South African History Online

Address of President Nelson Mandela on the occasion of the opening of the second session of the Democratic Parliament

Cape Town, 17 February 1995

Honourable President and Deputy President of the Senate,
Honourable
Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly,
Chairperson and Deputy
Chairperson of the Constitutional Assembly,
Deputy Presidents,
Ministers
and Deputy Ministers,
Provincial Premiers,
Chief Justice,
President
of the Constitutional Court,
Leaders of the National Defence Force, the
Police Service and the Correctional Service,
Directors General and leaders
of the public service,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Distinguished
guests,
Ladies and gentlemen:

We have gathered in this hallowed chamber to begin the work of the second
session of our democratic parliament, nine months after its first members were
sworn in.

Let me say this from the beginning that the challenges ahead of us require
that we move away from spectacle and rhetoric, and bend our backs to the serious
work ahead of us.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere appreciation to
the leaders of all the parties represented in parliament, the members of
parliament, the presiding officers, the whips, the chairpersons of committees,
the Secretary of Parliament and his staff for the sterling work that was done
from the day that this first democratic and non-racial parliament convened.

Of necessity, much of this work had to do with the establishment of our
organisational structures and evolving a rhythm of work which would enable us to
discharge our responsibilities in an effective and efficient manner.

All of us, precisely because we had never sat in any democratic parliament
before, had to begin the continuing process of learning how to carry out our
functions as people's deputies.

We had to educate ourselves in an atmosphere characterised by a critical
public focus which did not necessarily allow for the reality of that
inexperience.

Undoubtedly, many of us, both in the legislature and in the executive have
made mistakes. But mistakes are an inevitable element of any process of
learning.

It is always the case that the spectators are better than the players on the
field. None of us should therefore feel ashamed for having committed errors. We
must, however, learn from these mistakes so that we do indeed improve our
performance.

Whatever it is that our critics might have to say, we can take pride in the
fact that not only did we succeed in establishing our two houses of parliament,
as required by the Constitution, but we also ensured that they play their role
in the governance of our country.

We are pleased that the honourable members of both the National Assembly and
the Senate have not been satisfied merely to endorse the bills that have been
presented to them. They have participated actively in improving such draft
legislation, with the aim of ensuring that our laws are consistent with the
glorious vision we share of creating a truly humane and people-centred society.

Of particular importance is the fact that you, the legislators, have worked
in a manner consistent with the objective of ensuring that ours should be a
parliament of the people.

This we have done by opening our proceedings to the public, to ensure that
the people know what we are doing. We have also opened the doors to the people
to address the legislative committees of parliament directly.

This has also been replicated in our provincial legislatures, consistent with
our objective of bringing government as close to the people as possible.

We can therefore claim with justification that such legislation as has been
approved is representative of the will of the people. It therefore enjoys a
degree of legitimacy and enforceability which all previous laws could never
have.

Undoubtedly, we must continue to look for ways and means of ensuring that the
people as a whole are better informed of what we are doing and are given ever
improved capacity to intervene in our proceedings in an informed and purposive
manner.

In the recent past, much has been said about corruption among some members of
this parliament and other leading political figures in the country.

Many within and without this chamber and among the mass media have been very
keen to condemn and to propel us into precipitate action on the basis of mere
allegations.

We have resisted this and will continue to do so. We have a responsibility to
act on the basis of fact and not allegations, however strident the voice that
makes those allegations.

Furthermore, we firmly believe that it is important that we build a society
based on justice and fairness. At all times we must guarantee the right of the
accused to be heard, without making any concession to a primeval instinct to
pillory and burn people at the stake.

As South Africans, with our particular history, we must be extremely careful
not to reintroduce the McCarthyist atmosphere which resulted in people being
herded into unthinking hordes that sought the blood of anybody who was labelled
a communist.

We must also make this clear that we need no educators with regard to the
matter of rooting out corruption, which we will deal with firmly and
unequivocally, whoever may be involved.

