President Cyril Ramaphosa says state capture threatens to rob the country of the dream of people like Nelson Mandela and Raymond Mhlaba. The President was delivering the Raymond Mhlaba Memorial Lecture in Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal. Mhlaba, who would have turned 100 this year, was a struggle icon and African National Congress (ANC) leader.
He was also the first Premier of the Eastern Cape.
Ramaphosa says corruption has caused factions in the ANC that is threatening the unity of the party.
“Another affront to the vision and legacy of Oom Ray (as he was affectionately known) and his comrades is the issue of corruption of our struggle by those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the poor, the unbridled contestation within our ranks for public resources and the graft that has become common place in many of our public institutions – a grave threat to the advancement of the national democratic revolution.”
In the video below President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the Raymond Mhlaba Memorial Lecture:
Ramaphosa says the battle for women’s empowerment must continue. He says struggle veterans like Mhlaba fought for a non-sexist society and died before they could realize that ideal.
“As men, we must understand that none of us has the right of ownership over any woman’s body regardless of the nature of the relationship that we might have with them. Oom Ray fought for and was prepared to die for a non-sexist society, which is free from patriarchal relations of power. His cause of women’s empowerment and gender equality must remain our course as well.”
Ramaphosa says that people who want to bring about real change in South Africa can take a leaf from the book of Raymond Mhlaba.
“When Nelson Mandela said the ideal of a free and democratic South Africa was an ideal that he was prepared to die for, Comrade Ray Mhlaba – he was one of those leaders that our revolution has had who were clearly and determinedly prepared to die for the cause of a freedom for all of us.”
