GOOD speech by Brett Herron,
GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
26 May 2022
Note: This is the speech that was delivered by GOOD Secretary-General and Member of Parliament, Brett Herron, during today’s Parliamentary Debate on Establishing shared values in polarized, diverse society, that could cement a common nationhood and bring a sense of belonging to the most vulnerable.
It is difficult to create a sense of collective belonging in a society as unequal as ours, that is not founded on social, economic, environmental or spatial justice.
We are a country of diverse cultures, languages and colours, with a rights-based Constitution. But we are also still a country in which the relationships between race and class, and race and space, are to a very large extent determined by apartheid classifications and privileges.
The gulf in living standards between suburbs, townships and informal settlements in our towns and cities is so wide that it feels our people are inhabiting different universes.
We must ask hard questions of ourselves, as law-makers. Over the past 28 years, to what extent have we succeeded in building bridges between formerly divided communities?
Where has the nation-building poetically trotted out by successive governments since the 1990s actually had an effect?
Why are we continuing to build houses for Black people in the same kind of places the apartheid government built them, far away from the action in our towns and cities?
Why have we allowed our land reform processes to proceed at such a snail’s pace that it has barely had any impact on land ownership patterns to date?
Why are former Model C schools generally still so much better than those attended by the majority of our children?
The recent reports of violence, intolerance and hatred at Stellenbosch University highlights the long road we must still travel to forge the fair, just and united nation we’d like to be.
Last year, research indicated that 21% of women had experienced physical violence by a partner. South Africa is one of the world’s most unsafe places for women; statistics tell us a woman is murdered every three hours in South Africa.
We can’t talk of common nationhood while our men predate on our mothers, wives and girl children.
As parliamentarians we must contribute, measurably, to reducing inequality. When we are more equal we’ll have laid the foundations for a common sense of belonging, and pride.
Media enquiries:
Brett Herron, GOOD: Secretary-General & Member of Parliament
Cell: 0825183264
Email: bretth@forgood.org.za
Samkelo Mgobozi, GOOD: Media Manager
Cell: 0792315977 (whatsapp)/0829684021 (calls)
Email: samm@forgood.org.za