South African History Online

Closing address by President Neslon Mandela at the 49th National conferenceof the ANC

Bloemfontein, 22 December 1994

Comrades, the ANC has held many national conferences in its history. One of
these was the 1949 Conference, which was held here in Bloemfontein. That
Conference was the closing of a chapter and the beginning of a new one. The
Conference produced what later became known as the 1949 Programme
of Action. That Programme was the brainchild of the ANC Youth League. We
called that body a youth league, even though some of its leaders were forty
years and above. It was a strategic plan which, by the standards of those days,
was most comprehensive. The Programme changed the character and outlook of the
ANC. It called upon our people to resign from all apartheid institutions, like
the Natives Representative Council which was established in 1936 for Africans;
the Bunga, which was supposed to be the law-making body of the Transkei; and the
District Councils Advisory Boards. The Conference called upon our people to
resign from all these. It urged the employment of weapons of struggle, like
general strikes, stay-at-homes, boycotts, protest demonstrations, defiance
campaigns. It sought to transform the organisation from one which drew its
leadership from the elite to one whose leadership represented all sections of
our people.

The 1952 Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws, in which 8,500 people
defied certain laws, were arrested and sent to jail, that was the result of the
implementation of that 1949 Programme of Action. As you would imagine, a
programme of this nature led to heated debates in the 1949 Conference of the
ANC, because some of the leaders of those days were never prepared for mass
action, to say nothing of arrest and imprisonment. There was a great deal of
controversy, heated discussions and even insults. It was in that conference that
Dr Xuma, who had led the ANC for several years, was toppled. I think after so
many years I must now confess what we actually did. As the Youth League, we
asked Dr Xuma whether he was prepared to start mass campaigns and be prepared to
go to jail. He said:

"You'll have to get another president to do that, not me." We then approached
Professor Z K Matthews and asked him to stand. He said: "Please excuse me, I'm
lecturing at Fort Hare."

Then we wanted somebody of status. We couldn't find one in the ANC. And then
we went to a rival organisation, which was also having its conference here in
Bloemfontein, and got Dr Moroka, who was the Treasurer General of the All
African Convention, a rival of the ANC; we asked him if he was prepared to stand
as President of the ANC. And we asked him further, whether he would be prepared
to launch mass action in this country and go to jail if necessary. He said yes.
Then we wrote out and gave him a ticket, a membership card. And he came to the
Conference, and that is how he was elected President General of the ANC.
Nevertheless, that Conference was one of conflict and tension.

Then there was also the 1955 Congress of the People, attended, like this
Conference, by 3,000 delegates. They came from a wide range of organisations:
political, labour, religious, cultural, sports bodies, and they came together
and passed and adopted the Freedom Charter. Thereafter, the ANC held its own
conference, in order to adopt the Charter. Again, there were tensions and
conflicts - serious differences. It was after the ANC had adopted the Freedom
Charter that a group of dissidents who had charged that this was a Marxist
document, emerged at that conference, and subsequently broke away and formed the
PAC.

The present Conference is remarkably different from those two conferences I
have referred to. For one thing, this Conference has confounded the prophets of
doom who predicted that the leadership would be roasted by delegates - by you -
for neglecting the concerns of its constituency and concentrating on
reconciliation. They said that the leadership would be attacked for the way they
had mismanaged the affairs of Umkhonto we Sizwe. They told the country that
there would be fierce battles for positions, and that some leaders would be
toppled. Contrary to such predictions, delegates here during these last five
days have shown an unprecedented degree of unity.

One of the dreams of every national organiser, and indeed of every member of
the ANC, is that from every conference, especially a national conference, the
organisation should emerge from that conference more motivated, more united than
ever before. That is what we have achieved in this Conference. Four top
officials were returned unopposed. The rest - that is, two of the officials -
were elected with massive majorities, demonstrating the supreme confidence in
the integrity and ability of such leaders.

