Speech by President Mandela on being welcomed to the city of Westminster
Speech by President Mandela on being welcomed to the city of Westminster
London, 9 July 1996
My Lord Mayor and citizens of the City of Westminster:
I thank you for your kind welcome as we begin our visit to your great city.
Your warm words have helped ease us into an environment we have always revered.
It has captured, in the lucid form of its delivery and the sincerity of its
content, the bonds between South Africans and the British.
To be in the heart of this capital city is to be reminded of the great span
of human history to which the people of Britain have contributed. South Africans
have, for good reasons and bad, been part of that experience. In the long and
complex relationship between our countries this thriving city has been both a
symbol of democracy and the seat of colonial power. That once complex and
difficult relationship has transmuted into one of close friendship thanks to the
efforts of primarily of ordinary men and women in both our countries and further
afield.
Nor could we let this occasion go by without recording our gratitude for the
refuge and support which the people of this city afforded many South Africans
during the dark days of apartheid. In equal measure, though for different
historical reasons, many citizens of this city and your country as a whole,
found refuge on the southern tip of the African continent, a South Africa that
they decided to make their home.
Today we stand before you as proud citizens of a Rainbow Nation, come to find
ways of turning a shared commitment to freedom into an alliance for development
and reconstruction.
The ending of apartheid and the achievement of democracy in South Africa has
opened many new avenues for strengthening the bonds between us, it is extremely
encouraging to sense the tremendous fund of goodwill towards South Africa in
London and the United Kingdom.
Our bilateral relations are at an all time high. Trade and investment
relations, always extensive, are flourishing in the new climate. South Africans
and Britons are visiting each other in ever-increasing numbers.
At a time when dramatic changes are re-shaping the globe, the close
understanding that has developed between our countries will enable us to
contribute to each other's concerns and interest, and jointly serve the larger
cause of world peace and prosperity.
South Africa seeks constant expansion of its friendly and beneficial links
with you.
The welcome we have received today from the City of Westminster gives us
confidence that our visit here will take us still further in that direction.
I thank you!
Issued by: Office of the President
