If only one South African is in chains, none of us are truly free

Note to editors: This is an extract of a speech delivered by DA Parliamentary Leader, Lindiwe Mazibuko MP, in the National Assembly during the Freedom Day debate.

Freedom Day will always be remembered as a time which brought out the best in South Africa. The national mood on that bright day was one of confidence and a generosity of spirit.

People said it could not be done - but South Africa did it.

We ‘transcended the divisions of the past' to negotiate among ourselves a peaceful solution to one of the bitterest and longest conflicts in history. This is why today, we declare with unshakeable confidence: ‘honour your past; own your future'. 

I remember however how difficult the times were in the period prior to April 27, 1994. I grew up in Umlazi in a province ripped apart by a low-intensity civil war in which 20, 000 people perished. 

KwaMashu was a hotbed of political violence. Massacres rocked the country from the Reef to Saint James.

I recall the Caspers in the streets, the suffocating stench of teargas. Fear and foreboding stalked our communities. Peace seemed to completely elude us when prominent anti-apartheid activists, like Chris Hani, were summarily murdered in cold blood. 

Our agonising history means that the transition was less the stuff of a miracle, and more the product of hard-work, skilful negotiation, and the courage of the many. 

It concentrates our minds that if such a high price was paid for our freedom, we are duty bound to make good on it, and use it every day. 

So we all look back to that joyful day, eighteen years ago, when it was first possible for every citizen to experience the sweet taste of freedom at the ballot box. 

We remember the lines of voters stretched indefinitely, the heady chaos of a new democracy, the air heavy with a sense of expectancy.

There was the exhilaration of South Africans from every walk of life and community standing patiently side by side. At last, it seemed like we had found a willingness to face our imperfections, and we began to see ourselves in each other. 

I vividly remember standing with my mother in one of those long queues in Pinetown, when she, at the age of 44, cast her first ever vote.

Most people voted for the African National Congress (ANC) that day, for one clear reason. President Nelson Mandela's vision of reconciliation had triumphed not simply by the power of his words, but by the nobility of his personality and his example. 

Madiba knew that democracy and freedom would not be self-sustaining. He famously only served for one term as President to demonstrate that no individual or party is greater than democracy.

As our democracy has progressed, it has become clearer to us all that freedom is not something that is only just exercised every five years at the ballot box. Nor does the vote in itself make a person free. 

We have learnt that it is how we exercise our vote that will determine if it brings to power leaders who will deliver on the pledges set out in the Bill of Rights.

They include freedom from the indignity of joblessness; freedom from preventable disease and ill-health; freedom from fear and danger; freedom from homelessness; freedom from ignorance and despair.

Freedom by these lights is not a once-off event. It is something tangible which each South African should be able to experience. We call this the open, opportunity society: one in which freedom is measured not by words, but by real opportunities. 

It says no matter who you are, no matter where you come from, you deserve a fair chance to live a life you value. Ironically and inspiringly, South Africans are realising that the ideal of a better life for all might be promised by the ANC, but it is realised by the Democratic Alliance, especially where we govern.

The DA is turning South African politics on its head simply by governing better than the ANC.

In the Western Cape Provincial Government (WCPG) and in municipalities, like the city of Cape Town, the DA is crafting a new vision of smart and capable government. Every decision we take begins by asking: how do we enlarge the promise of freedom contained in the Constitution?

Just take the example of the backyarder communities in Cape Town. For the first time, citizens residing in informal and semi-formal households are being connected through portable sites so that they can receive electricity, water and sanitation services. 

Freedom is marching on in Cape Town.

In the Western Cape, Helen Zille has presided over delivery successes across government from an unprecedented boost in matric pass rates, to improved health services, and safer roads.

How excited we were when the Centre of Science and Technology (COSAT) in Khayelitsha was ranked ninth in matric outcomes in the province last year. That is the first time ever that a township school in the Western Cape has made the top ten of best performing schools.

This is the work of freedom.

Further afield, since the DA took control of Midvaal Municipality in 2000, unemployment has tumbled down to 12% because of smart job creation initiatives that have made Midvaal a magnet for investment. But 12% is still too high. We will not rest until we have full employment because freedom demands it.

As the DA delivers upon its promises, more and more people are starting to exercise their freedom to choose at the ballot box. Last year, nearly a quarter of South Africans placed their cross next to the DA in the local government elections.

In last week's by-elections, the DA trumped the ANC in a hat trick where it was defending three seats, and we are growing in every community. The ANC had boasted in its press statements that these three seats would form the vanguard of its electoral recovery, especially in the Western Cape. But the people of Kirkwood, Manenberg, Heideveld, Gugulethu and, yes, Grabouw knew better. 

The DA triumphed because people want to live a better life, not just receive more empty ANC promises and more corrupt ANC rule. Why is this significant? It shows that human rights - the tangibles of freedom - are stirring within the souls of every South African. The ANC is being punished for its complacency in government at the ballot box. This is democracy at work.

More and more people are casting aside old allegiances to use their political freedom to gain access to the freedoms contained in the world's most progressive constitution. The best thing about freedom is that people realise that you don't need to vote for the ANC to honour your past. More importantly, people are realising that you cannot vote for the ANC if you want to own your future.

The DA has emerged as the party for South Africans who want to honour their past, and own their future.

Our debate today signals a return to the pervasive hope of April 27, 1994. We ask: how do we translate freedom at the ballot box into real gains for every citizen? 

If we believe that we can secure our country by just talking without acting, then we betray those who came before us to secure our freedom.

Let us never forget the high standard we aspire to: if only one South African remains in chains, none of us is free.

Issued by the DA, May 2 2012

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter