General: Government seeks help from faith-based organisations

President Cyril Ramaphosa would like to see the ‘partnership’ between government and faith-based organisations ‘deepen’ in addressing the myriad social problems that, ‘if not effectively addressed, will reproduce themselves in coming generations’, reports Pam Saxby for Legalbrief Policy Watch. Speaking at a meeting in Tshwane yesterday with the leaders and representatives of inter-faith and other religious groups, the President called for collaboration on a level last seen during efforts to ‘bring about the demise of apartheid’.

Noting widespread and increasing concerns about the ‘erosion’ of SA’s ‘social fabric’, Ramaphosa said the ‘declaration for societal renewal’ expected to emerge from the meeting should mark the beginning of an era ‘characterised not … by words, but by deeds.’ ‘We are here to explore avenues of collaboration to … get ourselves back on track,’ he said, also emphasising the critical importance of working together to ‘undo the effects’ of the country’s ‘past’ still taking ‘a devastating toll’.

The President’s long list of social ills included schoolyard and gender-based violence, racism and xenophobia, unsafe sex and teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, the destruction of ‘critical facilities’ and theft and corruption. ‘Worse yet, these acts are being live-streamed, as social media turns citizens into passive bystanders in the humiliation and degradation of others,’ he observed. ‘This is not the SA we fought for, … for which many people were jailed and killed, (and) it is certainly not the SA we want to live in.’

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