South African History Online

Tunis, 13-15 June 1994

Mr Chairman,
Distinguished Heads of State and Government,
Heads of
Delegations,
Your Excellencies,
Ministers,
Ambassadors and High
Commissioner,
Comrades,
Ladies and Gentlemen.

In the distant days of antiquity, a Roman sentenced this African city to
death: "Carthage must be destroyed (Carthago delenda est)".

And Carthage was destroyed. Today we wander among its ruins, only our
imagination and historical records enable us to experience its magnificence.
Only our African being makes it possible for us to hear the piteous cries of the
victims of the vengeance of the Roman Empire.

And yet we can say this, that all human civilisation rests on foundations
such as the ruins of the African city of Carthage. These architectural remains,
like the pyramids of Egypt, the sculptures of the ancients kingdoms of Ghana and
Mali and Benin, like the temples of Ethiopia, the Zimbabwe ruins and the rock
paintings of the Kgalagadi and Namib deserts, all speak of Africa's contribution
to the formation of the condition of civilisation.

But in the end, Carthage was destroyed. During the long interregnum, the
children of Africa were carted away as slaves. Our lands became the property of
other nations, our resources a source of enrichment for other peoples and our
kings and queens mere servants of foreign powers.

In the end, we were held out as the outstanding example of the beneficiaries
of charity, because we became the permanent victims of famine, of destructive
conflicts and of the pestilence of the natural world. On our knees because
history, society and nature had defeated us, we could be nothing but beggars.
What the Romans had sought with the destruction of Carthage, had been
achieved.

But the ancient pride of the peoples of our continent asserted itself and
gave us hope in the form of giants such as Queen Regent Labotsibeni of
Swaziland, Mohammed V of Morocco, Abdul Gamal Nasser of Egypt, Kwame Nkrumah of
Ghana, Murtala Mohammed of Nigeria, Patrice Lumumba of Zaire, Amilcar Cabral of
Guinea Bissau, Aghostino Neto of Angola, Eduardo Mondlane and Samora Machel of
Mozambique, Seretse Khama of Botswana, WEB Du Bois and Martin Luther king of
America, Marcus Garvey of Jamaica, Albert Luthuli and Oliver Thambo of South
Africa.

By their deeds, by the struggles they led, these and many other patriots said
to us that neither Carthage nor Africa had been destroyed. They conveyed the
message that the long interregnum of humiliation was over. It is in their honour
that we stand here today. It is a tribute to their heroism that, today, we are
able to address this august gathering.

The titanic effort that has brought liberation to South Africa, and ensured
the total liberation of Africa, constitutes an act of redemption for the black
people of the world. It is a gift of emancipation also to those who, because
they were white, imposed on themselves the heavy burden of assuming the mantle
of rulers of all humanity. It says to all who will listen and understand that,
by ending the apartheid barbarity that was the offspring of European
colonisation, Africa has, once more, contributed to the advance of human
civilisation and further expanded the frontiers of liberty everywhere.

We are here today not to thank you, dear brothers and sisters, because such
thanks would be misplaced among fellow-combatants - we are here to salute and
congratulate you for a most magnificent and historical victory over an inhuman
system whose very name was tyranny, injustice and bigotry.

When the history of our struggle is written, it will tell a glorious tale of
African solidarity, of African's adherence to principles. It will tell a moving
story of the sacrifices that the peoples of our continent made, to ensure that
that intolerable insult to human dignity, the apartheid crime against humanity,
became a thing of the past. It will speak of the contributions of freedom -
whose value is as measureless as the gold beneath the soil of our country - the
contribution which all of Africa made, from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea
in the north, to the confluence of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans in the
north.

Africa shed her blood and surrendered the lives of her children so that all
her children could be free. She gave of her limited wealth and resources so that
all of Africa should be liberated. She opened heart of hospitality and her head
so full of wise counsel, so that we should emerge victorious. A million times,
she put her hand to the plough that has now dug up the encrusted burden of
oppression accumulated for centuries.

The total liberation of Africa from foreign and white minority rule has now
been achieved. Our colleagues who have served with distinction on the OAU
liberation committee have already carried out the historical task of winding up
this institution, which we shall always remember as a frontline fighter for the
emancipation of the people of our continent.

Finally, at this summit meeting in Tunis, we shall remove from our agenda the
consideration of the question of Apartheid South Africa.

Where South Africa appears on the agenda again, let it be because we want to
discuss what its contribution shall be to the making of the new African
renaissance. Let it be because we want to discuss what materials it will supply
for the rebuilding of the African city of Carthage.

One epoch with its historic tasks has come to an end. Surely, another must
commence with its own challenges. Africa cries out for a new birth, Carthage
awaits the restoration of its glory.

If freedom was the crown which the fighters of liberation sought to place on
the head of mother Africa, let the upliftment, the happiness, prosperity and
comfort of her children be the jewel of the crown.

There can be no dispute among us that we must bend every effort to rebuild
the African economies. You, your excellencies, have discussed this matter many
times and elaborated the ideas whose implementation would lead us to
success.

The fundamentals of what needs to be done are known to all of us. Not least
among these are the need to address the reality that Africa continues to be a
net exporter of capital and suffers from deteriorating terms of trade. Our
capacity to be self-reliant, to find the internal resources to generate
sustained development, remains very limited.

