The turnout may not have been what we hoped for, but the message certainly was. On 20 September we celebrated International Day of Peace a little early with our Silent Prayer Peace March from Kaizergracht to Parliament where we handedover a memorandum to Mr Charles Ford of the Office of the State President.
The timing was perfect as the Honorable President was in New York for the IDP Summit commemorating the 100th birthday of Nelson Mandela. The theme was The Right To Peace, and it spoke right into our memorandum as we reminded the State President of the human rights enshrined in our constitution – the rights to Freedom, Dignity and Security, all of which are not the lived experience of the majority of our people.
We urged the Government to take action to secure these human rights in our communities, and we asked for engagement that would re-motivate the law enforcement agencies to effectively do their jobs. We cited unequal distribution of resources as just one of the problems that could be easily rectified, and we quoted the Golden Rule that flows through all faiths as the unifying factor in our alliance as Faith Leaders as we work to restore the moral compass and reassure the people and the President that Spiritual Leadership has an important role to play in bringing back law and order and a sense of stability to our communities.