South Africa: Premier of the Free State Province, Mxolisi Dukwana, and Members of the Executive Council met with the Moral Regeneration Movement at OR Tambo House in Bloemfontein today on 29 November 2023.
The Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM) is a networking platform that facilitates and coordinates all processes and initiatives aimed at combating moral degeneration. Anti-apartheid activist Father Smangaliso Mkhatswa, Seth Mazibuko, who was one of the organisers of the 1976 Soweto June 16th march and many others joined the gathering.
The general moral decay of society, as well as the eradication of values that previously defined the people, particularly the oppressed, took centre stage. The Premier spoke about the “reconstruction of the soul” and called on all leaders to play a role in restoring the moral fibre of society.
Premier Dukwana said despite laws being put in place to prevent certain things which contribute to the already prevalent problems confronting society, they are not observed.
“There are taverns near schools despite the law explicitly prohibiting such. Illegal foreigners are selling expired food to our people, which poses serious health risks, yet our inspectors turn a blind eye because most of them take bribes from shop owners. Some churches defraud our people and leave them poor. As a society, we must ask ourselves difficult questions about the kind of society we want to live in,” said Premier Dukwana.
Health MEC Mathabo Leeto berated social media and so-called churches for leading young people, in particular, astray. “Is social media assisting with moral regeneration? The answer is no because there are things on social media which do very little to build our youth. Then there are churches such as Gabola church, which encourages people to drink alcohol. There are also those who make people eat rats and drink fuel, so they are not helping us at all. There must be an enforcement of laws to stop this kind of conduct,” said MEC Leeto.
Father Mkhatswa warned that South Africa was headed towards a crisis if nothing was done to put an end to the continuous decay of morals in the country.
“Far from being a doomsayer, but I am afraid that our challenges are becoming endemic and part of our daily programmes. Whatever happened to Ubuntu? Something drastic must be done to put an end to this downward spiral,” he said.