Throughout these five days delegates realised and appreciated the historic
mission of the African National Congress and that the organisation will
discharge that mission only if delegates approach issues before conference with
a high sense of responsibility and discipline. In this regard, the comprehensive
report by the Secretary General, and the input by the then National Chairperson
on strategy, set the tone for the success of this Conference. Like several
conferences before, this one was also a mirror image of the new South Africa we
are building, from both the ethnic factor as well as the gender question. I have
not taken count of how many ladies have been appointed at this Conference, but I
think that there are close to fifteen. And for the first time in our history,
delegates discussed, not resistance, but reconstruction and development. No more
did we discuss subjects like the suspension of the armed struggle, like
negotiations, which were hot issues in the last National Conference. Our
delegates were concerned with implementation of the RDP, bettering the lives of
our people. The level of discussion was very high and the concerns of people on
the ground - the building of a better life for all - formed an important part of
the agenda. All commissions contributed to the success of the Conference, and
gave excellent guidance to delegates during the discussions.

As has been pointed out here by many speakers, what is of immediate concern
to us now are the forthcoming local government elections, which we must win at
all costs. In many respects, these elections are far more important - far more
crucial - than the national elections on the 27th of April. It is in the level
of local government that we come into physical contact with the problems of the
people. It is at that level that delivery in terms of the RDP has to take place.
We cannot be general in fighting for local government elections. We have to move
from the elevated, from the general tone of our work to specifics. At that level
what the people want to hear is: How many jobs are you going to create within
the next 12 months? How many houses are you going to build? How many clinics?
How many schools? How many boreholes are you going to make? You have to know the
conditions in that particular area very thoroughly to make an impact on people
at that level.

To succeed in this regard, there are certain measures that we have to take.
We must explain, very carefully, why now we need these elections, barely two
years after the national elections.

I was talking to Cde Sam Nujoma, the President of Namibia, the other day. And
he told me that they had problems when they conducted the local elections two
years ago. As they went around the country and asked people to prepare to vote,
people said:

"Now what is the point about this, why must we have local elections?"

And SWAPO said: "No, in terms of the law, you rule yourselves here, and
therefore the time has come for us to have a new government, a local government
here." They said: "But we elected you only a few years ago to rule the whole
country, including our area. Why must you now want another election?" They had
to explain very carefully to convince the people that those elections are
necessary. In these last national elections, the voters of Namibia performed
excellently. But that is the result of a very systematic and vigorous campaign,
from SWAPO, to explain the issues to the people on the ground in very simple
terms. And that is what we are required to do. Success in local government
elections will, among other things, require a broad and effective machinery. We
will have to discard the sectarian tendencies of establishing structures which
are confined only to members of the ANC. We can't win elections in that way. We
have to have broad structures, in which we are going to involve influential
community leaders in that area.

In all levels of the organisation - whether local, regional, provincial or
national - we need new blood, fresh blood. One of the problems we have had as an
organisation is the almost instinctive resistance to fresh blood. Some of us,
unfortunately, feel threatened when we say let us have new, young people, well
trained. In this developing situation, we cannot survive if we do not recharge
our organisation by ensuring that we have fresh blood. People who are not
burdened with many duties as members of our National Executive are. Members of
our National Executive, at least the outgoing National Executive, spend the
whole day, starting from about 08h00, sometimes earlier, attending one meeting
after the other, sometimes in Johannesburg, Pretoria and elsewhere. And by the
time they go to bed, they are hopelessly tired and unproductive.

Well, on a serious note, one of the aspects of prison life I appreciated, in
spite of the tragedy of being imprisoned, especially for a long term of years,
in prison for many years, is the fact that one got the opportunity to sit down
and think. We do not have that privilege here. To sit down and think at the end
of the day and to assess your humble contribution as member of a team, is an
important part of organising and of carrying out your political duties. In fact,
I have urged all the members of the National Executive, and I now repeat that
appeal, that after this Conference they must all disappear and forget about
problems, about political problems. They must go for a holiday. Then they will
come back fresh and ready to lead.