We are conscious of the reality that corruption in many forms has deeply
infected the fibre of our society. It is not possible to have a society based on
a lie and patent injustice as apartheid society was, without this spawning
corrupt practices.

Precisely because we face the challenge of dealing with systemic corruption
we need a dispassionate and systematic approach to this question and not allow
ourselves to be stampeded by responses which are not very different from a
witch-hunt.

To address another important matter of the day, later this year we will be
holding our local government elections to complete the process of establishing
the democratic structures which we need to ensure that the people are able to
take their destiny into their own hands.

The importance of these popularly elected structures at the local level
cannot be overestimated. It is at this level that we must deliver change. It is
at this level that the people can most directly participate in making decisions
about important matters that affect their daily lives.

It is also at this level that we must confront the divisions created by the
system of apartheid and grapple with the problems that arise out of the racial
and territorial maldistribution of resources and infrastructure that was imposed
on the country by this system.

In reality, it is impossible to enter this next and critical stage of the
dismantling of the system of apartheid until we have democratically elected
structures of government which enjoy a popular mandate to bring about the
non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society demanded of us by the
constitution.

I would therefore like to take this opportunity to call on all our people in
their millions to take the forthcoming local government elections very
seriously.

The immediate task that we must all fulfill is to register as voters. I
appeal to all political parties, both those represented in our national and
provincial legislatures and those outside of these structures, to do everything
in their power to mobilise the people to register as voters.

This appeal also extends to all other people's organisations and institutions
of civil society: They need to use their influence to organise the people to
register for and participate in the local government elections.

It is also the obligation of all political organisations that will
participate in the local government elections to ensure that we experience no
violence or intimidation during the conduct of our election campaigns.

I would also like to take advantage of this occasion to make it very clear to
the country as a whole that the Government will not allow anybody to obstruct
the process of the registration of voters, regardless of the social status of
the persons concerned.

It is important to bear in mind that unlike our elections of last year, these
elections will be conducted with democratically elected national and provincial
governments in place. These governments will not hesitate to use all legitimate
force at their disposal to ensure that nobody stands in the way of the people to
express their will freely.

I am also pleased to report that whatever the teething problems, the concept
and vision of a government of national unity has proved its correctness and
viability. It has succeeded in its intentions of ensuring co- operation among
our people as a whole, the development of a national consensus around a whole
range of important matters, enabling important minority parties to have a real
voice in the government of the country and contributing to peace, stability and
confidence in the future of our country.

At the national level, we continue to work together in a non- confrontational
atmosphere further to elaborate rules, conventions and procedures to ensure that
the Government of National Unity functions effectively. And to ensure that it is
able to address in a balanced way the fact of different parties with different
policies and the tension between the democratic rights of the majority party and
the effective participation of the minority parties.

In this regard I should mention that we have agreed with the Provincial
Premiers that we will share our views on these matters with them and their
administrations, to evolve common practices conducive to good governance.

Happily, all the major parties have committed themselves to the perspectives
contained in the commonly-evolved Reconstruction and Development Programme. This
constitutes the firm basis for the continuing co-operation among the various
parties inside and outside the Government of National Unity, without which such
co-operation would become impossible.

We must however also make this point that when all is said and done, as
individuals and as parties we belong to the same government. We therefore have a
collective responsibility both to participate in the formulation of policy and
the elaboration of decisions also and to defend, take responsibility for and
implement those decisions.

In the period ahead of us we shall therefore insist on the collective
responsibility and accountability of everybody concerned as part of a process in
which we must all engage, of raising the levels of discipline and responsible
action throughout our society.

A few days ago, we were honoured to participate in the moving and historic
opening of our Constitutional Court. This is yet another giant step in the
transformation of our judicial system and the building of a law- governed
society which will protect the fundamental human rights of all our citizens and
ensure that the people are not threatened by arbitrary and oppressive rule.

The process of the transformation of the judiciary will continue, among other
things to ensure that it is representative of our society and to enable even the
poor to have the ability to obtain legal redress where need arises.

