The Nelson Mandela Foundation observes with a heavy heart the growing number of voices of discontent and the alarming rise in cases of South Africans who every day, despite the protections guaranteed by our Constitution, have to forego their human rights. Paramount to this is the right to life which is taken away from many by simply being neglected and left to perish due to starvation. 26% of households in South Africa live with hunger and this cannot be left to only one sector of our society to resolve.
While speaking out against an imperfect system is a right that should be exercised, South Africa runs the risk of only paying lip service to its societal ills. Individual and collective action can and will change this path.
We need to look at how we lift the ink from the paper of our constitution and ensure that its promises deliver in the everyday lives of the people of this country.
In a country where the plight of hunger is not seen as a crisis, yet one in fifteen children dies before their fifth birthday. Twelve million people suffer from food insecurity with four million of those on the brink of starvation. It cannot be enough that those who have the luxury of throwing away leftovers think the job of exercising humanity in an effort to restore dignity is the exclusive duty of state machinery. We must look at the culture of polarisation that is fast becoming a norm globally and fight it vehemently.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation recently hosted a dialogue wherein shocking evidence by researchers, academics, community activists and business was presented, debated and calls to act were made. Primarily, the dialogue aimed to dissect the subject of sufficiency, pondering on what must be done to improve ‘quality of life’.
While there seems to be a shared diagnosis of the increasing conditions of inequality as being precipitated by ongoing political and social tensions in the country the solution remains multifaceted. There is a need for a shared political responsibility between government and corporate South Africa.
The on-going moments of social unrest and institutional mismanagement are not isolated incidents, but are very central expressions of the continued legacy of inequality and poverty in the country.
The development of better “decent standards of living” should be a constitutional programme that enlists not only the government, but business and civil society as a whole, in its efforts.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation operates in a space that depends on the willingness of individuals to act together towards the change they want to see. Today as we observe this year’s national day of Human Rights, we urge South Africa to mimic the mothers and fathers of its democracy and stand up for those who are yet to enjoy these rights.
Action is being part of initiatives that lend a hand in needy families. Where a young girl is not able to attend school because her family cannot afford sanitary towels, lend a hand. Where racism rears its ugly head, call it out and stand in its face as a soldier of respect and dignity. Where a human being is being chastised simply because of their sexuality, let us call these actions out.
As we remember this day 57 years ago, where many laid down their lives in Sharpeville, let us be aware of the glaring deficit of compassion around us, the disturbing events of human rights abuses and countless cases of families without means to feed themselves.
As we mark this day, as declared by former President Nelson Mandela in 1994 as Human Rights Day, we must commit to reacting against our own inaction and persistent efforts of undoing all that was put down as the foundation of this democracy.
On this day in 1996, as we marked the second anniversary of Human Rights Day post the advent of democracy, President Nelson Mandela reminded us “Our drive for human dignity and basic rights is premised on the development of our country and the improvement of the living conditions of the people. The freedoms whose virtue we are extolling will be meaningless in the face of grinding poverty and underdevelopment”.
These words still ring true today, as they did 21 years ago. It remains in our hands to make a difference.