The man driving the country’s moral regeneration movement gently chided the religious on Tuesday for not doing enough to challenge the portrayal of violence and sex on television and in newspapers.
”There is something wrong in society if religious people, Christians, are afraid to challenge things. Maybe they are afraid of politicians, maybe they are afraid of the media,” said Deputy President Jacob Zuma, delivering the inaugural Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture.
The lecture was organised by the Western Cape Provincial Council of Churches.
Zuma questioned what kind of education and society is being built when young children are fed a steady diet of ”brutal violence” and ”almost naked” people.
He said there have been hardly any voices lobbying against these images, even if they are passed by Parliament.
Zuma said if his duties were not so time-consuming, ”I would be mobilising people, campaigning every day”, even if people accused him of being a ”backward politician”.
The deputy president, who was speaking on promoting a child-centred morality, nonetheless paid tribute to the role the religious sector, particularly the Christian community, contributed to building a society that emphasises healing, reconciliation and nation-building.
”They propagated a liberation theology, that was based on a personal and collective morality that would not turn a blind eye to social injustice and oppression,” he said.
Zuma said the moral regeneration movement seeks to produce an ethical, caring and loving society, and the religious sectors have an important role to play.
”Critical messages need to be provided to the youth … alerting them to the dangers of crime, substance abuse and general deviant behaviour.”
Messages also need to be repeated that raise awareness of the abuse of women and children.
This, Zuma said, can be done by consciously changing the manner in which children are raised and by the messages imparted to them, such as the perpetuation of a patriarchal society where boys are made to feel superior and girls subservient.
”[If this continues] we are raising a society of perpetual inequality which is fertile for abuse,” said Zuma.
Zuma said another manner in which society can tackle the promotion of public morality is the HIV/Aids battle.
He said it is a collective duty to speak openly about the disease and increase the messages of prevention, ”while providing love, care and support to those who are infected or affected”.
With regards to Aids orphans, the ”any child is my child” adage should become more than a platitude. — Sapa