South African History Online

Address by President Nelson Mandela opening the morals summit called by the National Religious Leaders' Forum

Johannesburg, 22 October 1998

Master of Ceremonies
Mayor of Johannesburg
Religious and political
leaders of our nation

When we issued a call last year to the leaders of our religious communities
to lend the full weight of their influence to the reconstruction and development
of our country, and in particular to its moral renewal, we did so with no
preconceptions or prescriptions as to how this might be done.

We only knew that the social transformation of our country could not be
separated from its spiritual transformation. And that at the very moment when a
sense of community, tolerance and concern for one another could reinforce
welcome social change, we were witnessing the stark reality of a past that had
corroded the moral fabric of our society.

We had not anticipated that your response would include a Summit that brings
together the political leaders of our nation with the leaders of its main
religious communities. In itself that is a great achievement. It gives much
encouragement for the future. It brings together the two spheres of life most
intimately and essentially involved in the generation, sustenance and observance
of the values by which we relate to one another.

At the critical moments in our continuing transition South Africans have
overcome obstacles which others regarded as insurmountable. They decided to put
their shared long-term interests above short-term considerations. The
composition of this Summit defines the moral renewal of our nation as one of
those matters which are so critical to our future. The time has come to do all
we can to seek out, beyond the political differences which we have, common
ground as a basis for national action.

It would therefore be right to take this opportunity to congratulate the
National Religious Forum for taking the initiative that has brought us here
today, and to thank the representatives of our political parties for their
participation.

It is not necessary to rehearse the ways in which the inhuman system under
which we lived so long undermined and eroded respect for one another and for
life itself. That apartheid was a sin and encouraged sinful behaviour is no
longer a matter of debate.

The symptoms of our spiritual malaise are only too familiar. They include the
extent of corruption in both public and private sector, where office and
positions of responsibility are treated as opportunities for self-enrichment;
the corruption that occurs within our justice system; violence in interpersonal
relations and families, in particular the shameful record of abuse of women and
children; and the extent of evasion of tax and refusal to pay for services used.

It is a measure of how far this rot has spread that we do even find in the
religious community individuals who associate with themselves with or abet
crime; tax immorality; or abuse of women and children. Inasmuch as members of
this community should be in the vanguard of dealing with these in the rest of
society, the legitimacy of their leadership will also depend on the extent to
which they root out these things in their own ranks.

It was to be expected, given our past, that we would encounter problems of
this kind, but not, I believe, how great they would be. Nor that it would be as
difficult to mobilise our society in an united effort to eradicate the problems.

Government has given the highest priority to combating these evils. Uneven
though progress has been, and though all these things continue to occur at
totally unacceptable levels, we can speak with confidence of turning the tide.
And to the extent that we can do so, it is because sectors of our society and
communities, including religious institutions, have begun to reaffirm the moral
value which are the condition of any decent society.

Having come into government with the declared intention of eliminating the
corruption we knew to be endemic, we have in the past four years found that some
individuals who fought for freedom have also proved corrupt. Nor should our
apartheid past be used as an excuse for such misdemeanours. As a practical
measure to expose and root out corruption, the Heath Investigative Unit was
appointed and given effective powers which are now paying dividends.

Our fight against crime has of necessity been a complex one with a wide range
of practical measures. It has required the reshaping of a police force formerly
oriented and deployed to protect minority interests and suppress resistance. It
has meant acting to root out corruption in all arms of the criminal justice
system; and enhancing the capacity of the police at both managerial and
operational level. It has required the building of a partnership of security
forces and the communities they serve, and an emphasis on co-ordinating all the
operational forces and state agencies in a focused way. It has meant tougher
laws to strengthen the hands of judicial officers. All this is leading to more
effective law enforcement, as is increasingly recognised.

In the most practical way, the South African Revenue Service is helping
restore our tax morality.

Although we can be pleased at the successes that are being registered as a
result of such practical measures, they are insufficient. Furthermore the
society we are seeking to create is not one on which we are all whistle-blowers
and crime-busters fighting the symptoms of a moral crisis. Rather it is one in
which such a crisis does not exist.

That is why an initiative such as today's is of such critical importance, it
will draw strength from, and in turn enhance, the series of more specific
initiatives in which sectors of our society are coming together in order to find
that common ground which defines our nationhood.

We think here of the recent summit on rural safety and security; of the
Partnership against AIDS launched two weeks ago; of the Job Summit soon to take
place and the planned national summit to fight corruption. We think of the
Masakhane Focus Week just held, whose ultimate objective is to build a sense of
civic morality in our communities.

As an event of a different kind, but no less important in promoting a shared
understanding of ourselves as a nation and of the challenges we face, was the
publication of the first post-apartheid national census. In reminding us of the
social inequalities and deprivation which we must overcome together, it
emphasises the importance of what this Morals Summit is seeking to achieve.

Recognising that at their best, summits and conferences are the prelude to
action, we are encouraged by the practical proposals before you for extending
the momentum of moral renewal into all sectors of society. The Call to the
Nation and the pledges you plan to popularise should provide a focus for moral
living and conduct by every citizen and all people in positions of
responsibility.

We believe too that the full force of this partnership of the religious and
political spheres of our society will realise its true potential when you extend
it into our neighbourhoods. It is there too, where the crazed logic of racial
segregation put us in separate camps, that the fabric of a renewed nation must
be woven.

May I conclude by wishing you success in your deliberations. May your project
prosper. In dong so, it will strengthen our nation and build our humanity.

I thank you.