggests that long-term poverty and structural unemployment have a devastating impact on the poorest households. Approximately 18 million people live below the international income measure of R353 a person a month. Statistics mask the many challenges facing parents and communities in the daily struggles to survive but they provide a picture of why concerted action is urgently required on all fronts.

The racial, gender and spatial dimensions of poverty and inequality in South Africa remain persistent features. Sixty-one percent of Africans are poor compared to one percent of whites. Women are more likely to be poor than men with the poverty rate among female headed households at 60 percent compared with 31 percent for male headed households. Unemployment is highest among African women at 52 percent followed by African men at 42,5 percent. Seventy-one percent of people in rural areas fall below the poverty line.

Child and youth poverty does not occur in a vacuum. It is a symptom of income poverty, capability poverty and food insecurity within households. Our households and communities do not have the resources to cope with the demands placed on them. The inability of the economy to create formal jobs, especially at the lower levels has meant more people are being pushed into the informal sector or into casual work.

As part of the effort to tackle these and related problems, government has appointed a committee of inquiry into a comprehensive social security system to examine and propose forms of social security provision geared to South Africa's needs. Key policy areas under examination include: · the redefinition and expansion of the current system of social assistance grants as a way of removing poverty and dealing with problems related to HIV/AIDS; · an assessment of the viability of a basic income grant, including its financial and social implications; · an assessment of a phased approach toward the implementation of universal cover and protection in the areas of health and retirement; · examining how people in the informal sector could be incorporated into a system of social security protection.

The committee will have to propose immediate ways of dealing with poverty and long term strategies to enable the poorest people to participate and advance in our society. This work will help link governments' social and economic objectives.

Working in partnership with civil society organisations, including the voluntary welfare sector, private sector and faith-based organisations, government has begun to introduce measures to promote the rights of children, young people and the poorest members of society through concrete action.

Measures to address the vulnerability of the girl child to abuse, rape and gender-based violence and the introduction of laws against child labour are part of this process. There is an increased focus, through the Poverty Relief Programme, on the establishment of urban regeneration initiatives for unemployed youth and youth at risk. This includes training and the promotion of job creation initiatives for youth.

A national strategic framework has been developed to address the needs of children infected and affected by HIV/Aids. This strategy makes provision for community and home-based care for children affected by HIV/Aids and other infectious diseases. Government is expanding its assistance through social relief funds as an urgent measure to deal with the crises experienced by children and the disabled living in poverty.

An important part of healing social wounds is the creation of a society where social justice prevails. No-one must be excluded from participating in society because of a lack of basic needs and access to opportunities for their full human development.

South Africa's journey of liberation and transformation highlights the importance of pursuing a human rights process in an environment that promotes equity, affirmation, self-respect, participation and development. If this is not done, the time bomb of poverty, and related problems like violence against children, women and the elderly, will delay indefinitely the realisation of the vision of a new society contained in the Freedom Charter.

Youth Day incident

A regrettable episode at an event of historical significance

Much public attention has been given to an incident which took place at a Youth Day commemoration at Orlando Stadium last weekend involving ANC Women' s League President Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. The ANC issued the following statement on the incident:

"The African National Congress wishes to state the following with regard to the unfortunate incident that took place on 16 June at Orlando Stadium.

1. The 25th anniversary of June 16 at Orlando Stadium was a solemn occasion to commemorate and honour the memory of those who paid with their lives in protest against bantu education.
2. In the manner befitting the sanctity and significance of this day, the anniversary was to be addressed by President Thabo Mbeki, Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa and National Youth Commission Chairperson Jabu Mbalula.
3. This commemoration was organised by the National Youth Commission (NYC). Every person on the podium was seated according to protocol and the discretion of the government organisers.
4. Gauteng Safety and Liaison MEC Nomvula Mokonyane presided over the occasion.
5. As the NYC Chairperson was addressing this historic occasion he was compelled to pause as Cde Winnie made her late entry into the stadium.
6. The Master of Ceremonies Nomvula Mokonyane approached Cde Winnie to brief her about the sitting arrangements and requested her to join all other guests in the VIP section in front of the podium. Cde Winnie disregarded this request. Determined to flaunt her disrespect for the occasion and for everybody else, she marched on to the podium and proceeded to enjoin the President into her tomfoolery.
7. President Thabo Mbeki went on to protect himself from this caper.
8. The ANC believes the behaviour of the President of the ANC Women's League was unbecoming of her standing as a leader.
9. Only those who lack a sense of occasion would approve of such unbecoming conduct. The ANC disapproves strongly of this behaviour.
10. The ANC noting and regretting this incident wishes to implore its members to respect and adhere to protocol irrespective of whatever position the member holds. National occasions must be given the respect and dignity deserving of such gatherings.
11. The ANC regrets what occurred at this particular historic occasion and hopes that the matter will now be laid to rest."
    

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