South African History Online

Speech of the ANC President, Nelson Mandela, at the award ceremony of the
Apostolic Faith Mission

Carlton Hotel, Johannesburg, 15 September 1993

Bishop Kenneth Shelton,
Distinguished guests.

We are greatly honoured to receive an award from the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ of the Apostolic Faith. We are deeply honoured to receive an award which
has previously been awarded to men and women we hold in great esteem.

We are mindful of the long distance you have travelled to bring this award to
the people of South Africa in recognition of their heroic struggles against
injustices and persecution. I accept this award on behalf of all South
Africans.

The Apostolic Faith Mission and the African National Congress share a common
purpose. The foundation stones of the ANC are based on the principles of human
rights and equality. The Apostolic Faith Mission has chosen to work amongst the
poorest in all of Africa and in South Africa and has worked with us in our
struggle for freedom.

The ANC entered into negotiations with the South African government and all
other political parties in pursuance of Democracy, Freedom, Justice and Unity
for all South Africans. We want to achieve a non-racial, nonsexist and
democratic South Africa and in this context we welcome the commitment of the
church to these broad principles. The negotiations process has been a momentous
success for the people of South Africa. Progress has been made and the TEC will
be in place to ensure that the necessary legal basis for establishing a climate
for free and fair elections will take place and where the rule of law will be
subjected to the collective responsibility of a multi-party forum and not a
minority party. It is a well-known fact that the negotiations process has been
put under pressure by political parties who are fundamentally opposed to
democracy-sabre rattling with "civil war" as its cry is rising in
prominence...but the people of this country have faced too much tragedy and
suffering to allow the strategy of losers to win any support among the
majority.

We hope that by the end of this week the bill which will make the TEC a
reality will become a law and all South Africa can begin to breath the clear
fresh air of concrete progress.

Violence has gripped this country since 1990 and the lives of over 20,000
South Africans have been wasted, our most urgent task is to grapple with an
urgent solution to creating genuine peace in this country, the establishment of
the TEC will carry us some way towards this goal. Whilst we can look back on the
progress made by negotiations with some satisfaction we need to reflect on the
sadness faced by the families of those innocent men and women and children who
have been murdered by faceless cowards who wish to sew the seeds of confusion,
mistrust and chaos.

The lives of our children have been blighted and this brutality has affected
the psyche of every person in South Africa. We appeal to the church to play a
leading role in attempting to heal the wounds of an unjust war against
innocents.

The moral fabric of our society has been rent asunder and the violence cannot
be ascribed to black on black violence in the simplistic fashion adopted by the
mass media and President, De Klerk. The face of the violence is complex and has
roots in the security forces as well in sheer acts of criminality. One feeding
off the other and the result is death and destruction. There is no government
anywhere in the world who would have tolerated the death of more than 20 000
people and dismiss it as a problem of black people killing black people, when
the evidence is in abundance of the acts of complicity of then state security
forces and right wing surrogates of the government.

Politicising crime will not stop the murders, decisive action against the
right wing and black surrogates of the government will end the violence. In the
1980's it was the church who led the campaign to SET THE TRUTH FREE and we call
on the church to work with the forces of democracy to end the violence in the
townships.

Justice and reconciliation will only flourish in an atmosphere of peace and
mutual trust, we all have the responsibility to create the climate for
peace.

We know that the majority of the people of South Africa want peace and the
people in the war torn townships of Thokoza, Katlehong, Tembisa, Sebokeng and
townships in Natal seek nothing more than the rights to sleep without fear and
to speak without the threat of death. Let us work together to make this a
reality.

The ANC has announced its intention to call for the lifting of sanctions the
moment that the TEC becomes a legal reality. We believe that the constituency
which supported the call for sanctions both nationally and internationally was
the church.

The quest for creating a just society mobilised us into action against
apartheid and sanctions was an effective and profoundly influential tool.

It was a peaceful weapon. Now we have to mobilises for the economic
upliftment of the oppressed people in South Africa and will rely on the church
to assist in the tasks of lobbying for overseas investment which will help build
our economy into one which will redress the hunger and poverty created by
apartheid.

The international community assisted our cause for justice by implementing
sanctions and we say that when the TEC bill becomes law and a reality we will
call on them to lift sanctions and support the development of a truly democratic
South Africa.

We would like to use this occasion to pay a special tribute to the
International Monitors who risk their lives every day. Your efforts inspire all
of us.

The ANC will announce its reconstruction programme later this year. We are
determined to put into action a progress which will bring about a qualitative
change in the lives of the majority of South Africans. The traditional
disparities in wealth, housing, health and access to education will be our focus
for reconstruction. We have seen the results of an apartheid economy - it
delivered unemployment, divided families and the destruction of the family unit.
It allowed for the manipulation of the country's assets into military
hardware.

We hope that with the help of every South African, we will be able to build a
nation out of the ruins of apartheid. Unemployment is a major contributing
factor to crime in the townships and out task is to try to create a climate
where the dignity of every human being will be restored through meaningful
employment. The capacity building work being done in the church through the
creation of self-help projects and education for life is a great contribution to
our future development.

The ANC respects the right of every individual to practice the religion of
his or her choice, we do not subscribe to the belief that religion is to be used
by any state to give credence to oppression. We believe that the organs of civil
society will play a major role in empowering South Africa's black majority and
on 27 April 1994 when 20 million South Africans go to the vote in the first
democratic elections in this country we will count on the churches to ensure
that the elections are fair and free. We believe that Voter Education will give
people the knowledge required to use their votes and understand what they are
voting for. The illiteracy of 60 per cent of the black majority is already being
exploited by political parties who wish to see the status quo remain in place.
Our people are already being victimised into accepting particular political
policies, with gifts of food to hungry stomachs and trips to game reserves which
end up being rallies for the NP. We rely on the church to awaken the minds of
our people to manipulation. The focus of our message is that every voter must be
able to exercise his or her vote according to their conscience. The Apostolic
Faith Mission embraces the poorest of the poor and we salute you for this. There
is no glory nor glamour in poverty, and yet the poor people of our country are
the true wealth of this country.

We dedicate this award to the oppressed people in this country and we thank
you once again for bringing this award to South Africa.

Nelson Mandela
Carlton Hotel