All necessary steps will also be taken to ensure that the judicial system
plays its proper role with regard to the important matter of reducing the levels
of crime in our society. It must also help to address the legitimate concern of
the public that we do not create the situation in which the people begin to feel
that criminals and wrong-doers are being favoured while the interests of society
are being ignored.

Further progress will also be made this year to establish other institutions
that are critical to the construction of the people- centred society to which we
are all committed.

Among these will be the Human Rights Commission, the Public Protector, the
Gender and Youth Commissions, the Inspector General of Intelligence and the
structures that will be created by the pending Open Democracy or Freedom of
Information Act.

We are determined to move with all due speed to create and strengthen all the
institutions of governance that we have spoken of to deal with the matter of
effective and open government.

Once more, we must address a few words to our public service: without their
dedicated service to the people effective government and public delivery to the
population will be impossible.

We are committed to the motivation of all public sector workers so that they
become a conscious, willing and skilled agent for the transformation of our
society according to the objectives spelt out in the Reconstruction and
Development Programme.

As part of this process, Cabinet has given instructions to all Ministers to
interact continuously with all members of their ministries and departments to
brief them about their tasks, to report on progress achieved, to agree on how to
overcome obstacles to the process of transformation and generally to be involved
in the struggle for change.

We have also invited the public sector unions to participate as fully as
possible in the budgeting processes so that they make their own contribution to
the difficult task of deciding the best possible allocation of the limited
resources available to government.

We are convinced that an adversarial relationship between the executive and
the administration would impact negatively on the common task which these two
institutions share of serving the people of South Africa. Such an outcome must
be avoided at all costs.

Accordingly, we have been available and willing to address all matters of
concern to the public service workers, including questions of salaries,
promotions, pensions and other issues relevant to working conditions.

It is however also important that the public service should be willing to
join hands with the government to address other important matters such as the
racial and gender imbalances within this service.

The public service will never be fully acceptable to the people as a whole
and can never be truly responsive to the needs of the people unless it is
composed in all its ranks in a manner that reflects the composition of our
population.

To speed up this process, the government will continue to implement measures
and programmes aiming at ensuring that those who were disadvantaged by apartheid
in the past are given the capacity to catch up with those who were given the
opportunity to develop and advance themselves in terms of management and other
skills.

This is what we mean when we talk of affirmative action programmes. We speak
of a human resource development programme which will ensure that all our people,
and not merely some, are given the possibility to develop their talents and to
contribute to the reconstruction and development of society to the best of their
ability.

I therefore call on all our people to refuse to listen to the false prophets
who seek to perpetuate the apartheid divisions and imbalances of the past by
presenting affirmative action as a programme intended to advantage some and
disadvantage others on the basis of race and colour.

It is also appropriate that on this occasion we draw the attention of the
country to the actual reality that the government has extremely limited
resources to address the many and urgent needs of our people.

We are very keen that this real situation should be communicated to the
people as a whole. All of us, especially the leadership of political
organisations and civil society, must rid ourselves of the wrong notion that the
government has a big bag full of money. The government does not have such
riches.

Because we have started the process of changing spending priorities, we do
realise that the process of restructuring the budget, so that it is directed
towards addressing the needs of the people, is no easy matter. This is
especially so in the light of the contractual obligations that bind the state as
well as carry-over expenditure which cannot be avoided.

We must all absorb this reality into our thinking in a cold and dispassionate
manner. We must not allow ourselves to be seduced into a world of false hopes
leading to unrealistic actions based on the wrong assumption that the government
can be coerced to meet demands that it cannot meet, however justified and
legitimate these demands might be.

It is important that we rid ourselves of the culture of entitlement which
leads to the expectation that the government must promptly deliver whatever it
is that we demand. A culture that results in some people refusing to meet their
obligations such as rent and service payments or engaging in other unacceptable
actions such as the forcible occupation of houses.

As we have said with regard to the public sector unions, we seek to ensure
that the budgeting process is as transparent and as participatory as possible.

