President Cyril Ramaphosa: 2026 Human Rights Day

Programme Directors,
Minister of Sport, Arts and Culture, Mr Gayton McKenzie,
Premier of Northern Cape, Dr Zamani Saul,
Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Justices of the Constitutional Court and other courts,
Heads and representatives of constitutional bodies,
Mayors and Councillors,
Leaders of political formations,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Leaders of civil society formations,
Guests,
Fellow South Africans,

Good Morning.

Goeie môre.

Dumelang. Sanibonani. Molweni. Avuxeni. Ndi Matsheloni. Lotjhani.

I greet all people across our land on this Human Rights Day.

This is when we celebrate how far we have come together in building a united, non-racial, non-sexist democratic and prosperous South Africa.

In our different languages we greet one another, affirming a simple but profound truth: that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.

This Human Rights Day takes place in the year that we mark 30 years since our democratic Constitution was signed into law.

It is significant that President Nelson Mandela chose to sign the Constitution into law in Sharpeville, the site of one of the apartheid regime's worst acts of brutality.

Today, on the anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre of the 21st of March 1960, we honour the memories of all those who were killed in the struggle for human rights.

It is fitting that the place that had known so much suffering and tears should be the site from which a new South Africa would rise.

Signing the Constitution into law was the most significant act of our democratic era.

It was a clear moral commitment to build a society rooted in equality, freedom and human dignity.

Our Constitution is more than the supreme law of the land.

It set the coordinates for a journey towards a just, inclusive and united future for all South Africans. This is a journey that we remain on to this day.

The Constitution is our greatest source of national pride not only because of what it contains, but because of how it was written.

The constitution-making process was the most extensive public participation exercise to ever take place in our country.

The Constitutional Assembly was determined that ours should be a homegrown Constitution with broad legitimacy and acceptable to all South Africans.

For nearly a year and a half, we travelled through cities and villages, suburbs and townships, factories and farms to gather people's contributions to the Constitution.

We engaged with men and women, and with black, white, Indian and coloured South Africans alike. We met with young people with little experience of apartheid and with older people who still carried its painful wounds.

We listened to the hopes, dreams and fears of middle class and working class South Africans, with the employed and the unemployed.

We held community meetings, met with people at their places of work and study, and shared their views, concerns and proposals on the airwaves.

Everyone who took part in these discussions had a deep understanding of why human rights mattered. In many cases, their views were born of their own personal experiences of injustice.

Today we have a People's Constitution, which every South African citizen of the time had a hand in writing.

This places a particular responsibility on us as a country to uphold the fundamental rights of all people.

We have a special responsibility to protect and advance the human dignity of all.

The Constitution obliges us to restore what was lost or taken.

Since the adoption of the Constitution, we have worked together to restore the dignity of all those who were denied this fundamental right.

We have done this in many ways.

More than 9 million learners in schools across this country are being fed through the National School Nutrition Programme.

More than 29 million indigent, unemployed and vulnerable South Africans are receiving old age, disability and child support grants and other forms of social assistance.

More than 80 percent of the population now have access to clean water and adequate sanitation, and more than 2 million poor households across this country receive free basic services.

Our commitment to advancing the right to dignity enabled more than 800,000 students from low-income households to study for free at universities and colleges across the country last year alone.

Here, in the Northern Cape, in schools in Kuboes and Riemvasmaak in the Richtersveld, dignity is being restored to the Nama people, with young children being taught in their native tongue.

This is a language that nearly died out after the apartheid regime actively suppressed it, and the colonial authorities before them effectively banned people from speaking.

There can be no doubt that over the past 30 years, we have done much to restore the dignity of millions of South Africans as we emerged from the shadow of apartheid.

But restitution is the unfinished business of our democracy

There can be no peace, no progress without justice.

There are some who will say bygones should be bygones.

There are some who say that there is no longer a need for affirmative action and employment equity targets, for land reform and restitution.

Yet we say that restitution is not merely about compensation or redress.

It is central to building a just society that upholds human dignity.

If we are to give effect to the promise of our Constitution, we must continue to pursue policies of restitution and redress until our workplaces, our economy and the ownership of this country's land truly reflects the diversity of the people of this country.

We must continue until we fully deliver the social justice our people deserve.

The progress we have made across the country bears witness to the fruits of our efforts.

