Rasool: Let's bury differences

2008-01-02 19:03

Johannesburg - The people of Cape Town should bury their differences and build bridges between communities in 2008, Western Cape premier Ebrahim Rasool said on Wednesday.

Addressing thousands of people who gathered in central Cape Town to celebrate the Minstrel Carnival, Rasool, with Mayor Helen Zille at his side, said 2008 should be the year in which the Cape took greater strides in realising the vision of a "Home for All".

"In keeping with tradition, many people will have made New Year resolutions. Our communities should also resolve that 2008 will be the year in which we bring an end to the abuse of women and children," Rasool said.

"Husbands and wives should be at peace and domestic abuse must come to an end. Neighbours should be at peace with each other and look out for each other's children...

"We must tell our children that 2008 is the year in which they must stop abusing drugs, especially Tik, and the people of the Western Cape, whether African, coloured, Indian or white, must stand together to deal with our problems."

Biggest social event

Every January the streets of Cape Town are filled with the festive sights and sounds of the city's biggest social event.

Rasool said the carnival was important as it showed that the people of the Cape had already overcome many obstacles - such as slavery, colonialism and apartheid.

"This carnival was the way in which our forefathers kept alive their traditions and showed they would not accept the culture of their slave masters... One of the greatest people of our time, Taliep Petersen (late entertainer) had his roots in this culture, people like Jonathan Butler (singer-songwriter) also have their roots in this culture."

The Provincial Government's financial support for the Minstrel Carnival was more than R3m.

"We are not doing anyone a favour by giving R3m of taxpayers' money - in cash and services - to this carnival. This is our way of saying thank you for keeping our culture alive," Rasool said.

- SAPA