It is the right of the people to know how much money they have contributed to
the finances of the state and how that money is being used. It is their right
also not only to know, but also to contribute their views, as to how public
funds should be disbursed.

That is why such bodies as the parliamentary committees and the National
Economic Forum have been brought into the budgeting process.

Tomorrow we shall be launching a very important body, the National Economic
Development and Labour Council - NEDLAC. This crucial body will bring together
representatives of government, labour, capital and civil society.

This will be one of the institutions on which we will rely in terms of
decisions that we must arrive at with regard to the use of public funds and
assets. We trust that the representatives who sit on NEDLAC will, in turn, reach
out to their own constituencies to inform and involve them in the process of
arriving at decisions which bear, among other things, on the disbursement of
public funds.

What we have said constitutes a firm undertaking on the part of government to
ensure a participatory process with regard to the public finances.

Bearing this in mind, we believe that government has a right to expect that
the public at large should behave in a responsible manner when it addresses the
question of the obligations of government to meet the material expectations of
the people.

I would like to address this matter bluntly. The strike action which has been
threatened by a few of the public sector unions will not succeed to force the
government to make available money for large wage and salary increases.

I say this being fully aware of, and sympathetic to, the plight of many
public sector workers who are indeed poorly paid.

I say it precisely because I am aware of the reality that, for no fault of
its own, the government literally does not have the money to meet the demands
that are being advanced. Mass action of any kind will not create resources that
the government does not have and would only serve to subvert the capacity of
government to serve the people.

I would like to repeat that the government is committed to entering into a
comprehensive three-year agreement with the public-sector unions to address all
matters of mutual interest, including improved pay packets particularly for the
lowest-paid public sector workers.

In this regard, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the
leaders and the majority of the public sector unions which have engaged with us
in a constructive manner which is sensitive to the needs of the country as a
whole.

We are ready to work together with these unions to solve the problems which
face us together, for the benefit of the workers and society as a whole.

I must also address the question of the attempt by some in our country to
introduce anarchy into our society.

I speak of those who engage in such totally unacceptable practices as the
murder of police officers, the taking of hostages, riots, looting, the forcible
occupation of public buildings, blocking of public highways, vandalisation of
public and private property and so on.

Some of those who have initiated and participated in such activities have
misread freedom to mean license. They have misinterpreted popular participation
to mean their ability to impose chaos on society. They have wrongly concluded
that an elected government of the people is a government that is open to
compulsion through acts of anarchy.

Let me therefore make this abundantly clear that the small minority in our
midst which wears the mask of anarchy will meet its match in the government we
lead and the masses of the people who put that government into office.

This they must know, that we are not afraid of struggle. We are, after all, a
product of confrontation and struggle. In the past we were not defeated by
forces more powerful than they. In this instance, we will not be defeated by
those whose actions have nothing to do with defending or advancing the cause of
the people.

We are certain that the democratic trade union movement will also join hands
with us to isolate and defeat the minority which seeks to discredit the trade
union movement by engaging in violent activities during the course of strike
actions.

Let it therefore be clear to all that the battle against the forces of
anarchy and chaos has been joined. Let no one say they have not been warned.

In the same vein we must address the question of crime. The situation cannot
be tolerated in which our country continues to be engulfed by the crime wave
which includes murder, crimes against women and children, drug trafficking,
armed robbery, fraud and theft.

We must take the war to the criminals and no longer allow the situation in
which we are mere sitting ducks for those in our society who, for whatever
reason, are bent on engaging in criminal and anti-social activities.

Instructions have therefore already gone out to the Minister for Safety and
Security, the National Commissioner of the Police Service and the security
organs as a whole to take all necessary measures to bring down the levels of
crime.

I would also like to take this opportunity to emphasise that the matter of
our safety and security is not one that should be left only to the law
enforcement organs.

For them to succeed, they need the full and active support of all our
communities. The police-community fora that have been established are extremely
important with regard to reinforcing co-operation between the police and the
public. They will also increase the capacity of the country as a whole to deal
with the common problem of crime.