Here in the Northern Cape, black South Africans own, manage and operate farms and mines, businesses and factories.

Here, in the Northern Cape, a province poised to lead South Africa's clean energy revolution, black-owned businesses hold majority stakes in massive energy projects that will power the country and someday the continent.

Here in Kimberley, a black woman, Justice Violet Phatshoane is the Deputy Judge President of the Northern Cape High Court.

She is one of more than 100 female judges in our superior court that are members of a judiciary headed by a woman, Chief Justice Mandisa Maya.

These gains are not the product of chance. They are not a reflection of the inevitable march of time or incidental outcomes.

These gains are the direct and deliberate expression of the promise of our Constitution, which has placed human dignity at the centre of our democratic project.

The advances we have made - be they in education, healthcare, gender equality or other areas of life - have been made possible because of our constitutional architecture.

Our Constitution is a covenant for dignity.

It is the foundational instrument that has over the last 30 years shaped, guided and compelled progress.

Yet we know that the benefits of constitutional democracy have not been equally experienced by all.

Far too many of our citizens live in conditions of poverty. Far too many are unemployed and lack access to economic opportunities. Far too many do not have basic services.

Many of the developmental challenges we face today are the remnants of a skewed, discriminatory system intended to impoverish generations of black South Africans.

It is a system whose devastating effects linger to this day.

Corruption, administrative weaknesses and resource constraints have slowed the pace at which constitutional commitments have been translated into tangible improvements in people's lives.

These shortcomings have contributed to us not being as far along the journey as we had hoped to be.

Economic inequality challenges the promise of restoring the dignity of all.

As the Government of National Unity, we have set ourselves the priorities of driving inclusive growth and job creation, reducing poverty and the high cost of living, and building a capable, ethical, developmental state.

If we are to level the playing field so that all South Africans can reap the benefits of a more prosperous economy, we must pursue growth and redress with equal determination.

It does not have to be one or the other.

When the economy is more inclusive, when its benefits are more equitably shared, there is true social justice.

Addressing the gap between constitutional promise and lived reality is central to the legitimacy and vitality of South Africa's democracy.

Government cannot do this alone.

We need to deepen partnerships between government, business, labour and civil society to create more jobs, uplift people from poverty and improve their material conditions.

We must work together to combat social ills like gender-based violence, criminality and substance abuse.

We need civil servants who are loyal to the constitution and treat people with dignity.

Everyone in society needs to cooperate with law-enforcement authorities to root out corruption, which is depriving our people of the goods and services that are their due.

Those who choose a career in public life must critically consider their motives: do they truly want to serve the South African people or is public office simply a means to self-enrichment.

Each and every one of us must be the champions of the Constitution.

We must participate in public hearings, contribute to the making of laws and be part of deciding the priorities for our municipalities. We must make use of the Chapter 9 institutions to hold leaders accountable and to enforce our rights.

Over the course of the next year, we should all be part of the shaping the future of our country through the National Dialogue.

Dialogues will be taking place in every community, in schools, universities and colleges, in clubs and organisations, wherever South Africans gather.

These dialogues will form the basis of a social compact - the promise that we make to ourselves and with each other to strive together to achieve dignity for all.

Constitutional democracy depends on active and informed citizens.

The Constitution's future will depend not only on state institutions, but on our collective commitment to uphold its values.

Thirty years ago, South Africans chose One Law for One Nation. That choice positioned the Constitution as the cornerstone of our democratic order.

The task of the next thirty years is to deepen that transformation through restoration, redress and restitution.

Our task is to ensure that the rights and freedoms contained in the Constitution are not only protected in law but experienced in the daily lives of all South Africans.

Our Constitution is our moral compass.

It does not change direction for individuals. It does not move for political parties or for the government of the day.

No matter how turbulent the journey, advancing human dignity is the Constitution's true north.

In 1996, when the Constitution became law, we made a break with a divided past. Today we work for a shared future. We have not yet reached the end of that journey.

On this Human Rights Day, I call on each of us to rededicate ourselves to fulfilling the promise of the Constitution in action, thought, word and deed.

The faith that moved the drafters of the Constitution - the people of South Africa - lives on today.

Let us continue along our journey, one and all, towards a South Africa of true equality where the dignity of all is not an aspiration, but a reality.

I thank you.