Extract from a speech delivered by Helen Zille at the joint sitting of Parliament to commemorate Human Rights Day, March 16 2010:
It is a pleasure to be participating in this debate to mark Human Rights Day, one of the most important commemorative days on South Africa's calendar.
I speak on behalf of those in this House who strive for the vision of an open, opportunity society for all. Those five words summarise 300 years of political evolution and are captured in our constitution, the historic compact that represents our country's best hope for a rights-based democracy and growing economy.
In the open, opportunity society, the state has three equally important core functions.
The first is to protect people's rights and freedoms.
The second is to extend their opportunities.
The third is to do those things for people that they cannot be expected to do for themselves.
This formula sounds simple. It is in fact extremely difficult to achieve. And sometimes there is a tension between these three imperatives.
Now that we in the Democratic Alliance are a party of government, at local and provincial level, we must seek to get the balance right, within the competencies of each specific sphere. This is how we make human rights real, as we progress towards our goal.
Often we get it right. Sometimes we get it wrong. And when we do, we must reflect on our actions and correct our course. For example, when we negotiate service delivery that encourages community involvement in development, there may be unintended consequences that infringe on people's rights.
This happened recently in the saga of the toilets without walls.
It is an episode we greatly regret, and from which we have learnt. We now know that an agreement, even when it is negotiated with a community for the purpose of maximizing service delivery and stretching the budget; and even if it works for 95% of families who agree to build their own enclosures so that they can get a toilet each rather than one toilet for every five families; even then, it may not work for everyone. In this case, the plan ended up unintentionally affronting the human dignity and rights of the 5% who did not, or could not, contribute their share.
Our commitment to human rights enjoins us to learn from these events and adapt. We have now reverted back to the national guidelines for upgrading unserviced informal settlements, which provides for one toilet for every five families, rather than one toilet per family which they agree to enclose themselves. We cannot risk the unintended consequence whereby people face the indignity of relieving themselves in public.
The issue of the informal structures used as churches in Khayelitsha is a different matter entirely. A two year process has identified land and criteria for distribution to independent churches. As the time approaches, it is essential to stop opportunistic invasions of land that would nullify the outcome of that fair and inclusive process and enable some to leapfrog over others.
This Sunday 21st March, is Human Rights Day, previously known as Sharpeville Day. It is the 50th anniversary of a turning point in the struggle for a democratic South Africa. On Sunday, we will unveil a memorial in Langa, commemorating the great march of 30,000 people in 1960 led by Philip Kgosana to protest the pass laws. We will remember Eulalie Stott, a member of the former Liberal Party and founder member of the Black Sash, who sadly died just before the commemoration she was so looking forward to.
The DA-led governments of the City and the Province will commemorate these great South Africans, because we recognize that many people, from different perspectives, played a role in creating the new South Africa. Such recognition is part of celebrating an open, opportunity society for all. We do not airbrush the contributions of others out of history to suit our own closed version of events.
Which brings me to the so-called national, democratic society - the theme of today's debate. This is supposedly the culmination of the ANC's national, democratic revolution.
These are seductive words, a classic example of what George Orwell called doublethink. This involves holding two contradictory ideas in one's head at the same time and believing both of them. Doublethink involves distorting history and reality - and then denying the distortion so that you can believe your own propaganda.
The ANC exemplifies doublethink. Our President urges people to take personal responsibility in the fight against HIV/Aids, while personally doing the opposite; he proclaims zero tolerance in the fight against corruption, and then fails to declare his assets; he proclaims allegiance to the constitution, but is destroying its independent institutions; he claims to champion the poor, but adopts empowerment policies that enrich only the small politically-connected elite.
That is doublethink. And double thinking governments destroy people's rights, limit their freedoms, and undermine their opportunities - even as their leaders claim to promote the people's interests. This is what happens in the closed, crony society for comrades only. It is the culmination of the doublethink inherent in the ANC's national democratic revolution. It is the very opposite of the open, opportunity society for all.
Take Julius Malema propagating the nationalisation of mines, even as he brokers lucrative private mining deals to enrich himself. Or his advice to the youth of South Africa. Only a year ago, Malema said: "You must never role-model a rich person who can't explain how they got rich. In the ANC we must not have corrupt people as role models. Corrupt means a simple thing - you can't explain the big amount in your bank account. In less than a year, you have got everything. Yesterday you were down and out, but today you have everything which shows in your fancy dress code."
The irony was lost on Malema, with his Breitling watch, his Armani jeans, his various multimillion rand homes and top of the range vehicles. This contradiction symbolises the ANC today. It is the outcome of the doublethink of the national democratic revolution. It inevitably leads to cronyism, corruption and the criminal state. It is a party professing to advance people's rights even as it erodes them.
This is the great tragedy of the new South Africa that we need to focus on this Human Rights Day.
The best metaphor for South Africa today is George Orwell's famous allegory, Animal Farm, which describes how a noble struggle is perverted; how it becomes a reflection of the very oppression it sought to change.
There is still time to prevent this tragedy in South Africa. Let us be honest with ourselves this Human Rights Day. The values of the open, opportunity society, that were victorious in our constitution, are more vulnerable today than at any time in the last 16 years. Let us hold up a mirror, acknowledge our mistakes, learn from them, and change course.
That is the key to progress. Let us boldly turn that key here today.
Issued by the Democratic Alliance
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