I would therefore like to urge the formation of such fora where they do not
exist and the involvement of all opinion-makers in all localities in the
processes which are aimed at enhancing the people's safety and security.

The Government is determined to do everything in its power to move speedily
towards the formation of the new Police Service. We are very interested in
addressing the matter of the earnings and working conditions of all members of
the Police Service and to give this Service the necessary means to enable it do
discharge its responsibilities as effectively as possible.

In this regard, we must also make it clear that the Government is opposed to,
and has no intention to conduct, a witch-hunt against the police as a result of
activities arising from orders given to the police by the apartheid regime.

We therefore urge every member of the Police Service to get down to the
urgent and pressing matter of enhancing the safety and security of the people as
a whole.

When we opened parliament last year, we addressed the issue of racism in the
workplace and in our society at large.

We continue to be confronted by this problem. People have continued to die as
a result of the continuing practice of racism - the latest being a victim of
racist resistance to the use of a former white school by black children.

Those who are responsible for these crimes of racism must be brought to book
without delay.

It is clear that insufficient progress has been made in many workplaces and
elsewhere in our society to deal with this cancer.

We trust that the Human Rights Commission will help us to deal with this
matter firmly and continuously by encouraging the public to report all instances
of racism so that these can be brought to light.

The Government has discussed this matter and is committed to carrying out its
constitutional obligation of transforming our country into a non-racial society.
The situation cannot be allowed in which anyone acts in a manner which
perpetuates the practice of apartheid.

Both the government and the people as a whole share a common obligation to
live up to the very purpose of the struggle that millions of people waged, of
ending racism in our country and ensuring the equality of all our people.

One of the most sensitive matters we must address this year is the
establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. We must move towards
this as speedily as possible so as to remove all the uncertainties that have
been created through the protracted discussion of this issue.

The legislature is currently discussing the bill dealing with this matter and
is receiving public submissions. I would like to urge that we achieve speedy
progress in this regard.

I would also like to draw the attention of the legislature and the country as
a whole, that our purpose in establishing the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission is both to obtain the truth and to reinforce the process of
reconciliation which our country needs.

Nothing we do should lead to the heightening of tensions and the rekindling
of the violent political conflicts which we have succeeded so well in bringing
under reasonable control.

This must also be borne in mind, that many of us, who suffered quite
significantly as a result of apartheid repression, are making no demands which
would result in vengeance against, or persecution of, those who might he close
to us.

Urgent steps are also required to end the continuing political violence in
the province of KwaZulu-Natal. This is both a law- enforcement issue and a
matter for the political parties and leaders in the province to address.

If we claim to be genuine leaders of our people, it must surely be one of our
principal tasks to end the killing both to save lives and to create the climate
of peace and stability which we need to develop the province, which is among the
poorest areas in the country.

Progress has been made with regard to the basic challenge of building a
better life for all our people.

Some of the projects which we announced last year, including the feeding of
school children and the provision of free health services to certain sections of
our population, have been implemented.

We must draw the necessary lessons from our experience in this effort to meet
the basic needs of the people.

One of these, as we have stated already, is that the Government has very
limited resources to address the multiple and urgent needs of our people.

It is therefore critical that we determine a proper set of priorities on
which we should focus to effect a visible and sustainable improvement in the
lives of the people. It is also important that we implement any projects in this
regard not in an ad-hoc manner, but within the context of 5-year and other
medium and long-term plans and projections.

The Cabinet has discussed this matter and decided on our priorities, which
will include rural and urban development, human resource development, job
creation and health.

Detailed inter-departmental work is now going on to elaborate plans
reflecting this focus, to ensure that the Government uses in a rational and
effective manner the limited resources at its disposal. In this regard,
government will not make any commitments which it cannot meet on a continuous
basis.

As compared to the time last year when we had to announce programmes for
transformation without detailed preparation of implementable and affordable
plans, we are now in the fortunate situation that we are well on the way to
finalising detailed plans, to meet our firm commitment to build a better life
for all South Africans.

