“The year of OR Tambo: Unity in Action in Advancing Human Rights”

The 21^st of March, Human Rights Day South Africa commemorates the fallen heroes of the Sharpeville Massacre. Our Country can will always remember the 69 men, women and children killed and another 180 injured for standing up against the unjust “Pass Laws” of the brutal apartheid system.

As we reflect on South Africa’s journey as a free and democratic country which honours and promotes basic human rights for all its citizens, regardless of race, gender or culture, this year 2017 we also honour the life of Oliver Reginald Tambo who dedicated his life to the emancipation of black people that were oppressed by the apartheid government.

Oliver Tambo once said “It is our responsibility to break down barriers of division and create a country where there will be neither Whites nor Blacks, just South Africans, free and united in diversity.” In 1994 we moved from an oppressive South Africa to a liberating country that values the human rights of all, let us build a cohesive Newcastle Municipality that condemns racial discrimination‚ xenophobia and violence against women and children and all its prejudices against its cultures.