South African History Online

Nelson Mandela's address to Conference of Young Presidents' Organisation

Johannesburg, 27 February 1995

Mr Doug Smollan, President of the Young Presidents'
Organisation;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen.

As a President who, among other things, can boast of a ripe age, I do not
qualify for membership of your organisation. I am therefore most honoured,
indeed flattered, to be invited to address you.

Gathered here you represent qualities which we as a nation prize highly. They
are qualities which our country needs in abundance as we set about building a
new society.

All too often, societies deny themselves much of the talent and
resourcefulness of their people, because of an unthinking adherence to practices
which reserve positions of authority only to older people. One effect is that
young people often do not recognise in themselves the capacities to take on such
roles. The youth of our country played a signal role in the struggle for freedom
and we expect much of them in the reconstruction of our country.

But it is not only the youth whose potential may be overlooked. We are
emerging from a social system which systematically denied the great majority of
South Africans - particularly African, Indian and Coloured people, and women of
all groups the opportunity to develop their skills or even to use to the full
the skills they had.

For us, therefore, the Young President's Organisation represents the vast
potential which our society, like many others, has left unused or undeveloped.
It evokes our pledge to release and develop those resources through our
programmes of education and training and the opening of opportunities. This is
the meaning of our affirmative action policy.

You are an organisation without frontiers, dedicated to development through
mutual exchange of ideas and knowledge. History has concentrated wealth,
technical knowledge and training in half the world and left the rest in a state
of dependence. Initiatives such as yours are vital if this unacceptable balance
is to be addressed.

Your decision to hold this year's conference in our country, and in our
continent of Africa, is especially welcome. We are proud, as an African country,
of our success in turning from the division and conflict engendered by
oppression, into a country united in determination to address the legacy of
poverty and deprivation. Our rebirth as a nation, we are convinced, is part of
an African renaissance.

As a network which commands significant investment resources and trade
opportunities spread throughout the world, you represent the international
business community into which our country has only recently been accepted. You
are a crucial resource which we are determined to tap. For, our programme of
reconstruction and development depends on sustained economic growth.

I am confident that your visit to our country will have revealed to you many
opportunities for mutually beneficial investment, trade and ventures in tourism.
I know that your South African counterparts did not miss an opportunity to show
you the best in scenery that South Africa can offer.

No doubt, even in the short time you have been here, you have sensed the
unity which underlies both the confidence of South Africans in their future and
their enthusiasm to build it. This is no passing mood. It is rooted in a
partnership of social structures which has a momentum which will not be
deflected by what particular individuals or political parties may decide.

I would like to leave you with a challenge, to act with the boldness and
initiative which is so powerfully represented in your organisation. Be true to
your commitment to rely on experience rather than merely on received wisdom.
Turn the plans and the possibilities regarding trade and investment,
particularly investment in productive ventures, into action.

We welcome you as partners in the reconstruction and development of our
country.