Freedom Day DEBATE: Is time to advance social and economic Justice in South Africa
Speak: MP Adv Shameemah Salie
Freedom Day, the commemoration of this day, should not be passed without honouring the brave heroes and heroines who sacrificed their lives for an end to colonialism, apartheid and for social and economic justice.
Today our Constitution affords all South Africans the right to vote and enjoy all manners of rights , yet we are aware of our failures to improve the lives of the dispossessed and oppressed masses.
We cannot say we are free when vast majority of the masses are still living in abject poverty; unemployed, homeless, evictions from farms and homes continue unabated, and crime, substance abuse and gangsterism alongside horendous medical care are on the rise.
The liberation struggle was against colonialism; yet today we continue to struggle for the return of our land, wealth and the restoration of our dignity as victims of an oppressive system. The deal negotiated with the apartheid National Party is undermining the dispossessed masses’ right to their stolen land; they still have no dignity and are confined to squatter camps, without basic services such as water, toilets, electricity and roads.
Our people live in shacks that are prone to destruction by floods and fires and still subjected to the dehumanising bucket system.
Thirty one years we are sitting with overflowing classrooms, youth unemployment is hovering around 70%, our people are left depending on the meagre social grants for survival.
Freedom cannot be claimed while corruption, and lack of accountability continues to cripple the people of our country!
We have reactionary groups such as the DA and their racist cohorts who are working against bills to rectify policies to work in the interest of the poor and working class. The DA and its allies are against genuine transformation; they are opposed to the National Minimum wage, the Expropriation of Land without Compensation Bill and the National Health Insurance because all these threaten the privileges of their constituency such as big imperialist corporations, racists and apartheid beneficiaries.
Al Jama-ah reiterates what President Nelson Mandela said: “Our Freedom is incomplete without the Freedom of the Palestinians;” and he further described the Israeli government as a terrorist state.
The treacherous visit by the Members of Parliament who visited this terrorist and apartheid entity that is guilty of genocide of Palestinians, must be investigated. This alleged fact finding trip is a direct affront to South Africa’s commitment to justice for Palestinians. It is shocking that of these MPs come from marginalised groups, who are seeking return of their own stolen land and resources the colonialists robbed them off right in genocide of the indigenous people of palestine, and supported the colonisers what hypocrisy!
We call on government to act swiftly in guarding against forces infiltrating the country with an imperialist agenda and to investigate the DA for its aspirations to colonise the Western Cape to bring back the old apartheid and zionist system.”