Once they are ready, and after the necessary consultation with the elected
representatives at both national and provincial levels, the local community
structures and the public at large, we are determined, this year, to move
speedily to expedite the process of social transformation and the improvement of
the quality of life of our people, which is required of us in the context of our
programme for reconstruction and development.

This will be one of the high points in our national life, this year, when we
announce targets with regard to such needs as houses, clean water, primary
health care and jobs.

I must repeat that it is our firm intention that we set these targets within
the parameters of what the budget can carry, consistent with our objective of
ensuring fiscal discipline.

We will be able to achieve this degree of precision because of the
significant progress that has been made in the various ministries at both
national and provincial levels. This pertains both to the reorganisation and
strengthening of these structures and the elaboration of policies aimed at the
fundamental transformation of our country.

For this, we should salute the Ministers, the Premiers, the Directors General
and other members of the public service for the work they have done to increase
the capacity of government to engage in the process of transformation.

With regard to this critical matter of socio-economic transformation, I
would, once again, like to draw attention to the important role that NEDLAC will
have to play to ensure effective co-ordination and partnership between
government, labour, business and community-based organisations.

This body will play a critical role in helping to develop the consensus we
need around to the critical challenges of reconstruc- tion and development,
including economic growth, socio-economic improvement and the involvement of all
stake-holders in all decision-making processes.

In a sense, NEDLAC and other fora where consensus is being achieved across
the social spectrum, are crucial power houses of our nation-building and
reconstruction efforts. They are the engine which cannot be derailed by the
whims of individuals or political parties.

As the year begins, there are signs that our economy is beginning to pick up.
The Government considers it a matter of critical importance that everything
should be done to encourage a climate conducive to sustained and high levels of
economic growth.

We are therefore ready to deal and have been dealing with all matters that
are relevant to this goal, in particular to ensure the creation of an
investor-friendly climate.

Everything must be done to encourage a significant upward movement in the
rate of investment to increase the productive capacity of the economy, to
modernise and restructure the economy, to create jobs and to increase our
international competitiveness.

With regard to these economic issues, I would also like to emphasise our
continuing commitment to fiscal discipline, including the reduction of the
budget deficit, the reduction of the share of the national income that accrues
to government and the reorientation of government expenditure away from
recurrent disbursements towards investment.

The relevant authorities, including the Reserve Bank, remain seized of the
issue of the two-tier exchange rate and the general question of foreign exchange
controls. These matters will be addressed with the necessary speed and the
equally necessary sense of responsibility towards the economy as a whole.

At the same time, the Government is working as expeditiously as possible to
address the question of the reorganisation of state assets.

In this respect, our objective is to ensure that these assets are used in a
conscious and consistent manner to address the objectives of the RDP. One of
these must surely be to reduce the public debt and therefore the burden of
servicing this debt, so that more public funds can be released to address the
needs of the people.

This year parliament will be faced with a heavy load of extremely important
legislation that it will have to deal with. The importance of this legislation
derives from the fact that it will be transformative in character, aimed at the
creation of the social order which for which many struggled and sacrificed.

One of these pieces of legislation is the Labour Relations Bill which
represents not only a decisive shift from our adversarial past in labour
relations, but also our commitment to a more democratic style of governance.

While correctly entrenching the right of workers to resort to strike action,
the Bill places emphasis on conciliation and negotiation of disputes and should
contribute significantly to reducing the level of unnecessary industrial action.
It will help create greater possibilities for joint action between government,
labour and business to build a prosperous and just society.

Similarly, white papers and legislation will be introduced covering such
areas as education, health, housing, water affairs, safety and security,
defence, truth and reconciliation, freedom of information, land affairs, the
public service, welfare and so on, to say nothing of the 1995-96 budget.

This will undoubtedly tax the energies of the members and resources of
parliament. However, we will have to ensure that we deal with all this
legislation as expeditiously as possible, while consulting the people also as
extensively as possible.

