President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said South Africa’s success in fighting the coronavirus pandemic was due to its strong culture of upholding human rights for all some 27 years after the end of apartheid.
The president said this when he virtually commemorated the country’s Human Rights Day which falls on every 21 March themed, “The Year of Charlotte Maxeke: Promoting Human Rights in the Age of Covid-19.”
According to the president, the theme was a tribute to the country’s human rights activist Maxeke who was born 150 years ago, and spent her life waging a liberation campaign against apartheid laws as well as Dutch and British colonialism.
In recognition of the severe impact of the pandemic on people’s livelihoods, Ramaphosa said his government had implemented socio-economic measures to support struggling households, workers and businesses to get through the tough times.
With these achievements by his government, he said the next phase of the response to the pandemic was to ensure that the Covid-19 vaccine was available to every person in the country.
“We have been able to weather the coronavirus storm in large part because of the strong culture of human rights in our country,” Ramaphosa said.
He noted that the country was currently in the phase of reconstruction and recovery, with his government working hard to build a new economy that promised “equal opportunity for all.”
“This is a (human rights) struggle for all. It is a fight to preserve our common humanity. It means that we must all work together — whether as government, labour, business or communities.”
NM/jn/APA