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SA worries about crime, Zim
21/03/2007 22:40 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Zimbabwean violence and South Africa's crime situation were key concerns voiced by political parties and organisations on Human Rights Day.
In a Human Rights Day statement, Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon said it "speaks volumes" that government did not condemn the recent arrest and torture of Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.
"The government cannot profess a commitment to upholding and protecting human rights when, on the international stage, we go out of our way to temporise with tyranny," said Leon.
Leon said while South Africa could rightfully and proudly proclaim that there would never be another Sharpeville, millions of people, in the world and South Africa's neighbourhood, were still living "under a tyrant's heel" and were denied basic civil rights and political liberties.
Christian Front leader Rudi du Plooy said South Africa celebrated Human Rights Day while failing to condemn human-rights violations by its neighbour Zimbabwe.
"It has become so evident that the African National Congress (ANC) is unable to address the seriousness of Zimbabwe's human-rights violations.
"What has happened to the leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is no less than torture by Mugabe's loyal police force. Security, political and liberty rights have been violated by the tyrant Mugabe."
'Assess youths rights'
Meanwhile, about 2 000 members of the Social Movement Indaba marched through central Johannesburg to Constitutional Hill to hand over a memorandum.
"We're basically highlighting that our social and economic human rights are being ignored and violated," said spokesperson Silumko Radebe.
The Young Communist League (YCL) said Human Rights Day should be used to assess youths rights as well as accelerating youth development in the country.
"For the working class and the poor youth, Human Rights Day must mean food, free and equal compulsory education, security and better jobs, access to antiretroviral treatment and a better life," said spokesperson Castro Ngobese.
A vigilant mass culture was needed to prevent the degeneration of human rights as seen in Zimbabwe, said the South African Communist Party (SACP).
The organisation called on people to participate in democracy, civil society organisations, and community structures to deepen the culture of human rights.
"It is in the interest of our own revolution that we do so for we have learned how the revolution can degenerate if our own people are not vigilant," it said in a statement.
"This we have witnessed... in Zimbabwe in terms of how the culture of respect of human rights can degenerate unless you have a vigilant mass based culture."
Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Mulder told a public meeting in Magaliesburg, north of Johannesburg, that human rights should not only be talked about but also be exercised.
'Confusing messages'
Mulder said government was sending out confusing messages about democracy and rights of political opposition by not condemning Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.
"The current crisis in Zimbabwe has nothing to do with colonialism or land reform, but has to do with democracy and the human rights of the opposition politicians," he said.
According to a statement by AfriForum, an initiative of Solidarity, "the rights contained in the Bill of Human Rights, such as the right to life, the right to freedom from violence and property rights have become no more than pretty words on paper for the daily victims of crime".
Mphahlele was speaking to a gathering of about 1 000 people in Sharpeville.
"We should stop being a selfish party whose leaders and members suffer from an acute poverty of revolutionary values and start giving back to the community."
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