This speech was delivered by GOOD MP, Shaun August during the Black Lives Matter debate in Parliament today.
Honourable Chairperson
We remember the murder of Collins Khosa who didn’t necessarily die due to racism but we must acknowledge that Khosa would have still been around for his family today if he was white.
Similarly, 11 year old Leo Williams who was shot in crossfire by police in Laingville, St Helena Bay whilst watching tv in his home. He died yesterday when his family decided to switch off the life support machines.
These incidents echo examples of an unjust system to those living in places like Lavender Hill or Alexandra or for people like Andries Tatane in Ficksburg and the Marikana miners 8 years ago.
The ugliest truth of these stories is that the individuals who assaulted and killed Khosa, Leo, Tatane and the Marikana miners are part of a society that places different values on different people based on the colour of their skin.
Although non-racialism is a foundation stone of our Constitution and Bill of Rights, prejudice is still all around us. Where we live, what we eat, the quality of healthcare and education we receive, the cleanliness of our streets, whether or not we get beaten up by police – all these things are to a large extent still determined by the colour of our skins.
Chairperson…
The structure of the society we inherited in 1994 was fundamentally imbalanced. Since then, the gap in living standards between rich and poor has widened. It is among the widest in the world.
Most of our citizens still lead fundamentally undignified lives – not because they have done anything wrong but because they are people of colour.
Twenty-six years after apartheid we must challenge the slow pace of integration.
- We must ask why we continue to build houses for people of colour on the margins of our towns and cities – furthest from civic amenities and job prospects. It feels as if we’ve bought into the idea that if you’re Coloured you deserve to live in Manenberg, but if you speak isiXhosa you must go to Makaza?
- We must ask why ownership of assets in provinces like the Northern Cape continue to be disproportionately owned in favour of the white, privilege population there.
- We must ask why our economy is widening the inequality gap.
- We must ask why some of our children don’t have enough food to eat, and some die as a consequence of easily treatable diseases.
- We must ask why poor people deserve poorly functioning sanitation, water and dirt collection systems.
- We must ask why our farming system still represent the baasskap mentality due to generations of black lives that do not matter.
Honest answers to these questions tell us that Black lives and dignity still don’t matter enough in the post-apartheid society.
It is time to put inequality and opportunity at the forefront of our conversation to rebuild South Africa and make every life matter.
I thank you.