Comrades are bound to differ on numerous issues that come before the
Executive. Differences of opinion among comrades, honestly held and expressed in
a disciplined manner within the structures of the organisation, should be
encouraged rather than discouraged. They are healthy, they lead to vigorous
debate and to an examination of problems from all angles. Unfortunately, some
comrades do not always welcome opposition, even from their comrades and tend to
sideline, and even slander, comrades who have independent views.

But when you do so, please do not make the mistake I made in the fifties. We
went to a meeting of the National Executive and Chief Lutuli was President at
the time. And Prof Z K Mathews, who had lectured to me at Fort Hare, was Deputy
President. They went to a meeting called by the Institute of Race Relations. At
that time it was all white. And when they came back we asked for a report. They
said: "We went there in our private capacity. We have no obligation to report to
you." We said: "No. You went there because of the positions you hold in the
African National Congress." They said: "No, no, no, we went there in our private
capacity; we're not going to report." We tried to pressurise them, then one
comrade suggested that we should adjourn, and during the adjournment they said:
"Nelson, you must launch an attack on these old men. We are going to support
you." Well, I was very young, and headstrong, and we went back to the meeting. I
then pressed the Chief and the Prof to give us a report, immediately. They said:
"You can do what you like, we are not reporting." Then, in my frustration, I
said: "Well, then it's clear that you are inferior to whites. You are prepared
to share secrets with whites which you are not prepared to share with us." So
Prof Matthews says to me: "What do you know about Whites? I taught you at Fort
Hare. You came from the countryside, you are a country bumpkin. You heard of
whites from me, you had never even seen them before you came to Johannesburg."
Whilst I was suffering from this acute embarrassment, Chief Luthuli made it
worse. And he says: "Now, you say I am inferior to whites. Then I'm not fit to
be a leader of the ANC. I tender my resignation." Now I never thought that he
would resign. I thought that I could pull him down and he would remain in that
position. But when he threatened to resign, those fellows who said they were
going to support me started saying: "This man has gone too far. This man has
gone too far." And I remained all alone. I had to retreat and apologise. Don't
make that mistake.

We are grateful to the outgoing National Executive Committee for the
excellent leadership they have given during the last three years. The masses of
our people have, throughout the decades, fought very hard against racial
oppression and many paid the highest price. We are all indebted to them. But few
will deny that it was the outgoing NEC that skilfully led the entire country to
an impressive victory, that has been hailed both inside and outside South
Africa, as having committed a modern miracle. It is the outgoing National
Executive Committee that achieved that impressive victory.

The Cabinet, the outgoing Cabinet, as well as the incoming Cabinet, consists
of highly motivated, able and hard-working men and women who, as I have said,
work 24 hours a day to discharge their duties. Members of the Cabinet have done
so in order to honour the pledges we made in the run-up to the elections. We are
fortunate to have such remarkable leaders in the government. They will
guarantee, and I hope the present Executive as well, that the endemic
corruption, waste and inefficiency that characterised the apartheid government
will be tackled effectively in the weeks and months and years that lie ahead.
But it is, we must confess, something of an irony that, as a government
dominated by the ANC, we should talk of fiscal discipline, the waste and the
inefficiency of the apartheid regime when, in fact, there is no financial
discipline in the African National Congress, when there is waste, where there is
inefficiency. I am sorry a comrade objected to us presenting our Financial
report, because it is proper, this is a public organisation, it is your
organisation, you should know the facts in detail about how we have been
incompetent in this regard. How we had no financial discipline. How a parasitic
class in the African National Congress has emerged, where regions cannot raise
funds themselves, they depend on the headquarters. If the regions have no money,
where do they think their organisation, the headquarters, get the money. The
late Treasurer General, Tom Nkobi, went around the world all alone. He did
marvellously. Between February 1990 and June last year, he raised no less than
$66 million cash from Africa. In Asia, he raised no less than $44 million. That
was more than $100 million. Before he died this year he had collected no less
than $25 million this year. And we have reduced the overdraft which the press is
talking about. We are a poor organisation. We had enormous responsibilities. But
we, under the leadership of the late Treasurer General, were able to raise that
amount. What were the regions doing, because an organisation, if it is an
organisation, must be able to finance itself.

