Honourable House Chairperson,
As we consider this debate on Human Rights, allow me to dispel the lie, that South Africa is a secular state.
At the drafting of our Constitution in 1996, our ACDP President fought against SA being a secular democracy. We won this battle when some 50 000 Christians marched to Parliament, supporting the ACDP’s position, resulting in no mention of the word, secular, in our Constitution, rather, in the preamble we have; “May God protect our people. Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrica.”
The ACDP was not silent then and will not be silent now. We condemn in the strongest terms the violation of the human rights of the Christian and Alawite communities in Syria by the new government forces, HTS. In recent weeks, thousands have been brutally murdered, Christians targeted, and a Syrian Alawite mother, watched as her three unarmed sons were shot in cold blood. As corpses piled up in the streets, the mainstream media and international community were stunningly silent. The ACDP will not be silent on these gross violations of human rights.
On a scale not seen before, some 16.2 million Christians, mainly women and children, in Sub-Saharan Africa, have been displaced, violently persecuted, murdered, raped, and kidnapped by groups calling themselves, Islamic Jihadists, and the world is silent. Is it because they are Christian or African? The ACDP will not be silent.
Mozambique is listed as the 32nd most dangerous country to be a Christian. In 2022 the “mashababos”, linked to Al Shabaab, attacked a Catholic mission in Nampula, killing an elderly missionary and burning down several churches. In Cabo Delgado, 11 Christians were executed in September 2023. In 2024, these extremists launched a campaign targeting Christians called; “Kill Them Wherever You Find Them.” The ACDP will not be silent.
Thousands of South Africans cannot celebrate human rights as they do not receive proper medical treatment, education or access to potable water and in one of the greatest human rights violations ever, and in contravention of Chapter 2(11) of our Constitution, millions of babies are murdered while still in their mother’s wombs. On these human rights violations, the ACDP will not be silent.
