Keynote
Speech by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, Minister of Environmental
Affairs and Tourism, at a Seminar to Mark National
Human Rights Day, Hosted by the South African Ambassador
in the Hague, Netherlands, on 21 March 2006
I would like to begin by commending
and thanking our gracious host, Ambassador Mkhize,
for having taken the initiative to convene this
seminar. There are few South Africans more directly
familiar with the subject of human rights than our
Ambassador, who amongst her many achievements has
served as a Commissioner of our Truth and Reconciliation
Commission (TRC), trustee and founding member of
the National Anti-Violence Trust, and Chairperson
of the Peace Commission of South African Women in
Dialogue (SAWID). I would also like to thank you
all for joining us here today in The Hague as we
join South Africans around the world in celebration
of South Africa's National Human Rights Day.
Links of History, Commerce
and Human Rights
The Southern Tip of Africa has
always been a meeting point. From the earliest hunter-gatherers,
to the arrival of European explorers, our home has
always been a crossroads. It has been the meeting
place of East and West, of Europe and Africa. It
has brought together cultures and histories from
across the world and forged a powerful mix of pride,
tradition, innovation and expression.
There can be no question about
the special links that bind the people of South
Africa and the people of the Netherlands. When one
of our more than 120 000 annual visitors from the
Netherlands stands atop Table Mountain, or at the
meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans,
they reach back not only to the time of Jan van
Riebeeck and the Dutch East India Company, but to
the very cradle of humankind and all the millennia
in between.
Ours are links of history some
painful, some positive - of culture, of language,
of commerce, and of a common commitment to progressive
governance, human rights, and the upliftment of
all people. From the time of Queen Wilhelmina, who
at age 18 expressed her solidarity with the struggles
of the Afrikaner people against British colonial
domination, to the support of the Royal Family,
and so many ordinary Dutch citizens, for the movement
to bring true democracy to South Africa.
This deep partnership was underscored
last October when the Netherlands and South Africa
signed a new Declaration of Intent, under which
the Dutch Government will be channeling more than
30 million Euro (about R225 million) in annual development
aid to South Africa, to assist in the deepening
and widening of social and economic rights.
Human Rights Embedded
in the New South Africa
Ours is a country of exceptional
diversity, with as wide a melting-pot of cultures,
languages, and beliefs as any in the world. 11 official
languages, nine provinces, and every major religion.
Influences from as far afield as India, Malaysia,
Europe, Central and North Africa, and the Americas.
Little wonder then that so many South Africans have
lived with the perception of separate histories
in one country when in fact we have but one history,
shared by all South Africans. Much as we share the
responsibility to build a successful common future,
so too do we carry the duty to build a common understanding
of our past.
"We must construct [a] people-centered
society of freedom in such a manner that it guarantees
the political liberties and the human rights of
all our citizens." It was with these words
that President Nelson Mandela opened the first sitting
of the democratic Parliament of South Africa, on
25 May 1994. It was the embodiment of four decades
of struggle for basic human rights, and at the same
time laid the foundation for the character of our
modern democracy.
In 1994 there were many around
the world who said of South Africa that ours would
be only short-lived success that the 'Madiba Magic'
would fade and disappear. Not only did it not fade
it has grown to serve as the bedrock upon which
we have built a culture of human rights of which
to be proud. Mr. Mandela is the father of our nation,
yet there were those who predicted that his long-tem
contribution would be limited as he is but one man.
The reality is that the values of his life have
been embraced and adopted by our nation.
Already there are children, born
in the era of South Africa freedom, who have grown,
secure in the knowledge of their own rights. They
know what it is to have freedom of choice, of speech,
of assembly and of belief. They know, in ever-growing
numbers, what it is to be free from fear, from hunger,
from disease and from privation but it has not
always been so.
Let us, for a moment, go back
46 years, to a day in which newspaper headlines
shouted of South African police opening fire on
20 000 peaceful protestors; of 69 dead and more
than 180 injured; of a national State of Emergency
and a country in disarray. Sharpeville was a turning
point in the fight against Apartheid, and was to
become a symbol of courage, conviction and absolute
resolve.
Our nation stands today as a living
and growing tribute to the virtues of inalienable
human rights. A society in which political equality,
for all people, has been hard-fought and hard-won.
16 Years of Progress in
Human Rights
Our commitment is to halve poverty
and unemployment by 2014. Much progress has already
been made and we have already moved beyond traditional
human rights into the realm of positive rights.
More than 12 million poor South Africans now have
access to a free basic supply of 6000 litres of
water a month. More than 5.5 million of the most
vulnerable South Africans the very young, the
very old, and the physically challenged now benefit
from social assistance in the form of grants and
pensions. More than 1,4 million houses have been
built to shelter families who would otherwise have
nowhere else to live. Schools, universities and
training institutions have become more affordable
and more accessible. Basic conditions of employment
have been set and enforced ensuring better working
conditions and more equitable wages.
Building the Age of Hope
South Africa is experiencing the
single longest period of sustained economic growth
since the end of the Second World War. South Africans
are now the eighth most optimistic people in the
world, and more than 84% of our citizens believe
that there is a happy future for all races in our
country. It is this greatness of spirit, this exceptional
capacity for tolerance and unity, that has set in
stone our South African commitment to human rights.
Proclaiming the dawning of a South
African Age of Hope, President Mbeki, in his State
of the Nation Address in February, laid out the
challenges that remain to be addressed for us to
ensure that the Age of Hope leaves a legacy of poverty
alleviation, job creation, and social upliftment.
Foremost amongst these specific and targeted interventions
will be the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative
of South Africa ASGISA. Driven and championed
by our Deputy President it will see public sector
investment rise from 6% to 8% of GDP, annual economic
growth rising from the current 4,9% to 6%, and sector-specific
interventions strategies starting over the next
six months in tourism and in business process outsourcing.
Perhaps the single greatest achievement
of our new democracy however has been the growing
national consensus that has been forged across the
political spectrum of pride in our shared South
African identity, and determination to provide a
permanent answer to our National Question, through
the creation of a truly non-racial society.
Conclusion
The contrasts between the South
Africa of March 1960 and the South Africa of March
2006 could not be more pronounced. In place of global
headlines about repression and violence, South Africans
today are making news as world leaders from the
Oscars to the cricket ovals, from boardrooms to
cyberspace and even outer space.
We acknowledge with great thanks
the historical and ongoing contribution made by
our partners, like the Dutch, to this success. We
renew our commitment to our shared values and common
respect for human rights. Above all, on this National
Human Rights Day, we vow to affirm the sacrifices
made by those who came before us, by ensuring that
South Africa builds its Age of Hope in our second
decade of Freedom.
