South African History Online

Nelson Mandela's address to the Summit of the Patriotic Front

Mahlangu, KwaNdebele, 24 November 1993

Comrade Chairperson,
Patriotic Front Leaders and members of the respective
delegations.

The Patriotic Front as a whole can truly be proud of the results produced in
the negotiations process. Our country at last has put together through
negotiations a package of instruments which enable all South Africans, black and
white, to put aside the past and travel the high road to democracy.

Through the four bills including the one setting up the TEC, which were
enacted by Parliament earlier, we have the necessary instruments to ensure that
free and fair elections take place. We have made certain that the De Klerk
government is not both player and referee. This was one of the first objectives
contained in the Declaration of the Patriotic Front adopted in Durban in
1991.

It is now up to us to use these instruments to level the playing fields,
guarantee free political activity and enable the country to hold free and fair
elections.

In the recent decision of the Plenary meeting the Constitution for the
transition has taken shape. This Constitution provides for a Government of
National Unity which would govern the country for a maximum of five years. This
government will be the outcome of elections to be held on 27th April 1994.
Through this means we can now say firmly that the votes of the people will
enable us to remove the architects of apartheid from the seat of political
power. This was another objective the Patriotic Front set for itself.

The Constitution for the transition also provides that while the country is
governed by a government of national unity, the Constitutional Assembly will sit
in order to draft the final constitution of a non-racial, non-sexist democratic
South Africa. This was a third and central objective of the Declaration of the
Patriotic Front.

In this way, the mandate we gave ourselves is being fulfilled. The
negotiations process has produced an interim Constitution which opens the road
for South Africa to move without interruption to a true democracy in which
majority rule prevails.

We have reached this point through immense effort and steadfastness of
purpose. We have produced a package which all South Africans can be proud of. In
the course of negotiations there has been much give and take. Whatever we have
given has been done in the interests of the country and without sacrificing our
principles.

I would like to pay tribute to all members of the Patriotic Front for the way
in which we have worked together to register these achievements. The lesson of
this co-operation should not be minimised. In the negotiations process we took
on the might of the apartheid state. We produced an outcome which lays the basis
for uniting our country and our people into one nation.

Whatever our problems, we must take encouragement and re-double our efforts
to work together so that on April 27th we finally and completely put paid to
white minority rule and launch our country on a path of peace, reconstruction
and democracy.

The road ahead is not going to be easy. The forces which tried and failed to
stop the negotiations process have not given up. In fact, many of them are
becoming even more desperate. To handle these problems we must have confidence
in ourselves. We must have confidence in the capacity of the Patriotic Front to
work together as a united force. Above all, we must have confidence in the
people whose servants we are.

There are formations in the extreme right - and here I include both white and
black - who cannot face the test of the electorate. They, especially the white
right, pose a serious threat. They know they cannot stop the change. They
however do have the capacity to create all sorts of destabilisation.

We are able to deal with this threat. In the first place, we must find the
correct political answers which will leave them as an isolated tiny minority. We
must never allow them the capacity to grow and develop into a social force. We
must be flexible and firm at the same time. We must be willing to accommodate
without abandoning our principles. We must be ready to adjust our tactics and
never lose sight of our main goal.

One of the main reasons why this extreme right poses a real threat is because
the De Klerk government has always recoiled from acting with firmness against
them. The same is true about the way in which the De Klerk government has failed
and refuses to act decisively against those who are fomenting violence.

In addition to our own strength as a people we have managed to keep the
support of the international community on the side of our struggle for
democracy. Despite the changes that have taken place on the international scene,
we have maintained their support not only for the purposes of eliminating
apartheid but also to help us in the reconstruction of our economy and
society.

We now have to fix our eyes firmly on the immediate period ahead. This is
from now until the elections on the 27th April 1994. The central focus of this
period is the forthcoming elections. All the other parties in the elections have
one thing in common. They share a common platform of being anti-ANC. They want
to stop a run-away victory for the ANC.

The ANC has been the architect of multi-party democracy in South Africa. And
yet these parties have come to put a unique meaning to multi-party democracy.
They are trying to sell the idea that it is good for the country if there is not
an overwhelming majority party. They know that they are gong to lose the race so
they want to plead with the electorate not to give a verdict which will
overwhelmingly underscore the unity of our nation. And yet, what this country
needs for its transition is the un-equivocal evidence that the people as a whole
are united behind the one organisation which has been the champion of unity,
peace and democracy.

We are facing a no-holds barred battle. The parties ranged against the ANC
are going to stop at nothing to reduce our strength. They will do everything in
their power, they will use fair means and foul means, to confuse the electorate,
to scare them away from the ANC and its allies. They will do all they can to
drive wedges between us.

As certain as we are of victory we cannot take our people for granted. We
must carry our message to every corner of our land. The elections of April 27th
are going to be the most highly developed form of mass action in which our
people participate.

The Constitution for the transition provides for strong central government
and strong provincial government. One of the greatest dangers we face is that we
may focus our minds on capturing central power and by default leave provincial
power in other hands. This would be a terrible mistake. It would weaken the
centre and leave it cut off from the masses. In terms of the Constitution good
governance, the delivery of socio-economic upliftment will depend and be
perceived by people to depend on their interaction with provincial
government.

Our aim must therefore be to win power at the centre, to win power in all
nine provinces and to provide the forces who will establish effective local
government. In deploying ourselves we must never lose sight of all three tiers
of government. None of these can be left to accident or chance.

I am confident that we will be able to reach the people and convince them to
support us. I am convinced that whatever tricks the National Party has in store
we can out-manoeuvre them. From our foundation in 1912 we have learnt one
cardinal lesson in mobilising support: never misled the people. Speak to them
with honesty and with clarity. Understand their concerns and find ways to
address these. That is the road to victory.