Well, the South African community has a past. It's a past of struggle, which has connected us with countries on the continent. Of course, in terms of that perspective, we should treat one another as brothers and sisters on the continent. However, beyond that, as human beings we must treat one another with respect, regardless of our colour, traditions and cultures. We must treat one another with respect. That is a basis for success.
Now, in our case it's very different because when we were engaged in a struggle for our own liberation we had to get assistance from our neighbours; from the entire African continent. So, in a way that has bonded us with our brothers and sisters on the continent. It should be very important for South Africans to know where they come from so that they can shape their future.
Now, it's unfortunate if people are going to segregate one another in terms of their tribe or in terms of their race. That is unfortunate. However, when we talk about moral regeneration there are certain values in life that must be upheld for a society to be cohesive, for people to coexist and for people to stay together.
First of all, we must respect one another; respect one another. Live and let other people live. Now, gender- based violence is something that is strange. It's very strange ... which we don't understand. Like we said last week, some of the things probably emanate from our cultures. Patriarchy is one of them. The stereotypes which we grew up with are things that must be undermined because they tend to look down on a certain section of
our community, especially women. That is embedded in the way we do things and the way we were socialised; which we must change.
Now, that will need people sitting here to stand up and mobilise society. Let's talk about these issues. These issues are wrong. A girl-child must be treated like a child. If you have two children, with one being a boy and the other a girl, those children are equal and they must be treated equally. They must be loved in the same way.
Now, in the manner that we do things ourselves as parents, we are not really building a society of tomorrow. Some of the social ills that we are confronted with today are as a result of the upbringing; the way we are parenting; the way we are bringing up our children. Some children are growing up in the absence of parents. Some parents are parents because they've given birth to children but they are not there to see to the upbringing of these children. Thank you very much.