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South Africa in Africa
and the World – Address by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma - London, 25 October
2003
Friends
Maybe we should start by reminding ourselves of where
we come from. I wish to re-capture the essence of the
Apartheid South Africa as well as the envisaged way
forward in the words of two outstanding sons of our
soil and leaders. The late President Chief Albert Luthuli
in 1961 at the Nobel Lecture said "Apartheid survives
because those who sponsor it, profit from it. They provide
moral whitewash for the conditions which exist in the
country for the fact that the country is ruled exclusively
by a white government elected by an exclusively white
electorate which is a privileged minority; for the fact
that 87% of land and all best agricultural land within
reach of town market and railways is reserved for white
ownership and occupation and now through the recent
group areas act non-whites are losing more land to white
greed; for the fact that all skilled and highly-paid
jobs are for whites only; for the fact that all universities
of any academic merit are an exclusive preserve of whites;
for the fact that the education of every white child
costs about 64 Pounds per annum whilst that of an African
child costs about 9 Pounds per annum and that of an
Indian child or Coloured child costs about 20 Pounds
per annum; for the fact that white education is universal
and compulsory up to the age of 16 whilst education
for the non-white children is scarce and inadequate;
and for the fact that almost one million a year are
arrested and gaoled or fined for breaches of innumerable
pass and permit laws which do not apply to whites."
The late President Oliver Reginald Tambo also had this
to say: "The true patriots of South Africa, for
whom I speak, will not be satisfied with anything less
than direct individual adult suffrage and the right
to stand for and be elected to all organs of government.
In economic matters we will be satisfied with nothing
less than equality of opportunity in every sphere, and
the enjoyment by all of those heritages which form the
resources of the country which up to now have been appropriated
on a racial "whites only" basis. In culture
we will be satisfied with nothing less than the opening
of all doors of learning to non-segregatory institutions
on the sole criterion of ability. In the social sphere
we will be satisfied with nothing less than the abolition
of all racial bars."
Today we meet in London, Africans and Europeans, under
very different circumstances having together with the
rest of the international community defeated Apartheid,
a system the international community aptly described
as a crime against humanity. We are here to report and
to discuss with you how South Africa is being transformed
and to map out the challenges that lie ahead as we approach
the end of our first decade of freedom. A non-racial,
non-sexist South Africa is in the making, at peace with
itself, its neighbours and the world as our President
Thabo Mbeki said.
Our people shocked the world with their magnanimity
in victory. Having declared in the Freedom Charter that
South Africa belongs to all who live in it. They embarked
on a process of reconciliation rather than in a process
of revenge and retribution, led by our former President
Nelson Mandela. Whereas the rest of the world expected
a bloodbath, instead, there was a peaceful transition
which the world called a miracle. As Frank Dobson said
last night, this was not a miracle by any extra terrestrial
powers, but it was the result of a vision of our collective
leadership of the ANC and the experience gained in our
long, just struggle and the cooperation of President
de Klerk and others in the National Party. Conscious
of the fact that this was not only our victory but the
victory of all Africans and all the forces that had
participated in the anti-Apartheid struggle all over
the world and other organizations, we could not replace
Apartheid with another unjust system. There would be
no difference between us and our oppressors. My colleagues
would be discussing with you all the changes that have
taken place inside the country in education, health,
housing, safety and security, the justice system, economics
and trade, land and agriculture, environment and tourism,
local government, arts, culture, science and technology,
to name but a few.
COMRADES AND FRIENDS
The Organisation of African Unity fulfilled its mandate
of achieving solidarity and unity amongst Africans and
the decolonisation of Africa. The continent sacrificed
enormously to support our struggle under the leadership
of the OAU. Now that we are all free, save Western Sahara,
the possibility exists to concentrate on the renewal
of our continent and restoring the continent to its
pre-colonial glory. There is a critical mass of leadership
that is committed to a continent of peace and stability,
democracy and the respect for human rights, good governance,
economic development, emancipation of women and the
restoration of our cultural heritage. South Africa has
both a responsibility and an obligation to contribute
to the continent's renewal in building a peaceful and
prosperous continent. As Africans, we have recognized
that just as we needed partners in our colonial struggles,
we need partners now in the struggle against poverty,
underdevelopment, the Aids pandemic and other diseases.
To this end, as Africans we realised that we needed
a different organization to take up the new challenges,
hence the transformation of the OAU into the AU. The
South Africans are playing a major role in this and
we were pleased to host the launch of the AU which is
a natural progression from the OAU whose mandate was
the elimination of colonialism on our continent. A task
well performed. The AU's primary objective is now to
move the continent out of its poverty and underdevelopment
and to give hope to our people and to get rid of Afro-pessimism.
The AU aims at putting Africa on the path to sustainable
development.
The AU as a continental body is structured such, that
it is capable of meeting the challenge of the 21st Century.
Some of its organs include the setting up of a Pan African
Parliament that we hope will have its inaugural session
in the first quarter of 2004. Already 27 member states
have ratified the PAP Protocol. A Court of Justice,
which is also well on the way towards establishment.
