South Africa has made great strides, with the struggle for basic human rights. This is according to President Cyril Ramaphosa who delivered the keynote address at the Human Rights Day commemoration in Sharpeville, Gauteng on Thursday, under the theme: “Three Decades of Respect for and Promotion of Human Rights”.
PHOTO: @GovernmentZA - President Cyril Ramaphosa“Sixty-four years have passed since the ground on which we
gather here in Sharpeville bore witness to one of the worst atrocities
committed by the apartheid regime against the South African people. And
although many decades have passed, we still remember with great sorrow and pain
the 69 people who were killed and the many more who were maimed as they
protested in peace against the grave injustices imposed upon them,” the
President said.
Ramaphosa, earlier in the day, led a wreath laying ceremony at
the Sharpeville memorial site in commemoration of South Africans who laid their
lives in sacrifice for the struggle for the attainment of human rights and
democratic South Africa. He also met with family members of the fallen
Sharpeville Massacre victims during the wreath laying ceremony.
Today’s gathering, he said, was held to trace the journey
as a nation over the last 64 years, from a state of discrimination and
repression to a land of democracy and freedom.
“Ours was a journey of relentless struggle. We still recall
how every black South African – African, Coloured and Indian - was denied the
basic human rights to which they were entitled. We recall how many generations
of black South Africans were denied the right to life and dignity, the right to
equal treatment, the right to vote and to be heard, the right to live where
they want, to work in the trade of their choice, the right to education and
health care, the right to the protection of the law,” he said.
He added that it was a struggle to realise the rights
contained in the Bill of Rights which called for equal treatment of all people,
equal access to land, direct representation and voting rights.
“Ours was a struggle to realise the vision of the Freedom Charter, adopted by the Congress of People in 1955, of a South Africa that is prosperous and free and in which all enjoy equal rights and opportunities.
“It was these principles and these ideals, these struggles
and these sacrifices, that enabled the achievement of our democracy and the
adoption of the Bill of Rights that is at the centre of our democratic
Constitution,” he said.
The President highlighted on unemployment, poverty, gender
equality, education.
‘’Working together, as a nation united, we have built a
democracy that recognises the equal worth of every person. We have built a
society in which everyone has an equal expectation that their rights will be
respected and upheld. We have travelled this long journey together.’’
‘’But we still have further to travel and much more to do
before everyone can equally exercise the fundamental freedoms that are
rightfully theirs. On this Human Rights Day, let us pledge to ourselves and
each other that we will travel that road together,’’ said President Cyril
Ramaphosa
Why we commemorate Human Rights Day? #HumanRightsDay #SouthAfrica #HumanRightsMonth #BushRadio pic.twitter.com/4N1H2hGaZi
— Bush Radio 89.5 FM (@Bushradio) March 20, 2024
Done By: Mitchum George
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