SPEECH BY LN SISULU MINISTER OF HOUSING AT CAPE TALK’S EIGTH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AND HOUSE BUILD INITIATIVE

7 November 2005

Master of Ceremonies,
Her Worship, the Mayor of Cape Town, Ms Nomaindia Mfeketo
Mr Yusuf Abrahamjee,
Members of my Panel of Advisers,
Habitat for Humanity,
Representatives of the donors,
Members of staff of the Ministry,
Volunteers,
Invited guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Before starting on a highfalutin speech that may be lost in the excitement of the day let me wish Cape Talk a happy birthday and many happy returns.  I share the excitement, which I am certain is equally shared by all gathered here, because a South African media institution that is driven by a good conscience took it upon itself to celebrate its birthday by giving itself a social responsibility of helping to overcome the challenge of housing. Given the fact that CapeTalk Radio was born in democracy, this to me is cause for a real celebration by all of us gathered here.  I would like to thank both the management and the staff of Cape Talk Radio for the decision they took to build for the people of Masiphumelele. On their behalf I would like to wish them great fortunes into the future.  

I have had a talking relationship with CapeTalk since I became Minister of Housing and I have looked forward to this where we can both assess the extent of our commitment.  I must concede, the radio station has gone beyond my expectation - gone beyond walking the talk, it has literally built the talk.  Three solid houses in five days to show for it!

I am informed this is the third time in a row where the station has spent its birthday by giving something to the community.  The fact that when the choice was made to give something to the community, houses were chosen as the most appropriate gift, that indicates that we have common values.  Both committed to the idea that giving a decent house is the best way to ensure dignity, comfort and security for our people.

This event then is the result of the freedom that the media specifically has come to enjoy following the democratization process that we collectively started since 1994. Most of you would know that prior to this the media was constrained to only two possibilities of either extolling the virtues of apartheid or exposing its evil. In neither cases were contributions by the media to reconstruction and development made possible.

Democratic South Africa has changed all this to give the media a variety of options. These give substance to the freedom that the media currently enjoys but also imposes specific responsibilities that the media under apartheid could not have. These are the responsibilities of partisanship to the cause and the plight of the poor that do not have homes and eke out a living in slums as a result. These are the responsibilities that entail that it is not merely enough to report on the conditions and the circumstances of the poor but that the real test of partisanship lies in actually embarking on concrete initiatives to change their plight.

For me, this is the distinguishing measure that CapeTalk and Radio 702 have taken to show how it will exercise its freedom in a democratic society. They took the decision that they will be partisan to the poor to ensure that they do not continue to live a life of helplessness and hopelessness in the country of their birth.  It realized that to constantly bemoan the existence of spectacular beauty and the riches of the Cape Peninsula which stands along the squalor and poverty of Masiphumelele without making a substantive contribution towards breaching the divide was to fail to fully appropriate to itself the responsibilities of a free press in a democracy.  Thus it has lived up to the axiom: “with freedom comes responsibility”.

The results of these actions is giving us cause as government to continue to have confidence that the initiatives we have started recently which include the signing of the social contract with different sectors of our society have possibilities to succeed.  I enjoin these two stations to continue to serve our people.  We will be the wind beneath your wings.

As government we need the initiative to succeed. We need in particular the media to make it succeed for we are convinced that the power it holds will make our efforts all the more easier. In addition, in housing we need the media to determine a framework for its own participation in development, building on the initiatives such as these of Cape Talk Radio. This is the motivation for the invitation I extended to the rest of the media at the signing of the social contract on 23^rd September to join. Its role in society is critical and I believe in this respect it has yet to realize its potential.

Henceforth, listeners of Cape Talk Radio will know about the necessity to eradicate shacks. They will know that to address the housing challenge we need to act together, all of us. For indeed how do we create entrepreneurs within informal settlements? How do we build and recruit the kind of human resource that will enable us to keep our street clean and lit? How do we attract business? How do we enhance the quality of life of our people if the conditions breeding diseases and crime continue to proliferate? How do we create safer and healthy communities? How do we create a better life for all? How, in accordance with the Constitution, do we create a South Africa that truly belongs to all who live in it and where social justice and fundamental human rights reign supreme? How do we build and free each other’s potential? How do we become a united nation to end the situation where others continue to be bands of refugees wandering helplessly and hopelessly on the highways and by-ways of the land of their birth?

          Having consulted extensively since last year to answer these questions, as government we have become convinced that the answer lies indeed in working with the rest of society. We have come to realise that as government and the private sector, the media in this case, we all need to work tirelessly to execute the responsibilities we take when we claim to be partisan to the poor.

Before I conclude, I want to address myself specifically to the beneficiaries of this moving gesture.  You bear a particular responsibility.  I would like you to be the torch bearers of a new ethos.  I would want you to commit that you will remove the shack you have been living in.  That you will look after the houses that have been built for you, that to the extent that it is possible, you will improve on them, so that they may grow in value.  You owe it to the people who have shown so much generosity, you owe it to your children.  Do me proud.  Carry the torch of change.  There is no reason that history should forever capture us as the wretched of the earth. 

Finally, my Panel of Advisers and I have come to the conclusion that this is now the time where we can build on experiences such as these and create a nationwide culture of “let’s get up and do it ourselves”, among our communities.  We will be working on a campaign to energise our disadvantaged communities to change their fortunes.  We have this experience to thank for that idea. 

We therefore owe CapeTalk a great deal of gratitude for propelling us forward and inspiring us to greater heights.  I am also grateful to Standard Bank and Habitat for Humanity for the respective roles they played in making this initiative possible.  At the same time, I would like to say thank you to my staff members who came to support the initiative and to demonstrate the commitment that even government officials have to eradicate to ensure that we live in a country that is free of shacks, the volunteers and a special thanks to Yusuf.  I would like to think that he did more than provide the lunches.

And once again happy birthday Cape Talk Radio! 

I thank you.