An Economic, Social and Cultural (ECOSOC) Council which
should be up and running in the first half of 2004.
The ECOSOC will bring Africa's civil society on board
as the most important strategic partner with governments
to implement all socio economic plans and programmes.
In addition to the above, the Continent has decided
to set up a Peace and Security Council whose major objective
will be to contribute to the elimination of Wars/Conflict
on the Continent. We are well on our way to putting
this together. The PSC will have a Continental Standby
force which will serve as a deterrent as well as a rapid
deployment force. Very careful thought and processes
have been given to the mechanism and operations of this
Force. A common African Defence and Security Policy
is being drafted and will serve as the basis upon which
Peace Keeping and Preventative Diplomacy will be premised.
South Africa has been very active in trying to create
peace and stability on the continent through the AU
and SADC. We have undertaken a lot of conflict resolution
responsibilities. South Africa, having transformed our
defence force from a killing machine that reigned terror
all over Southern Africa to a defence force that protects
our sovereignty and territorial integrity we are now
able to contribute to disaster relief as we did in Mozambique
during the floods and to peacekeeping as we are doing
in the DRC, Burundi, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Comores, etc.
NEPAD (The New Partnership for Africa's Development)
is the socio-economic development programme by which
we hope to achieve these objectives. As you may know,
NEPAD was adopted by the AU at its Summit in Lusaka
2001 as a programme of action of the AU. Although it
is a very young programme, it has however already developed
and prepared projects that will lead to us attaining
some of our set objectives.
The priorities of NEPAD are peace and security, democracy
and respect for human rights, good governance, land
and agriculture (food security), education, skills training
and health, provision of reliable energy, water, information
technology, market access, sound macro-economic policies,
transport infrastructure, telecommunications, the details
of which you will get in the commissions. And this is
supposed to be a partnership between government, business
and civil society, partnership with countries of the
South, partnership with countries of the North, G8 and
the EU and partnership with business and civil society
internationally. Let me say something on the Peer Review
Mechanism. Let us from the onset, state that this is
a voluntary mechanism acceded to by African states for
doing a systematic examination and assessment of the
performance of a state by other states (Peers) through
designated African institutions in political and economic
governance. The aim is to learn from one another, share
best practice, identify and assist in identifying weaknesses
in order to reach acceptable standards. It is not punitive
or an instrument of exclusion.
The Africans have also come to terms with the fact
that without the emanicipation and involvement of women
in the renewal of the continent the renewal will remain
an unfulfilled dream. The women have to be the engine
of development, hence the bold step of insisting that
at least 50% of the leadership of the commission of
the AU should be women. I think it is the first international
organization to implement that. South Africa is contributing
to this by ensuring that in South Africa itself women
are in the leadership positions in government, in Parliament,
in the judiciary and in other areas of civil society.
We are also encouraging business to include women in
their management positions. We are very proud of what
we have achieved so far, though not enough. Not many
countries manage to achieve what we have achieved in
less than 10 years. The number of women at our tertiary
institutions has also increased and they will be in
the majority soon.
We are confident that having dared to declare the 21st
century an African century, we have the commitment and
the capacity together, in partnership with you and the
rest of the world, to achieve this goal. South Africa
is also accommodating a lot of students from the continent
in our institutions and is cooperating with the continent
in many other fields. There are still lots of challenges
that lie ahead in bringing peace to the whole continent.
In Cote d'Ivoire, peace is still fragile. Also in Liberia,
the Manor River Basin countries and the Central African
Republic. The peace process in Sudan and Somalia is
progressing, but slow. The Zimbabwean problems are taking
long to resolve. The Ethiopia and Eritrean situation
is also fragile. A lot has been said about how South
Africa should resolve the problems of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe
is an independent, sovereign state and not the 10th
province of South Africa. We firmly believe that the
Zimbabweans themselves, across party political and other
divides have the responsibility to resolve their problems
on the basis of the will of the people of Zimbabwe.
Certainly all of us want Zimbabwe to succeed and have
an obligation to help them move forward. On the primary
problem of the land, we believe the redistribution of
land is an attempt to correct an historic injustice
and we support them in that. We may disagree with the
methods used and we believe that they made mistakes
in the implementation of the land reform policy, but
that does not take away the fact that it had to be done.
We also recongnise that there are some political problems
and a socio-economic crisis in Zimbabwe which is of
concern to all of us, especially the immediate neighbours.
And therefore we have a real interest and we believe,
maybe naively so that the solution will come from a
dialogue amongst the Zimbabweans themselves. We are
assisting in the way we believe best which may not be
what others believe. But from where stand, we believe
that that is the best way.
COMRADES AND FRIENDS
We today stand proud as a people and contribute in
a systematic way to the pursuance of a complex global
agenda whose key elements include the war against poverty
and underdevelopment, preservation of peace and the
strengthening of the global multilateral system as a
bedrock for a system of civilized international governance
which is so necessary to inspire collective responsibility
in addressing old challenges as well as in confronting
new ones such as global terrorism. South Africa is very
active in the Non-Aligned Movement and in the promotion
of South-South cooperation including the spirit of solidarity
and friendship with the Asian continent.
