South African History Online

Speech by President Nelson Mandela at the State Banquet in Honour of President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique

Tuynhuys, Cape Town, 28 February 1995

Your excellency, President Joaquim Chissano,
Deputy President De Klerk,
Honourable Ministers,
Members of the diplomatic corps,
Distinguished
guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.

A meeting of old friends and partners in struggle is always pleasurable. That
is why it is for us such a welcome engagement to play host to you. Your
Excellency, and your delegation from Mozambique.

It is also a great honour, for me and my government to reciprocate the
hospitality you accorded us when we visited your country last year, the first
ever foreign visit by the head of our democratic government.

If through that meeting we sought, among other things, to assert the high
premium we place on relations with our neighbours, your presence here today
confirms this mutual sentiment and much more.

Only a short time has passed since the yoke of apartheid was lifted from my
own country; since its shadow was lifted from Mozambique and from our Southern
African region as a whole. The progress we have since made in forging a new
relationship may only represent the first steps. But they already bring tangible
vindication of the noble vision of a peaceful and prosperous region, bound by
relations of co-operation and mutual respect, which guided our peoples through
decades of costly struggle.

As a people whose freedom owes much to Mozambique, we are proud that we have
been able to assist your own peace process, including both development aid and
assistance in the running of your elections last year.

The agreements which we signed this morning, on Tourism and Police
Co-Operation, along with the other agreements already signed, are but the formal
manifestations of a rapidly developing all-round relationship between close and
friendly neighbours.

It is a sad reality, but in the nature of things in a region which has
suffered so long a period of destabilisation, that the matters on which we have
had urgently to work together include weapons smuggling, stock theft, drug
trafficking and other crimes, as well as resultant population movements.
Nonetheless, the closeness of our cooperation in these fields testifies to the
interest we share in peace and security.

However, co-operation in such matters as road and air transport, shipping,
health and electricity supply speak of the shared economic interests of
neighbours at last free from the destructive constraints of civil strife.

In its scale, South Africa's participation in the rehabilitation of the
Cahora Bassa scheme illustrates our commitment to ventures which will contribute
to the economic development and integration of the Southern African region as a
whole.

Ultimately, prosperity and peace between any two neighbouring countries in
Southern Africa must depend on political stability and prosperity within the
region as a whole. The South African Government is strongly committed to
promoting policies which secure these ends. No longer shall South Africa be the
fountain-he woes. No longer shall South Africa's government operate in isolation
without due recognition of our neighbours' interests.

Mr. President

One of the privileges your visit has afforded us has been the opportunity to
bestow on you the Order of Good Hope, the highest award with which our country
honours citizens of other countries who have contributed to the well-being of
our people.

In doing so, we recognise both the steadfast and self-sacrificing support we
enjoyed from you and your people in time of war and the tenacity with which you
have pursued a path which has helped take us all towards peace and security in
Southern Africa.

Ladies and gentlemen.

I ask you to rise and raise your glasses in a toast to President Chissano and
the people of Mozambique and at the same time to toast continuing good relations
between Mozambique and South Africa.