Johannesburg - The Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted on our economy and has disrupted the livelihoods of the people of South Africa and the world.
These were the sentiments expressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his virtual Human Rights Day speech on Sunday.
March 21 was declared Human Rights following the death of 69 people in Sharpeville in 1960 during the anti-pass protest march led by the PAC. It was led by Nyakane Tsolo in Sharpeville while PAC founding president Robert Sobukwe led another march in Soweto.
After both leaders were arrested, in Sharpeville police opened fire killing 69-people and injuring scores of others.
During his address, Ramaphosa said the country was commemorating Human Rights Day almost exactly a year since the coronavirus pandemic was declared a national disaster in our country and we prepared for a nationwide lockdown to contain its spread.
“Over the course of the past year, our nation, like many others across the world, has endured great hardships. We have lost mothers, fathers, siblings, colleagues and friends to this deadly disease. It has taken a heavy toll on our economy and on our people’s livelihoods.
“It has affected every aspect of our lives as South Africans,” he said.
He said the people had to give up basic human interactions that we once took for granted, like greeting each other with a handshake or a warm hug.
“We have had to sacrifice things that are important to us, like meeting and socialising, travelling freely, attending funerals of our loved ones and being at cultural gatherings and attending religious services.
“But throughout, there has been an understanding that these restrictions were, and remain, necessary for the health and safety of us all.
“It has almost become difficult to remember how life was in our country just a year ago.
“It was a life without masks, a life without social distancing and without restrictions on our daily lives. And yet over the passage of time, we have shown our resilience as a people,” Ramaphosa said.
He said the people have shown a determination to defeat a pandemic that is still very much with us, saying they’ve done so with great courage and resolve.
“Our unity as a nation has been our greatest strength. This unity is born of an understanding that the pandemic is a threat to us all.
“The virus has struck down rich and poor, young and old, male and female, black and white, city dwellers and those who live in our rural areas,” Ramaphosa said.
About the deadly events at Sharpeville, he said: “Sixty-one years ago our brave forebears took up the defence of the rights of our people, in the face of a harsh, cruel and unjust system that was exploitive and oppressive.
“The heroes who protested at Sharpeville on the 21st of March 1960 took up the cause of liberty, freedom and human rights.
“They did so not for themselves alone, but for us all. That's why they're our heroes and heroines.
“In the same way, the struggles we wage today are not for our cause alone.
“They are also for the men, women and children of tomorrow, so that they too may live in security, comfort, peace and freedom.
“In reflecting on the events at Sharpeville, we appreciate how far we have come from being a society that cares only for a few at the expense of the majority,” Ramaphosa said.
He said over the past year, the government, working in partnership with social partners and civil society, has given effect to the principle that human rights are not negotiable.
“We have strived to meet our many obligations under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that is the cornerstone of our democracy.
“Through the provision of care to the sick and social support to the vulnerable, we have worked together to give effect to the most important rights of our people – the right to life, to health and to dignity.
“The protesters at Sharpeville wanted to see an end to the pass system that deprived them of their basic human right to work, to earn a living and to provide for their families.
“It was a struggle for social and economic rights,” Ramaphosa said.
Political Bureau