CODESA enabled change that builds One South Africa for All

Note to Editors: the following remarks were delivered by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, at a Heritage Day celebration at the CODESA Walkway in Johannesburg today. The Leader was joined by DA Gauteng Premier Candidate, Solly Msimanga, and DA National Spokespersons, Solly Malatsi and Refiloe Nt’sekhe.

Almost 27 years ago, this hallway served as a walkway from Apartheid to democracy. The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) Walkway commemorates the talks that laid the foundation for a negotiated settlement and South Africa’s first democratic election.

It was here that South Africa chose co-operation over intransigence, building over destruction, and unity over division. South Africa chose change that would build One South Africa for All.

These watershed negotiations gave us the right to be who we choose to be and to self-identify. Our national transition from autocracy to democracy gave us the right to finally be able to say we are all South African.

Heritage Day serves as a constant reminder that we have more that unites us than divides us. One nation, one people, united in our diversity.

A diversity that we should all celebrate. Our proud heritage of different cultures and races coming together. This is the tapestry of our nation that we celebrate on Heritage Day.

We are here because the Constitution enshrines human dignity to those who were once treated as subhuman. Nearly twenty five years later, and the values of constitutionalism are still not cemented in our political culture. There are some who want to divide us against each other, and talk of others as though they are second class citizens, because of the colour of their skin. That is racism and tears away the fabric of who we are as a people.

We must build pride in each and every individual so that we never again discriminate because of colour, culture or creed.

This is why the DA exists and why we believe South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.

We are the only party in South Africa striving for the pursuit of liberty and equality for all people. Because when we have equal opportunity to thrive, we can prosper together, learn from each other and teach each other.

Our founding father of democratic South Africa taught us that no one is born racist. They have to be taught it and if they can be taught racism, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to human beings.

The DA realises that our injustices need to be addressed together. When ordinary South Africans come together, we can do extra-ordinary things.

It is why we shall never forgo the dream to build one South Africa for all and why it’s not just one heritage that matters. It’s about all of our heritage.

I close with my own heritage as a proud child of a Tswana father and a Xhosa mother. From my parents I was taught to have respect for, and work to uphold our culture. In our country today, more must be done to restore the culture of respect among our young people.

I also have a heritage where my wife is a white South African and realises the advantages her upbringing came with. We together hand over to our children our legacy which is in many ways the story of South Africa. A story of pain and triumph, success and failure, the privileged and the poor.

The solution is bringing our people together. I was so proud to be a part of history this last weekend as thousands of South Africans from all walks of life held hands towards ‘One South Africa for All.’

Our launch this weekend was also an honest acknowledgment of the cold hard truth that there is no fair access to jobs, crime is rising, and corruption is oppressing us.

CODESA’s legacy that surrounds us here today promised change that would build One South Africa for All. At the launch of our National Election 2019 Campaign on Saturday, I announced my team that will help me spread this message across all corners of South Africa. It is why Team South Africa is so diverse and speaks to the issues that affect us.

Our team’s young and dynamic activists include Jacques Julius (Secure Borders), Geordin Hill-Lewis (Access to Jobs), John Steenhuisen (Crime), Luyolo Mphithi (Youth), Magashule Gana (Basic Services), Natasha Mazzone (State Capture), Nomafrench Mbombo (DA Women’s Network), Phumzile van Damme (Corruption), Solly Malatsi (Campaign Spokesperson), Thandeka Mbabama (Land), and Yusuf Cassim (Students). Two days since our team was announced, over 1 500 South Africans have already joined the DA’s #Team1SA volunteer movement to share the DA’s values of building one South Africa with one future founded on our values of Freedom, Fairness, Opportunity and Diversity.

You can too by going to TeamOneSouthAfrica.co.za to get involved.

The change that South Africa began here in December 1991 was extra-ordinary. What was then a World Trade Centre is now The CODESA Walkway in a Convention Centre.

If you believe that our country works when we work together, join the thousands of South Africans who have already volunteered as activists for Team One South Africa.

Our agenda for change is not just to be united but to work hard to deliver for all our people. That is why this team will work tirelessly to build a future for all our people.

Happy Heritage Day and God bless South Africa.

Issued by the DA, 24 September 2018