Good morning fellow concerned citizens and welcome to this event.
It has been my privilege to a co-ordinator and a facilitator of this event. This came about as a result of a request from Africa Christian Action in Cape Town who were organizing a march to take place on this very day and at this time.
The facilitation of this event has been, in the words contained in the prayer of Jabez, a "territory enlarging" event, as I have had the privilege of working with a number of diverse groups, interacting with some really interesting and special people, with whom I would never normally have come into contact.
The collective name that we have chosen for this diverse grouping, is that same as that being used by our fellow communities in Cape Town - "Concerned Communities For Education" - a more appropriate name you could not find. Most of the organizations or communities taking part, will be reflected in the panel of speakers. There are however, other communities, which are not taking part officially, but whose members are here in their private capacity in order to demonstrate their personal concern.
Concern is what it is all about, here today. This specific event, like the one in Cape Town, is to enable communities to, in a very visible way, show their concern at what is happening in society today, and specifically in education. Visibility is essential, because there are many communities who are blissfully unaware at the threats to their children as contained in Curriculum 2005.
My opening words in the eMail that I sent out across this city were: "The enemy is at our gates, wanting to attack our children, take them captive and carry them off to slavery in an alien land"! Very dramatic words! Yes. Too alarmist, you may say? Well, you be the judge at the conclusion of our set of presentations here today. You decide for yourself, for your children and for the future of our land!
Let me say at the outset that Concerned Communities For Education is not a formal body, with a formal structure with a constitution, well definitely not here in Gauteng, but rather a banner for different communities to come together, and in a constructive way, let me repeat, in a constructive way, visibly display our shared concerns. Because we come from these different communities, I, for one, would be very surprised if all of the presentations that you will hear today, were in perfect agreement. This is not the objective of todays agenda. You may hear differences of opinion, but let us not focus on the differences, but rather focus on what we agree on, and what has drawn us together as concerned communities. Lets focus on our common concerns as we constructively engage the Education Department.
This event today, is not the be all and end all of our campaign. Neither is it the only campaign that will draw concerned communities and concerned citizens together. Let me give you advance warning of the next campaign which will again unite concerned communities. This is the intention of the government to legalise homosexual marriages in every facet of society. This will be done under a Bill euphemistically entitled "Domestic Partnerships". Deputy President Zuma has made the call to churches to help reverse the moral decay in our country - how can he ask that of the churches whilst allowing the erosion and undermining of the moral backbone in our country.
Today, however, we are not here to talk about the legalisation of homosexual marriages - we will meet again on this issue. Today is about Education and the threat that aspects of Curriculum 2005 have on society. This event today, as I stated earlier, is not the be all and end all of our campaign. We will continue to engage the Education Department on all fronts - politically, spiritually and consultatively.
On the consultation aspect, our communities have participated as best as possible, by responding to the draft Curriculum by the extremely tight due date, which did not allow much time for detailed analysis, nor for communicating concerns widely. This lack of awareness compounded by the limited time for comments to be made, is the main reason that another very important concerned community, withdrew from participation yesterday. I refer to the devout Muslims in our country, who share many of the concerns that we have with the degradation of moral values in our country today. Were it not for the fact that many Islamic schools are blissfully unaware of the threat of some aspects of Curriculum 2005, they would have been here in force today, standing together with us, showing Minister Asmal that it is not just fundamentalist Christians who are concerned, but other religions who, like ourselves, will not allow neither the values of the state, nor the values in our Constitution nor the details of an Educational Curriculum to overrule the values of their religion. The consultation campaign between Concerned Communities and the Minister, as one aspect of our campaign, will continue at every opportunity afforded us by the Minister. Today, selected communities will be having face to face discussions with the Minister in order to constructively move ahead.
From a spiritual aspect, I need not say much, as I know that you are all using all the spiritual weapons at your disposal through the Holy Spirit, to counter evil spiritual forces which are attempting to leverage the situation, to the detriment of good.
