25 May 2004
Madame Speaker,
Almost fifty years ago we, the People of South Africa, declared for all our country and the world to know, that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people. We pledged ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democracy had been won.
The Freedom Charter was drafted only after an army of volunteers had scoured the most remote corners of our country. They spoke and listened to our all people: in town and countryside, brothers and sisters without land, children without schooling, the miners of coal, gold and diamonds; the workers in farms and forests, the teachers, students and preachers, the mothers and daughters.
Led by Madhiba these cadres for a better life listened to the people's grievances. They dutifully recorded the solutions that the people themselves proposed to the problems of every day life. The Congress of the People, which convened in Kliptown in 1955, was a tribune of a free South Africa, with a clear vision of a better life for all her people, built on the values of freedom and dignity.
Once again, over the last 12 months South Africa has witnessed a nation-wide mobilisation of the people. Thousands of volunteers scoured the length and breadth of our vast nation, armed with nothing more than a commitment to the vision of a better society proclaimed in the Freedom Charter.
The election campaign served to explain to our people how they should realistically act, together with government, in a practical manner to overcome the many issues they confront in their daily lives. It sought to mobilise millions of our people into direct engagement with the country's political leadership.
Going from house to house, from shanty to shanty, from village to town, from north to south, in every community, we patiently interacted with the people. At taxi ranks, shopping centres, sports events and religious gatherings we spoke and we listened to the many voices of South Africa's beautiful human complexity.
Our people did not only offer complaints and misgivings, although it cannot be denied that these were apparent in no small measure.
But, reminding us of the endless creativity of a people in motion, they also offered insightful analysis and practical solutions to the complex problems of every day life. The solutions they offered, grounded in the realities of their own existence, must form the bedrock of our advance towards the ideals envisioned in the Freedom Charter.
Madame Speaker,
The President has outlined the responsibilities that the executive must fulfil. But the newly elected premiers and ministers have a dual responsibility. Not only must they ensure that tasks outlined by the President are implemented within the time frames given, they must also conduct themselves in a manner that builds upon these lessons in democratic practice.
The extent of mobilisation during the election campaign has set a new standard for the manner in which our government interacts with the people. Building on traditions established by the Congress of the People, and advancing beyond the rich experience of Izimbizo over the last five years, we have indeed set ourselves a daunting benchmark.
No minister, no premier, no member of a provincial executive must act as though their leadership has been ordained by a higher being. That leadership must be earned, on a daily basis, through concerted interaction with our people.
As legislators too, the extent of tasks are awesome. Not only must we hold the executive to account, ensuring the punctual implementation of the detailed programmes that the President has outlined for government. Not only must we act on the decisive mandate received from the people, continuing to develop the legal framework on which to build a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa.
We must also maintain and advance the momentum of democratic mobilisation that has characterised our campaign for election. Consciously rejecting the tendency toward lazy self-satisfaction, we must conduct ourselves, each and every day, as if we were in the midst of an election campaign.
It is not enough for us to rest on our laurels, waking up to seek a mandate again in five years time. Instead, the consent of the nation must be renewed each day, at the coalface of labour amongst the people. Going to where they live. Helping them to solve problems. Navigating, on their behalf the difficult terrain of a public service that is still striving to realise the principle of Batho Pele. And, most importantly, drawing on their creative genius by listening to the solutions they themselves pose to the problems they confront in daily life.
Our government's programme can only succeed if the people act as their own liberators. We, the MP's, members of the NCOP and of the Provincial Legislatures are not simply the representatives of those people. We must become the full time organisers of the revolutionary transformation of our society.
Madame Speaker,
Our mandate from the people is truly humbling. On April 14, the poor, the unemployed, the workers and the landless voted in overwhelming numbers, demonstrating their confidence that democracy can and will deliver a better life for all.
The consequence of this awe-inspiring mandate from the masses of our people is that we must now act decisively to implement the people's contract to create work and fight poverty.
This is the contract that we should all enter into as South Africans - each of us with one another; government and each citizen, each community, each organisation, each sector of society.
The South African people have shown their readiness and enthusiasm to participate in such a partnership to tackle the challenges of poverty and unemployment. It is now up to us, their elected representatives, to deliver our part of the contract.
Among our immediate tasks will be to engage communities across the country to discuss the people's contract in the context of local Integrated Development Plans. We are all aware that much work remains to be done in building local government as the hands and feet of our developmental efforts. As MP's and MPLs we must ensure that every locality has a clear set of priorities and an agreed upon programme of action to achieve these priorities. We must ensure that all stakeholders in the community know and understand their respective responsibilities.
Our efforts to build the people's contract must also build on the foundation laid at the Growth and Development Summit. Civil society, NGO's, cultural and sports groups, churches, trade unions and business people must be drawn into our programmes, through practical work and honest engagement.
We must unite our people and all their organised formations in a national effort to create work and push back the frontiers of poverty.
Madame Speaker,
In confronting these tasks, let us be inspired by the noble commitments of our forebears. As they adopted the Freedom Charter, they pledged themselves to "strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage" until democracy was won.
The President has outlined the responsibilities of the executive. As we enter the Second decade of Freedom let us once again pledge ourselves to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until poverty is eliminated and a better life created.
Let all those who love their people and their country now say, side-by-side we dedicate our lives to advancing the cause of our people.
Together, we can and will do more. Together we can and will continue to strive towards a non-racial, non-sexist, united, prosperous and democratic South Africa.
Together we can create work and fight poverty.
I thank you.