DA Joburg South commemorates Human Rights Day

The Democratic Alliance Joburg South Constituency commemorated Human Rights day by visiting the Apartheid Museum. “The visit to the museum reminded all of us of our recent horrific past,” said de Freitas. He said that we must never forget how before our 1994 democratic elections most of South Africans were treated as second-class citizens so that we never ever go back to that.

“The reality is that the rights of all people are in the Bill of Rights in our beloved Constitution,” explained de Freitas. De Freitas said that this does not mean that we must not be vigilant that these rights are secured as although they may be guaranteed in our Constitution, we all need to practice them every day. “It is up to each one of us to secure these rights for all,” said MP de Freitas, “it is unacceptable that a provincial government does not deliver school text books to our children timeously; this threatens our children’s rights. It is unacceptable that our Police do not respect citizens but using force or violence even if a person is contravening a law; this too threatens people’s rights.”

Manny de Freitas explained that until we all recognise that everyone has rights and we do not regress to the attitude of the past, we must never be “relaxed” in ensuring that the Rights tabled in our Constitution are translated to reality. “This is our duty so that we can develop into the best country that we can be for all,” said de Freitas.

De Freitas concluded that in doing this we will know that those 69 that gave up their lives in Sharpville did not die in vain.

Photo Caption: Manny de Freitas, (kneeling fourth from the left in front) Member of Parliament for Johannesburg South leads a delegation in visiting the Apartheid Museum to commemorate Human Rights Day. Included in the delegation are Cllr Rashieda Landis (standing on the extreme left), Cllr Peter Stewart (standing next to Cllr Landis), Cllr Osman Cassiem (standing fourth from the left at the back), Cllr Tyrell Meyers (kneeling second from the left in front), Cllr Bev Turk (Standing fourth from the right second row), Cllr Dennis Jane (standing at the back fourth from the right) and Cllr Sergio dos Santos (kneeling second from the right in front).