From a political aspect of engaging the Minister, we need to recognize that politics, and especially parliament, provincial and local government, are a key field of battle. If we ignore this battlefield we will leave it in enemy hands, for the enemy to do just what he pleases as laws are formulated, completely unchallenged by Godly men of principle and integrity. People, what I am saying to you is that we cannot ignore government - we need to ensure that we vote into power, Godly men and women of integrity. However, some may be attracted by large alliances of seemingly big and strong soldiers, who claim that they will fight on the political battlefield on our behalf. This is dangerous, and you may be in for a rude shock, when you see "your" strong soldiers, switching sides and sacrificing principles for positions. Worse still, when you may be expecting them to stand up for your principles, such as opposing homosexual marriages or aspects of Curriculum 2005, you may find them on the side of the enemy, fighting you!! The solution is to have some of our best soldiers in this battlefield, specifically those with special qualities such as a passion for Godly government. Our soldiers must be from amongst ourselves, soldiers who live and die by the same principles and values that we hold dear and who will not betray those whom they represent by switching allegiance at the drop of a hat, nor sacrifice their principles for the sake of political points or to secure their political future. Today, as I address you, I am privileged and proud to be associated with a community that currently has soldiers fighting for you and I, and for our children, on the political battlefield of our country. This particular community, is the African Christian Democratic Party which today, stands on this platform, along with other communities, to together, in unity, visibly show our deep concern at the aspects of Curriculum 2005 which are in opposition to biblical values and principles. Godly government in South Africa is our vision and the defence of biblical principles is our mission. Our focus is very specific, and this enables us to complement and work alongside, the other communities who are here today and whose specific focus is on various aspects of education.
In conclusion, there are a few remarks which I would like to specifically direct to Minister Asmal. Curriculum 2005 emphasizes "tolerance" as a desirable outcome that is to be achieved. It therefore concerns me when Minister Asmal has the following to say about "Christian fundamentalists": "I intend to resist these right-wing conservative tendencies, and I will use the Constitution as the sole basis of my approach". (SAPA 851426, 7 Nov 2001). This is unfortunately not a good demonstration of achieving a satisfactory outcome in the area of tolerance.
The main reason for this intolerance is "Fundamentalists, mostly Christian fundamentalists who object to tolerance and respect for others , in the belief that they alone are custodians of 'the truth'" (SAPA 851426, 7 Nov 2001). Unfortunately, all devout Muslims, Jews and Christians, believe that they have 'the truth' - they may not agree with each other, but what they do agree on is that "All roads do not lead to God". If all of these believe that they have 'the truth', there are not many others in South Africa, who believe as Minister Asmal believes that we all are custodians of 'the truth'.
In the Business day of 21 September 2000, Minister Asmal is quoted as saying that "schools, colleges and universities are in a better position than religious institutions to lead the moral regeneration of SA". How can we base our morality on something as temporal as Educational Curricula, which are changed every few years. How can be base our morality on something which is changed almost as often, and that is our Constitution? Surely, we can only base the morality of South Africa on the unchanging Word of God - the Holy Bible. Moral regeneration will only occur when we as a nation humble ourselves and pray, turn from our wicked ways and seek the face of Almighty God. Only then will we experience the healing that our land so desperately needs.
In conclusion, Minister Asmal, Jesus Christ stated that the world will recognize His people, by the love that they show to those around them. We often fall short of this, but we get up again, and continue striving to do this. This love for the fellow man far supercedes the tolerance and respect that you aim to develop through Curriculum 2005. Your concerns that Christians will "object to tolerance and respect for others" is therefore unfounded. We want to partner with you towards the moral regeneration in our land, but we cannot do this whilst the threats to our value systems remain in the identified aspects of Curriculum 2005. We therefore request you to earnestly consider the memorandum that Concerned Communities For Education is handing you today.
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For more information please call Bruce Harbour at 082 5542349 or ACDP Media Liaison (Tshwane) Pieter de Necker at 012 328 5695