Quite correctly, we have also spent time discussing the equally complex
questions that bear on the nature and quality of governance. These, too, are
central to our capacity to produce the better life which our people demand and
deserve. In this regard, we surely must face the matter squarely that where
there is something wrong in the manner in which we govern ourselves, it must be
said that the fault is not in our starts, but in ourselves that we are
ill-governed.

Tribute is due to the great thinkers of our continent who have been and are
trying to move all of us to understand the intimate inter-connection between the
great issues of our day of peace, stability, democracy, human rights,
co-operation and development.

Even as we speak, Rwanda stands out as a stern and severe rebuke to all of us
for having failed to address these interrelated matters. As a result of that, a
terrible slaughter of the innocent is taking place in front of our very
eyes.

Thus do we give reason to the peoples of the world to say of Africa that she
will never know stability and peace, that she will never experience development
and growth, that her children will forever be condemned to poverty and
dehumanisation and that we shall for ever be knocking on somebody's door
pleading for a slice of bread.

We know it is a matter of fact that we have it in ourselves as Africans to
change all this. We must, in action, assert our will to do so. We must, in
action, say that there is no obstacle big enough to stop us from bringing about
a new African renaissance.

We are happy, Mr Chairman, to commit South Africa to the achievement of these
goals. We have entered this eminent African organisation and rejoined the
African community of nations inspired by the desire to join hands with all the
countries of our continent as equal partners.

It will never happen again that our country should seek to dominate another
through force of arms, economic might or subversion. We are determined to remain
true to the vision which you held out for South Africa as you joined the
offensive to destroy the system of apartheid.

The vision you shared with us was one of a non-racial society, whose very
being would assert the ancient African values of respect for every person and
commitment to the elevation of human dignity, regardless of colour or race.

What we all aimed for was a South Africa which would succeed in banishing the
ethnic and national conflicts which continue to plague our continent. What we,
together, hoped to see, was a new South Africa freed of conflict among its
people and the violence that has taken such a heavy toll, freed of the threat of
the civil strife that has turned millions of people into refugees both inside
and outside our countries.

We all prayed and sacrificed to bring about a South Africa that we could hold
out as a true example of the democracy, equality and justice for all, which the
apartheid system was constructed and intended to deny.

The vision you shared with us was one in which we would use the resources of
our country to create a society in which all our people would be emancipated
from the scourges of poverty, disease, ignorance and backwardness.

The objectives we will pursued was the creation of a South Africa that would
be a good neighbour and an equal partner with all the countries of our
continent, one which would use its abilities and potentialities to help advance
the common struggle to secure Africa's rightful place within the world economic
and political system.

Thus must we build on the common victory of the total emancipation of Africa
to obtain new successes for our continent as a whole.

Mr Chairman:

We are ready to contribute what we can to help end the genocide that is
taking place in Rwanda and bring peace to that troubled sister country.

We also join the distinguished Heads of State and Government and Leaders of
Delegations in urging a speedy implementation of the OAU and UN decisions aimed
at resolving the question of Western Sahara.

We extend our best wishes to the leaders and people of Angola in the fervent
hope that the process of negotiations in which they are engaged will, as a
matter of urgency, bring about the permanent and just peace which the people of
that country so richly deserve.

Equally, we would like to express our deep-felt wish that the necessary
measures will be taken by all concerned to guarantee the success of the peace
processes in Mozambique and Liberia, to end the war in the Sudan and protect
democracy and stability in Lesotho.

We also appeal to the world community to respond in a sensitive and generous
manner to the famine that threatens the peoples of East Africa.

Mr Chairman, our delegation is also happy to announce that we have had the
honour to pay the subscription that the OAU has levied for South Africa. In
addition, and as a token of the commitment of the people of our country to
support Africa's peace efforts, we are glad to inform the Assembly that we have
also made an additional contribution of R1 million to the OAU fund for
peace.

We congratulate you, Mr Chairman, on you election as the current chairman of
the OAU and thank you, your government and people for the extraordinary welcome
you have extended to us. We are indeed glad to be here because Tunisia was among
the first countries on our continent to respond to our appeal for help, when we
were obliged to take up arms to fight for our liberation.

We thank our brother, President Hosni Mubarak, for the outstanding work he
did during his chairpersonship, including the direction of the efforts of the
OAU as it helped us to deal with political violence in our country and ensure
the holding of free and fair elections.

We salute too, our Secretary-General, HE Salim Ahmed Salim, the OAU
Secretariat, the OAU Head of Mission to South Africa, Ambassador Joe Legwaila,
the Heads of State and Government and the people of our continent who helped us
successfully to walk our last mile of the difficult road to freedom.

To you all, we would like to say that your sacrifices and your efforts have
not been in vain. Freedom for Africa is your reward. Your actions entitled you
to be saluted as the heroes and heroines of our time. On your shoulders rests
the responsibility to restore to our continent its dignity.

We are certain that you will prevail over the currents that originate from
the past, and ensure that the interregnum of humiliation symbolised by, among
others, the destruction of Charthage, is indeed consigned to the past, never to
return.

God bless Africa.

Thank you.