Freedom Day: 'We are family, let us unite to build a South Africa of ...
President Cyril Ramaphosa (Photo: GCIS)
President Cyril Ramaphosa used his Freedom Day speech on Thursday and called for South Africans to unite in building a country that they can all be proud of.
On Thursday, 27 April, South Africa commemorated the first post-apartheid elections held in the country 29 years ago.
Ramaphosa addressed the Freedom Day celebrations in Klerksdorp, North West and began his speech by saying the country was celebrating the collective birth of a new nation.
"This is the day when all of us South Africans got the birth certificate for our country because that is when the real South Africa was born," said Ramaphosa.
He said since then, the country had stood the test of time. He said this is even though "so many had predicted" that South Africans would "turn on each other".
"Many before 1994 had predicted that South Africa will turn into a civil war landscape. We have not turned against each other.
"As South Africans of all races, we remain committed to working together to build the country of our dreams," said Ramaphosa.
FREEDOM DAY 2023 CELEBRATION
Ministers in the Presidency, Government Ministers, Local Council leadership, Municipality leaders, Ambassadors, Federations and Entities managers, Provincial managers and DSAC executives were in attendance to see and listen to Pres. Cyril Ramaphosa pic.twitter.com/ftV8qIWTml
The president said South Africans needed to view the country "as a large South African family".
"There are quarrels, disagreements, and yes there are differences on all manner of things and there are fights that we have. There are seasons of plenty, but also times of scarcity. Sometimes things are good and sometimes things can be bad.
"But even when times are bad, a family pulls together. A family stands together," he said.
He urged South Africans to unite in sorting the differences and solving problems, adding:
We cannot build a better South Africa of equality, freedom, and social justice for all if we are a family that turns on itself. Let us focus on what unites us. Let us always remember just how far we have come.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that some of the problems and challenges the country are facing is because of inept government. He, however, believes all South Africans can play a role in building and strengthening the government.
He said:
Yes, a number of institutions of our government have become weak but it is our collective task to strengthen those because this is our family. And family is family.
"Let us stand firm against all that does not progress this family and the behaviour of those who want to destabilise this South African family. Let us stand firm against corruption and the theft of state resources," he said.
Ramaphosa also said that South Africans needed to take a stand against public servants who neglected their responsibilities and duties, ordinary South Africans who refuse to pay for basic services and those who get away with wrong things by paying bribes.
"Let us all make our contribution to the success of the family," he said.
"We must exercise our civic duty to ensure that there is no place in this country for those who want to steal, for those who want to plunder and those who want to loot. We must embrace diversity that makes us strong as a nation instead of fomenting hatred just because we disagree with each other."
Meanwhile, Minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Zizi Kodwa, said South Africans now have a government and that the celebrations were to celebrate a "new country" that "29 years ago we did not have".
"The majority of South Africans did not participate because they did not have a government. In you, Mr President, as a representative of a democratically elected government you carry the hopes of millions of South Africans who never had [a] government before.
"[This] is why Mr President, 29 years ago South Africans never protested for service delivery because they never had a government to protest [against], it is only now that South Africans can protest for service delivery because they have a government, democratically elected by them, Mr President," said Kodwa.
