Address by President at the official opening of the new bridge over the Limpopo River at Beit Bridge
South African History Online 
Address by President at the official opening of the new bridge over the Limpopo River at Beit Bridge
Beit Bridge, 24 November 1995
Your Excellency President Robert Mugabe;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies
and gentlemen.
The people of South Africa and Zimbabwe share a long history going back
centuries and cemented in the struggle to liberate our countries and our
continent. Happily, with the attainment of democracy in South Africa, we can now
together help make our entire region a zone of peace, prosperity and progress,
bringing a better life to all.
Our struggle to end colonialism and apartheid was never an end in itself. It
was a starting point for the rebuilding of our societies, and for reclaiming the
bonds of kinship which our nations share.
We live in a world of enormous challenges, one in which the key to
development and growth lies in regional co-operation. All regional and
international markets in goods, services and labour, are dependent ultimately on
transport and transport linkages. The development of infrastructure for all
sectors including agriculture, water resources, energy and telecommunications,
requires that a transport infrastructure is in place and operates effectively.
Indeed transport can be described as the engine of regional development and
integration.
The official opening of this bridge therefore symbolises our common effort to
build our economies as partners, benefiting from each other's endowments. It
symbolises an important step towards integration, in the common fight against
poverty.
It is my pleasure to be with you today at the opening of this bridge. It has
been built to ease congestion during peak periods and to make provision for the
future increase in trade between our two countries. Although South Africa did
not contribute to the cost of this structure and will not benefit from the tolls
levied, part of this bridge is on South African soil and we therefore have a
vested interest in it. And we will play our part in resolving any problems of
detail pertaining to the project.
Growth and development in our region and continent requires a continuous
effort to build bridges between our peoples so that the unity which underpins
our common efforts is deepened.
In conclusion, President Mugabe, my congratulations to your Government in
initiating this project and to the consultants and contractors involved in
bringing the project to fruition. May this bridge be yet another link in
establishing progress and prosperity in our region.
