MBOMBELA – “As we get ready to celebrate 20 years of democracy, there is no better way to do it than by looking back at how this freedom was attained and pause for a moment in honour of those who died for it.”

This is according to premier David Mabuza who spent the Easter weekend visiting various churches in the province as part of his party’s ongoing election campaign.

Mabuza said that many people, especially the youth, took the gains of democracy for granted because they did not know how it was won and therefore needed to be taught and reminded of the sacrifices and hardships of those who fought for it.

“We must never be shy and apologetic to teach and tell our children about our history. They need to know where we come from and how we got here. We must tell them again and again that innocent people were tortured, jailed and killed because of this democracy. We need to remind them that our former leaders and comrades such as Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, Chris Hani and many more, educated as they were, risked everything and surrendered their own happiness for this democracy,” he said.

Mabuza said it pained him to see young people burn and destroy the gains of democracy during service-delivery protests.

“Our people must exercise their rights to protest, but they must do so in a peaceful manner that doesn’t hinder other people’s rights. They must refrain from burning a clinic just because they want a road. This is caused by lack of education, so there is a great need for our children to be educated about the gains of our young democracy,” he continued.

He said that when the ANC took over government, they had to deal with many challenges such as repaying huge loans made by the former government.

“When we took over government, we had to deal with a lot of challenges as a result of apartheid. We had to bring political stability first. For us to build a better country for all, we had to thoroughly focus on unity by doing away with racial discrimination.

“We also had to deal with an economy that has collapsed. In these past 20 years, we have done a lot, but we are not there yet. The work that we have done speaks volume.

“We have not covered everyone in terms of services, but we are certainly getting there and I am sure that you can agree with me that today is much better than yesterday,” Mabuza said.

He said the ANC-led government had in this short space of time, closed the gap between the rich and the poor and had created a stable economy.

“We have actually done more than that. Those in the rural areas can tell you how many years they have been living without electricity, but today they have decent houses and electricity in their communities. Today, they have malls in their own communities, which also mean more jobs for them. These are some of the fruits of democracy. Let us cherish and strive to defend this democracy and what we have achieved so far,” he concluded.

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