THE TIES THAT BIND US: Ramaphosa uses Heritage Day address to condemn gender-based violence after Ekurhuleni killings

President Cyril Ramaphosa used his Heritage Day speech to condemn the scourge of violence against women, a matter that recently rocked the nation when nine women were discovered dead in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.

The Heritage Day celebrations were held at Bongolethu Sport Stadium in Oudtshoorn, Western Cape, where Ramaphosa spoke under the theme: “Celebrating Our Living Heritage: Strengthening the Ties That Bind Us.”

The event was hosted by the national Department of Sport, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie.

Ramaphosa said the pain and suffering that the women in South Africa have been put through stands out as a national shame.

“The abuse, rape and killing of women is not our heritage. There is no culture worthy of the name that diminishes the dignity of women. The women of South Africa have the right to walk the streets of their country at any hour without fear.”

In the coming days, Ramaphosa said he will address the nation on the steps government is taking to confront gender-based violence (GBV), and to update the nation on the investigation into the killings of women in and around Ekurhuleni.

“Today, however, let us make a simple declaration; violence against women will not be part of the inheritance we leave to the next generation.”

Ramaphosa said while the country has inherited freedom, that freedom is still unequally lived.

He said it is not equally lived by a child born into privilege and a child born into poverty.

“This freedom is not equally lived by someone who lives in a community where the streets are safe, and someone who lives every day with the fear of crime. It is unequally lived by a household that can provide its own electricity and water, and a household dependent on a municipality that is failing to provide basic services,” said Ramaphosa.

“It is unequally lived by a young person with access to education, technology and opportunity, and another young person whose circumstances deny them those opportunities. And it is profoundly unequally lived by a man who can walk the streets without fear, and a woman who must constantly consider whether she will be safe. If we want to strengthen the ties that bind us, we must close these distances between the lives of our people.”

When the country celebrates its heritage, Ramaphosa said, it does not only refer to outward expressions of cultural pride. 

He said democracy is also our heritage.

“We live in a country that upholds the right of every citizen to enjoy their culture, practice their religion and to speak and be taught in their own languages. We live in a country that has strived to correct the historical injustices of the past by returning land to those who were dispossessed of it, including here in Oudtshoorn.”

Ramaphosa said Heritage Day is about celebrating the languages we speak, the songs we sing, the food we prepare, the clothes we wear, the stories we tell and the customs we observe.

“Today, across our country, as South Africans, we are celebrating who we are. We honour the millions of ordinary South Africans who, often without recognition or reward, preserve our languages, traditions and indigenous knowledge. They are the custodians of our collective memory.”

He challenged South Africans to take on the responsibility to ensure that their knowledge does not disappear when they are no longer with us, by recording, teaching, practising and passing it on to the next generation.

“Because a heritage that is not passed from one generation to another eventually ceases to be a living heritage. Heritage is also about memory, a nation that forgets its history risks losing its way. We must remember the pain of our past, dispossession, slavery and colonialism, apartheid and forced removals.”

Ultimately, he urged citizens to remember one of their greatest achievements, which was to build one nation after generations of conflict and division.