We should therefore have an exciting session which should inspire all our
people as they see their elected representatives create the legislative
framework which will mark our continued movement away from the past towards the
people-centred society we seek to construct.

We will also have to ensure that the Constitutional Assembly makes progress
towards the drafting of the new Constitution. It is important that this should
be done so that we can have certainty as soon as possible about the
constitutional framework within which the country should be governed.

It may be worth repeating that we seek a constitution that is acceptable to
the people as a whole. It was for this reason that all of those who participated
in the drafting of the present constitution agreed to the concept of special
majorities and an entrenched set of principles.

As we negotiate the new constitution, it is necessary to bear these
observations in mind and conduct ourselves in a manner that ensures that we have
as inclusive a process as possible.

It seems necessary that there should be close co-operation and co-ordination
between the legislature and the Constitutional Assembly with regard to the issue
of consultation with the public, as both these bodies will be seeking to reach
as many people as possible during this year.

We will have to conduct the processes of public consultation in a manner that
is both cost-effective and enables the people genuinely to contribute both to
the legislative and the constitutional debates.

This year, the nations will be observing the related 50th anniversaries of
the end of the Second World War and the establishment of the United Nations
Organisation.

Coming as we do from our own specific past, it will be important that we join
in the observance of these historic events. Thus should we affirm our own
commitment to the vision contained in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights,
the UN Charter and other important legal instruments and conventions that the UN
has evolved to deal with the issues of racism, war and peace, human rights and
development.

Among these conventions, which will be ratified during the course of this
parliamentary session, is the very important International Convention on the
Rights of the Child.

We might also want to use this occasion to make our contribution to the
international debate about the new world order, focusing in particular on such
matters as a democratic international political order, universal prosperity,
peace and stability - all of which are questions of great relevance to our own
continent of Africa.

In this regard, the UN Social Summit next month and the International Women's
Conference in Beijing later in the year, will be crucial fora in which we should
make our own humble contribution to the effort to create a better world.

In this context, during this year we will pay particular attention to the
all-round development and strengthening of our relations with our neighbours in
Southern Africa, especially within the context of the SADC.

We are all inspired by the reality of progressive developments in our region
during the recent period.

These include the successful democratic elections in Malawi, Mozambique,
Namibia, Botswana and our own country, the restoration of democracy in Lesotho
and the signing of the Angola Peace Agreement. All this augurs well for the
future of all our peoples.

At the same time, we are all aware of the tensions that are building up with
regard to population movements within our region. We must treat this matter with
all due sensitivity, conscious of the history of our region, including the
destruction caused by the policy of aggression and destabilisation carried out
by the previous regime.

In all our actions we must move from the position that the fundamental
objective we must pursue is friendship, co-operation and solidarity among the
peoples of our region.

We take this opportunity to wish the people of Angola well and once more to
convey to them and all their leaders our willingness to contribute whatever we
can to assist in the establishment of a permanent peace and the strengthening of
the democratic order.

We will continue to make our contribution to the strengthening of the OAU,
which remains an important instrument that we all need to address the serious
concerns of the peoples of our continent.

We also hope to conclude our negotiations with the European Union as soon as
possible to strengthen our economic and other relations with this important
group of countries in a manner that does not disadvantage any other country.

In a fortnight will also be established the Joint South Africa - United
States Commission which will supervise the important process of strengthening
the relations between ourselves and the United States of America.

In a few days the Prime Minister of Sweden will arrive in this city. We
welcome this visit by the leader of one of the Scandinavian countries all of
which played such an important role in the struggle for the emancipation of all
our people.

The visit also emphasises the positive manner in which our relations with the
rest of the world are developing. It will be followed by other visits as well
our own to other countries, in the interest of our own development and in the
interest of a better world for all peoples.

This parliament has, through death, lost some of the best among us. These
include Firoza Adam, Thomas Nkobi and Joe Slovo. Let the results of this second
session of our democratic parliament serve as our salute to them and a tribute
to their memory. I am certain you will not fail them.

I have the honour to declare the second session of our democratic parliament
open.

Thank you.