I have told a story some time before. That story will be known to Cde Billy
Nair. Dr Dadoo and Dr Naicker, then Presidents of the Transvaal Indian Congress
and the Natal Indian Congress respectively, after the passive resistance
campaign launched by the Indian Community in this country, a rousing campaign in
which almost every Indian family went to jail, they used a lot of money. They
then decided to go to India to raise funds. And they met Ghandi. And they said:
"Well, we have come to raise funds." And he said: "Have you got a following from
the Indian Community?"

They said yes, and quoted figures. Ghandi said: "Now you go back to South
Africa and raise your money from your following. Go back." And they never came
back with a penny. The result is that that changed the attitude of the Indian
Congress. They went to their own people and built massive reserves, from which
they were able to finance their activities.

We are far from that as an organisation. Every region pesters the head office
for financial support. They don't know how to go round and raise money in their
respective areas. As long as that situation exists, it is ironical for us in
government to talk about monetary discipline, waste, inefficiency on the part of
the apartheid regime. This is one of the matters which we must attend to.

There is another aspect which I want to raise. I have expressed my confidence
in the outgoing National Executive Committee, I have that confidence in the
incoming National Executive Committee. As I say, they are men and women of high
integrity and outstanding ability and commitment. But we must never forget the
saying that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. It has
happened in many countries that a liberation movement comes into power and the
freedom fighters of yesterday become members of the government. Sometimes
without any idea of mischief, precisely because they are committed and hard
working, they concentrate so much on their portfolios that they forget about the
people who put them in power, and become a class, a separate entity unto
themselves, who are not accountable to their membership, and who rely on law,
that now I am a Cabinet Minister, the political organisation that put me in
power can do nothing. One of the ways of preventing that temptation is for
members of the Cabinet to go regularly to their areas, talk to the people. Go to
the squatters or informal settlements, enter those rooms and see how people
live, talk to them and also explain to them, on a regular basis, what the
government is doing to give them feedback as to what the government is doing to
address their needs. Such a disaster, I am confident, will not happen to these
men and women. But it is not our good wishes that are going to avoid that
disaster. It is an inbuilt system in your style of work that will prevent such
disasters. I am confident that I lead a Cabinet that will endeavour to
scrupulously avoid such pitfalls.

Lastly, I must congratulate the incoming National Executive. I am proud to
lead such men and women of a high calibre. I also would like to thank all the
members of the Preparatory Committee, the staff of the Secretary General, and
all others who have helped for the remarkable work they have done to make this
Conference the success it is. Similar thanks go to the staff and workers of this
University. It was a significant gesture for this University to allow a
Conference of an organisation they once condemned as subversive, as treasonable,
to hold a Conference here.

Unfortunately, the behaviour of some of our delegates during these last five
days left much to be desired. This point was made by the now Deputy President of
this organisation, Cde Thabo Mbeki. Some of the things they did cannot be
repeated, cannot be explained here. It would be discourteous to the audience for
us to spell them out. I had, yesterday, to contact the Acting Rector here, and
to apologise for that disgraceful behaviour. Now, that is an indictment, not
only against the organisation, even though we know, as the Deputy President said
yesterday, that these are not members of the organisation. The Deputy President
is more diplomatic than I am. What he was saying was that these people who
behaved in this manner are men who have been infiltrated into our organisation
by the enemy to tarnish our image. It is the duty of every leader of the
delegation to investigate this behaviour. They ought to have been more efficient
and more strict than they were. They should have been able to account for the
movement of all their delegates, and now that they have not done so I hope
they'll go back to their areas and conduct a searching investigation, because
people who behave in this way are not fit to be members of the ANC.

And my final word of thanks goes to the delegates, as I have said, for the
high level of discussion they have shown. It was from all angles, an impressive
performance. Please travel safely back to your areas, and I wish you a Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Thank you.