South Africans will in the coming days see huge billboards along highways with the message “#onsbou – bou saam” (#LetsBuild – build with us). Big newspaper ads, radio ads, TV discussions and comprehensive social media campaigns will be used to direct the frame of mind of South Africans, and particularly that of the Afrikaans community into a positive direction. Among others, artists such as Jac de Priester, Sorina (the Flooze) and Adam Tas appear in the advertisements. The campaign will also be taken to hundreds of workplaces all over South Africa.
“With this campaign we are not being naïve about the realities in South Africa. We have a government that is ruling badly; a president in whom all have lost confidence; an economy under tremendous pressure and rampant crime. However, we cannot let those factors dominate our lives totally. The campaign will encourage people to discover the strength of the community, a power that can be stronger than the power of the state,” Solidarity Chief Executive, Dirk Hermann (pictured above), said.
According to Solidarity this campaign would be one of the largest of its kind. The campaign aims to have a positive influence on people’s minds. “We are concerned about the fact that people are not only negative but are even anxious about the future. We want to instil in people a sense of confidence that they can take control of their future and that they do not have to be mere victims of circumstances. We believe the Afrikaans community, in particular, urgently needs such reassurance,” Hermann said.
According to Hermann, another important theme of the campaign is that lots of little bits add up to something big. If everyone just does what he or she has to do one is often amazed at the great outcome. The campaign calls on people to become involved in their community in a practical manner.
“We are calling on people to become involved in their schools and in their churches – do patrol duty, support your local library and so forth. Join community institutions. If everyone goes the extra mile in his or her community millions of miles will be on their way to a new future.
“Solidarity will not allow the future to happen to us; we shall build it. While Afrikaans is under pressure and universities are being burnt down, we are building Akademia, a new world-class Afrikaans private university. While public colleges are crashing down, we are building Sol-Tech, a new technical college. And when our young people are being discriminated against on racial grounds when study aid is allocated, we’ll build a study fund, together with Solidarity Helping Hand, which already stands at R100 million,” according to Hermann.
Hermann added that the Solidarity building projects were costing hundreds of millions of rands, and that the projects were funded by every Solidarity member donating R10 a month. “Building a great future is often much smaller than one may imagine. Small droplets form streams, streams form rivers, and rivers form dams. Everyone should merely do his part. If you realise that, you would also realise that you have control over the future. Our future is not in the hands of a weak state or president.”
The campaign will also call on people to strengthen community institutions. We believe the answer for minorities who find themselves in a majority environment lies in vibrant institutions such as cultural organisations, trade unions, civil rights institutions, training institutions, media institutions, financial institutions and many similar institutions. Through civil institutions constitutional rights can be realised. Well organised civil institutions help establish effective interaction with the state.
The campaign will stretch over four months.
