WeeklySA_AdminMISSION: Despite the challenges South Africa is faced with, there will be no stopping in galvanising the will and collective efforts to overcome them…
By Premier Letsoha-Mathae
When American crooner Sam Cooke penned A Change is Gonna Come, the black population in the USA were feeling the weight of oppression.
In South Africa, it was a similar situation if not worse. Our people were forcibly removed from their areas, jailed without trial, viciously tortured and killed by an illegible and discredited regime.
Those who dared to stand up to the apartheid regime were brutalised. Griffith Mxenge, a well-known activist, was murdered in a brutal manner by the apartheid death squad. Perhaps trying to scare other activists, Mxenge was murdered in what can only be described as a barbaric manner. His assailants inflicted 45 lacerations and stab wounds that pierced his body, lungs, liver and heart. His throat was slit and worse, they ripped his stomach open.
The Cradock 4 also met the same grisly fate. They were murdered and their bodies set alight. There were also unconfirmed reports that their killers, in celebration of their ghastly deeds, drank copious amounts of brandy and gorged on meat.
These are but some of the horrifying incidents which preceded our freedom. That is how much our freedom cost. It was not handed to us. Nobody gave it to us on a silver platter. We fought for it. We shed tears and blood for the realisation of this freedom that some sadly take for granted.
That is why, exactly 31 years ago on this day, we were all filled with immense pride when we finally had the chance to vote. This historic day was characterised by long, snaking queues and bird eyed helicopter views of South Africans, black and white, who had been longing for a chance to elect their representatives to lead government.
After years of bloodshed, simmering tensions and near racial violence, the country was standing on a cusp. The moment all South Africans had been waiting for had finally arrived. At long last, South Africans were going to vote. The people of South Africa would, at long last, bring to life what the Freedom Charter envisioned when the Congress of the People declared: “…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…”
The will of the people prevailed that day. South Africa was unshackled from the bondages of apartheid and colonialism. Looking back at the past thirty-one years, we can all agree that a lot has been achieved. We have restored the pride of our people by providing them with shelter. We have sent thousands of our youth to school. We have assisted a number of people to establish their own businesses and today, most of them are a shining example of excellence. We have done this and much more. However, we are the first to admit that we should have done more and we must do more. We must look back and find out where we may have been derailed on our path. To finally lay claim to victory and the freedom of our people, we ought to address many of the lingering social challenges that still persist to this very day. One of them is Gender Based Violence and Femicide.
Our province is besieged by this scourge and our collective efforts are required to put an end to it. Last week, our courts convicted a woman who, for three years, sexually molested her own son.
The abuse started when the boy was only twelve years old. This is truly upsetting because we expect women to protect their offsprings with all they have. To therefore learn that a woman, a mother at that, was behind the molestation of her son, is deeply upsetting.
Despite the challenges we are faced with, we are not going to stop. Our voices will never be silenced. We will scream on top of our lungs until our voices are hoarse. We will be heard. Freedom is coming.
* The writer is the Premier of Free State
