WeeklySA_AdminPoverty: The country still faced challenges that included poverty and high unemployment rate
By Monk Nkomo
The democratic breakthrough of achieving freedom in 1994 represented both a decisive break with a painful past under a repressive apartheid rule and an opportunity for South Africa to chart a new course.
This was said by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the launch of the 30 Year Review of Democracy Report in Pretoria yesterday. South Africa was a vastly different place compared to what it was thirty years ago, he added.
The vision of a free South Africa had inspired and guided the struggle of our people for many decades and for many generations.
The ANC-led government had established a unitary, democratic state and created institutions to uphold democracy and promote accountability. There was also an independent judiciary, a robust civil society, a free media and a clear separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government.
‘’It is a great pleasure to be here at the launch of the 30 Year Review Report on the work we have collectively undertaken to build a democratic, prosperous and free South Africa.
It is this vision that lies at the heart of the Freedom Charter, which was adopted at the Congress of the People in Kliptown nearly seven decades ago’’.
Ramaphosa conceded that much still needed to be done and said they knew that for millions of South Africans, the promises made in 1994 had not yet translated into the meaningful change that they had sought and deserved.
The brave men and women of South Africa pledged in Kliptown to strive together, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic changes set out in the Freedom Charter had been won.
It was on this day, the 8th of May, in 1996, that the Constitutional Assembly adopted our new democratic Constitution, Ramaphosa said.
The Constitution that was adopted on that day gave legal form to the vision contained in the Freedom Charter and continued to guide both the functioning and the direction of our democracy.
‘’While this 30 Year Review is about the journey South Africa has traversed since the advent of democracy, it is also a reflection on progress towards the aspirations of the Freedom Charter and our democratic Constitution’’.
This Review, the President added, was undertaken as a tribute to all those who fought for our freedom, and for all South Africans who had worked together to build and enrich our democracy.
The scope of the 30 Year Review Report was not only retrospective. It also looked to the future. The insights it had generated would inform future government planning.
‘’It will assist us as we work to achieve the vision of the National Development Plan by 2030 and as we plan for the decades ahead. The Report will also contribute towards improved policy implementation’’.
Ramaphosa said the democratic breakthrough of 1994 represented both a decisive break with a painful past and an opportunity for South Africa to chart a new course.
Guided by the Constitution and its Bill of Rights, successive democratic administrations had implemented progressive policies and programmes to uplift the material condition of all South Africans, particularly society’s most vulnerable. These policies had included the provision of basic services, housing, education, health care and social support.
The country, Ramaphosa added, had advanced transformative policies to change the racial and gender composition of the economy and the workplace. The government had also implemented laws to protect workers and advance their rights.
‘’We have restored land to many who had been dispossessed and have provided emerging farmers with the means to productively use their land.
South Africa today is a valued member of the international fellowship of nations. We pursue a progressive foreign policy rooted in advancing the African Agenda, in social justice and solidarity, and in support of multilateralism’’.
Much more still needed to be done, according to the President who conceded that the country was contending with slow economic growth, high unemployment, poverty, inequality and underdevelopment.
‘’That is why we must, and we will, continue to work in earnest to resolve the challenges that are holding back our progress.
We continue our efforts to overcome the energy crisis, to implement structural reforms to boost economic growth, to drive programmes that create more employment, and to improve the capacity of the state to deliver services’’
The task of consolidating the country’s democratic gains was not just the responsibility of the State. It was a responsibility that should be shared by all .
Ramaphosa urged South Africans that If they are to fully transform this country, everybody must renew the same pledge made by our forebears at Kliptown – to strive, sparing neither strength nor courage, until the democratic transformation was completed.
