Striving for an open opportunity society for all

21 March 2015

Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered by the DA Parliamentary Leader, Mmusi Maimane MP, at the Homecoming Revolution conference in London, UK, Saturday, March 21 2015.

Ladies and gentlemen

Honoured guests

Good afternoon

Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. I am inspired by the Homecoming Revolution initiative, and honoured that I could be here today to share my vision for the future of South Africa.

In South Africa today, our people are celebrating Human Rights Day as they remember the 55th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre.

On the 21st of March 1960, thousands of black South Africans went to the Police station in the township of Sharpeville to offer themselves up for arrest.

They were there in defiance of the pass laws that prevented freedom of movement under Apartheid.

A total of 69 people were brutally killed that day in their struggle for the rights South Africans take for granted today.

I decided to open my address today by invoking the memory of Sharpeville not only because it is Human Rights Day back home, but because of what it signifies to me.

I was 13 years old on the day that Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected President of South Africa.

I was too young to have been a part of a struggle, but old enough to appreciate what so many had died fighting for.

On the day of his inauguration in 1994, Madiba made a profound statement:

"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world."

Today as a black South African I have the freedom to go where I please and do what I please. I owe this right to those who fought and died for it.

The fundamental freedoms of our democracy were hard-won, and should today allow for children of any race or creed to access any opportunity they have the means to pursue.

But herein lies the flaw with our democracy. After two decades the legacy of Apartheid remains a tangible and inescapable reality for millions of South Africans who do not have the means to pursue their dreams because of the circumstances of their birth.

In the early years of our democracy many South Africans felt an overwhelming sense of optimism about the prospect for change and a better life.

But as the harsh reality of overcoming decades of racial segregation settled in, it became clear that the dream of a prosperous, united nation would not be realised overnight.

There is no denying that South Africa faces many challenges today.

Unemployment hovers around 35%. Economic growth has dropped below 2%. Crime remains pervasive in many communities, and the public education system remains fundamentally unequal along the same historical lines of race and class.

It is these challenges that have caused much hardship amongst people back home, and also the departure of many South Africans who have left our land in search of opportunities abroad. Africa has thus been a place not only for expatriation of skills but, sadly an expatriation of talent. 

South Africans can be forgiven for becoming demoralised about life in a country where they are constantly reminded about the state of despair it all too often finds itself in.

But to do so is to deny the untapped opportunity that South Africa still holds.

I am here to address you today not with a message of despair, but one of hope.

While the ANC of today has lost the moral compass it had under the leadership of Nelson Mandela, the DA of today is a formidable force that is bringing out real change in a growing number of communities.

The DA of today is no longer merely a party of opposition, but is increasingly establishing itself as a viable alternative government.

The Western Cape, the one province in which the DA governs, is setting the national standard for good governance and service delivery.

In the Western Cape, 99% of households have access to piped water, 93.4% have access to electricity and 90.5% have access to flush toilets. This is the highest access in the country.

Economically, the province has the lowest broad unemployment rate in South Africa, more than 10% below the national rate. 

We have further spent R45 million in the current financial year to assist new business development, and our "Cut Red Tape Hotline" for businesses has resolved 2856 complaints since 2012.

In the past 5 months we have rolled out 52 public WI-FI hotspots, with 51,000 unique users, to make sure that broadband connectivity is not reserved for the well off.

On education, we have ensured that the inequality between poorer schools and more affluent schools is being addressed. This has resulted in the average pass rate in Khayelitsha schools going up from 53.6% to 76.1% in last 5 years.

The success of the DA in the Western Cape is driving our growth in other provinces and strategic metros. In the 2016 local government elections there is a very real possibility that the DA will win in Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay.

It is from these metros that we will drive our campaign to win in more provinces and to push the ANC below 50% nationally.

But the DA does not seek power for power's sake.

The DA has a vision for the future of South Africa, and I would like to share that vision with you today.

We dream of a land characterised by freedom, fairness and opportunity; where the values enshrined in our Constitution are not mere ideals, but a way of life.

In this future South Africa, the prospects of a child born in the poorest parts of Soweto will not differ from that of a child born in the affluent community of Sandton.

This is more than just a dream where race and economic status no longer go hand in hand, but where race is no longer a central issue in our social and political discourse.

Madiba embodied the dream of non-racialism and equal opportunity, perhaps best expressed in his defence statement at the Rivonia Trial in 1964:

"I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities"

The DA strives for a non-racial society where programmes aimed at active redress have successfully removed the yoke of Apartheid and brought South Africa into an era where individual opportunity is determined by individual ability.

In this society government will play the role of an enabler, creating an environment in which citizens have the freedom to pursue opportunities.

The purpose of the state must be to maximise individual opportunity, while safeguarding the vulnerable in society from exploitation or exclusion.

It is greatly appropriate to share this vision with you on Human Rights day, as this vision is no more than the embodiment of right and freedoms contained in the Constitution of the Republic.

The Preamble to our Constitution acknowledges that its purpose must be to "heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights" in order to "improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person."

It is heart-breaking that the supreme law of our land is increasingly being overlooked by many of those who fought so hard for it.

We cannot allow the progress in nation building that was made in the early years of our democracy to be eroded by a small political elite in service of their own narrow agenda.

We cannot tolerate the rights and freedoms of individuals being undermined while politically connected individuals benefit from crony capitalism.

That is why the DA is leading the charge in strengthening the institutions of our democracy and holding the Executive to account. 

That is why we are fighting against the undermining of Chapter 9 institutions, such as the Public Protector.

Some may be alarmed by the robustness, and at times chaos, of our Parliament back home, but it is a story of a country in the process of consolidating its democracy. This is a process that took other countries' centuries to achieve, and which we are attempting to pull off in a far shorter space of time.  The key is to make sure that our progress is not reversed by those who seek to usurp it for personal gain.

We want South Africa to assume its rightful international standing and firmly establish our country as a destination for foreign investment and skilled employment.

I am honoured to be able to address the Homecoming Revolution today, for I believe their desire to repatriate former Africans and South Africans to be a noble endeavour.

South Africa has struggled to achieve sound economic growth after the global economic crisis, with growth for the coming year forecast to come in at 2%. In contrast to this, growth in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2014 averaged out to 4.5%.

Now more than ever our country needs individuals with skills and expertise to drive economic growth and serve as a catalyst for job creation.

As we remember those today who paid the ultimate sacrifice at Sharpeville, we must not lose focus of the freedoms they fought for.

Not only freedom of movement, but the freedom to live a life of value, supported by a government that respects and promotes one's right to do so.

That is the future that the DA is fighting for; one where each and every South African is free to pursue their dreams - an open opportunity society for all.

That future is in our reach, and I call on you to be a part of it.

The phase that Africa, and South Africa, must enter into is one of growth, innovation and development. 

South Africa deserves better and together we can and will achieve this. 

I thank you.

Issued by the DA, March 21 2015

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