Following President Mbeki's address to the ASEAN Summit
a decision was taken to strengthen Afro / Asian solidarity.
An initiative led by SA and Indonesia is in motion.
Following a successful meeting in Indonesia in July
this year, South Africa will host the Africa, Asia Solidarity
Regional Organisations Council (AASROC) next year. This
will culminate in a Summit in 2005 in Bandung which
will celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference
that gave birth to the Non Aligned Movement. Later this
year Africa will consolidate her relationship with China
when the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa plays host to
a conference between us. NEPAD will be the main feature
of our agenda.
Through the TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on
Africa's Development) process Japan is also on board
and has made commitments to support NEPAD especially
in the areas of Health and Education. Next year South
Africa will be hosting an Africa/Brazil forum as part
of our effort to reconnect with the Africans in the
Diaspora. Brazil has the second largest concentration
of Africans in the world, second to Nigeria. We were
honoured to host the World Conference Against Racism.
Our own history made this a landmark event for our people.
We are conscious of our responsibility to actively pursue
the programme of action agreed upon. We are convinced,
as President Mbeki said last night, that the best contribution
we can make to this effort is to succeed in our own
country in building a truly non racial society at peace
with itself and enriched by human diversity. Last year,
we were further honoured when we met in Johannesburg
for the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD).
As custodians of the outcomes of these two major international
conferences we bear a special responsibility and hope
that you will assist us to turn its conclusions into
reality. South Africa took a non-precedented step of
voluntary of giving up its programme of weapons of mass
destruction. We have also successfully initiated various
measures to ban anti-personnel landmines and end the
proliferation of small arms. Today we recommit ourselves
to the fundamental elements of the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty. We hope that nothing will be done by anyone
to unravel that important pact amongst the nations of
the world. Whilst we remain committed to non-proliferation,
we also insist that the nuclear weapon states must carry
out their obligations under the Treaty to rid themselves
and the world of all nuclear weapons. We have a special
interest in making the world a safer place for all its
inhabitants, but to achieve our objectives we need to
mobilise world public opinion to achieve real and lasting
peace. We are painfully aware that there are obstacles
on the way to our forward march as we claim the 21st
Century as ours. A major obstacle is the unequal international
trade and economic architecture that favours the rich
countries of the North. Thisfact was made very clear
to us during the WTO meeting in Cancun. We are disappointed
at the inability of some to go beyond their narrow interests.
This behavior can only lead to increased global divide,
more tension and greater despair of those marginalized.
This is hardly the environment necessary for global
peace and security. We believe this should be obvious.
We call upon everyone here to be an ambassador for the
alternative. The alternative of a world driven by a
commitment to eradicate poverty and underdevelopment
and recognition of the need for an effective mutually
beneficial and credible multilateral system as a foundation
for the necessary partnership between the North and
the South in the interest of human security and global
peace. The United Nations Charter provides the basis
for such a multilateral system. Our critical task is
to strengthen this noble institution. A key part of
this strengthening is its necessary reform. That is
why SA stands firmly behind the initiative of the Secretary
General Mr Kofi Annan announced during his address to
UNGA 58. We also stand firmly behind many other global
initiatives that promote peace and development based
on solidarity amongst the peoples of the world. Let
me end by reminding all of us here that notwithstanding
all the goodwill that exists, for as long as the commitments
and pledges are not translated into hard resources they
are meaningless. Let us work together in mobilizing
the resources that exist in the world for the elimination
of poverty and underdevelopment, not only for the benefit
of South Africa, but for the benefit of all the poor
of the world. I want to assure you that in the same
way as we defeated Colonialism and Apartheid, we as
Africans are already engaged in this titanic struggle
to defeat backwardness, underdevelopment and poverty.
We shall be victorious with your help and support. We
recognize fully that the primary responsibility lies
with us. We commit to honour our own obligations. This
does not mean we shall not falter on the way. But we
need friends who shall walk with us all the way - convinced
of our own loyalty to our people. Friends who will support
us when we stumble and not push us further down if only
to confirm deeply held prejudices of African incompetence.
Once again you have been our tremendous source of support.
Let us continue to work together. I would like to invite
you as our all weather friends to take time off and
celebrate with us our first decade of freedom. We have
decided to celebrate together with the Haitian people
who will at the same time be celebrating their bicentenary.
The struggle of the African slaves, inspired by both
the French and American Revolutions, sought to assert
the equality of humanity and that revolution became
an inspiration for all of us. We are having a joint
celebration of 200 years of the oldest African Republic
and 10 years of the youngest African Republic. We are
mindful of the fact that both Haiti and South Africa
are facing similar challenges. This celebration will
allow us to pause and recharge our batteries for the
many challenges and battles that lie ahead. Let future
generations count us amongst those who boldly rose to
the challenge when the call came.
I thank you.
Issued by Ronnie Mamoepa at 27-82-990-4853
C/O South African High Commission, London, UK
London, UK
25 October 2003
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