Through our actions we have an opportunity to write a brilliant narrative for the next 30-years

Remarks

Note to Editors: The following speech was delivered by RISE Mzansi National Leader, Songezo Zibi MP, during the debate on the Opening of Parliament Address.

Honourable Speaker

Mr President

The Honourable Deputy President

Honourable Members.

Mr President, there is little you said last night in outlining the matters that need yours and our collective, urgent attention that is disagreeable. The issues keeping South Africans awake at night have been self-evident for years. The goals we set for dealing with the same are also obvious.

Which President would not say they want the best schooling for the country’s children to guarantee a better future for them and our nation? Which president would not say they want safe, prosperous communities?

And so, Mr President you said many of the right things last night. But it is also true to say we live in a time that demands more of you - and demands more of us in this House.

We need a new language, reflecting a new attitude and a fresh perspective on the same issues that are the symptoms of our ills as a society.

• We are a society where public servants, such as Advocate Naude who was doing work for SARS, was shot and critically injured in eThekwini yesterday, in broad daylight. She was shot by assailants who strolled to their getaway car.
• The rich walk and drive around surrounded by people armed with firearms bigger than those your own protectors carry. They send a message that says our state is weak, and not the centre of democratic power it must be.
• We are becoming numb to human suffering – millions of people that in today’s weather get to confront the depth of the indignity that torments their lives. And that this where many children are born, into inhumanity, grow up in inhumanity, lose hope and die poor - having never seen the promised land.

That, Mr President, is a profound crisis.

It was in this building just over 34-years ago, Mr President, that you, as a much younger man, held the bullhorn for our revered Madiba as he addressed the South African people the day he walked out of prison. As you know, that was a time of profound crisis. It was a crisis so deep, that the very birth of our democracy was hailed a miracle.

Today we are in profound crisis that needs another miracle. The symbolism of this venue, and the fact of Madiba’s birthday yesterday, offers you and all of us, an opportunity to challenge ourselves anew.

I want to challenge you Mr President, that in your response next week you speak to the South African soul. I ask you to do more than offer managerial objectives and targets. I ask you to inspire, to unite, not just your Cabinet but an entire nation crying for new hope.

Yesterday you promised that in due course you will revert with clear targets and timelines, and fiscal allocations for all the themes you addressed yesterday. Urgency is the currency of the times in which we now live.

Bring those commitments back to this House so they can form the basis of the contract Parliament uses to hold the Executive accountable. There are many of us who understand that being here is a sacred duty, so we will do our duty vigorously but in good faith, because it is exactly how the founders of our democratic system wanted it to work.

Mr President you represent the last of the great generation that both fought for freedom and lived to lead in the promised land. None of us has the luxury of time. Our system of government gives us five years to write a different legacy, to hand over a baton filled with hope to future generations. We have an opportunity to write through our actions, a brilliant narrative for the next 30-years of our national life.

To paraphrase the great Dalibhunga, “we dare not linger, for with freedom, come responsibilities”.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

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