The Western Cape is a Home for All. This is the message both of our new landmark for the Western Cape that we have today unveiled, and it is the message of our much wider campaign to celebrate the achievements of our first Decade of Democracy.

For too many years the communities of the Cape have been separated by fictional divisions of race and ideology. The truth is that the people of the Western Cape are one people, with one shared future, and one unique Cape identity. This message, of bringing together the family of our province, has been the overarching theme of our NNP/ANC coalition Government, and it is the most important achievement of the past ten years.

This event today marks the start of a series of provincial celebrations that will continue until the end of this year to reconnect with the successes and challenges of the past decade - and also to advance our efforts to build provincial unity.

Freedom Parade

The kick-off event will be a major celebration for the Western Cape. Our massive Freedom Parade will be held this coming Monday, and will culminate in the provincial celebrations of Human Rights Day. Five thousand people, led by a procession of floats, celebrities, taxis, rescue services, minstrels, choirs, stilt-walkers and the people of the Cape will parade down Klipfontein Road from Gugulethu to Athlone Stadium. They will be met by another five thousand people coming from areas like Rondebosch in the opposite direction, bringing together coloured, white, black and Indian communities to celebrate our Home for All. Our partners like the City of Cape Town, the Desmond Tutu Peace Foundation, Proudly South African, Santos Football Club, the NSRI and many others will join world class entertainers like Poseletso, Brasse vannie Kaap, Kwaito Star Mandoza and Johnny Clegg to give voice to our celebrations.

Major events like the Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Two Oceans Marathon will also take forward the message of our celebrations. On 27 April, there will be a live link from our main Freedom Day celebrations at the V&A Waterfront and other sites across the province, to the Presidential Inauguration in Pretoria. A number of other events will continue throughout the year, leading up to the culmination on 16 December, when we plan to unveil the new sculptures honouring South Africa's four Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

10 Good Reasons to Celebrate 10 Years of Freedom

Our province, our Government, and our people have much to celebrate. Amongst our most significant achievements and successes of the past decade are that we have:

1. Created a Home for All - we have brought together the communities of the Western Cape in a Government that represents all of their interests, proving that coloured, black, white and Indian South Africans succeed best in partnership.
2. Achieved the safest festive season in a decade - by increasing police numbers by more than 4000 and opening 7 new courts in just two years, we reduced murder by 34%, robbery by 24% and total crime by 18,2% this past festive season.
3. Greatly increased social grant assistance - Services are more accessible to communities with pay points increasing to 296. All pensioners now receive R740 a month as opposed to R270 in 1994 and there are 260 662 children under the age of 9 years receiving the child support grant compared to 3 293 in April 1999.
4. More than doubled the housing budget since 2001 - Over 196 000 subsidies were granted and 199 202 new homes were built - 55 245 for women-headed households .
5. Brought dignity and pride to farm workers and emerging farmers - 4000 beneficiaries of agricultural land reform have already been settled on farming land in the province and new training centres are being opened across the Cape to help develop the skills of farm workers and new farmers.
6. Achieved our highest ever matric pass rate for the third year running - there are now nearly 1 million learners (66 000 more than in 1995) in our 1 462 schools and 6 colleges taught by 24 828 teachers and we have gained 184 000 matriculants.
7. Made real gains in the fight against HIV/Aids - with effectively 100% coverage in our Prevention of Mother to Child transmission programmes, more than 2000 people on antiretroviral (ARV) treatments, free ARV drugs for all children under 14, and an infection rate contained at about 12%.
8. Helped to establish people-centred local governments - the transformation of 136 former local authorities into our 30 new municipalities has brought real development to local communities - through better infrastructure, free basic services, and more democratic councils.
9. Used public works to uplift rural communities: Thousands of rural jobs have been created and country roads significantly upgraded, thanks to a community-based Public Works Programme involving 70 rural communities. Over 4 000 entrepreneurs have grown out of 120 mentorship and training projects.
10. Targeted provincial budgets to bring real growth and job creation: the iKapa eliHlumayo strategy - growing and sharing the Cape - has focused provincial spending to bring dignity, equity and prosperity to our people.

Enquiries: Riaan Aucamp
Cell: 083 778 9923