President Thabo Mbeki: «For too long our country contained within it and represented much that is ugly and repulsive in human society.»

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afrol News, 27 April - South Africa has held a worthy celebration of the tenth anniversary of the defeat of apartheid. In front of world state leaders gathered in Pretoria and the South African nation, President Thabo Mbeki vowed to fight the poverty that still paralyses large parts of the black population and to continue fighting for democracy and economic development in Africa at large.

Mr Mbeki today took an oath for a second term as President of the Republic of South Africa, precisely ten years after Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first democratically elected President of the country. 27 April thus is celebrated as Freedom Day in South Africa and today, representatives of more than 100 countries joined South Africans in celebrating the event.

The guest list in Pretoria's Union Buildings was impressive. In addition to South African celebrities - such as the three Nobel peace laureates ex-Presidents Mandela and F.W. de Klerk and Archbishop Desmond Tutu - world royalties and heads of states honoured ten years of multi-racial government in Africa's leading nation.

From overseas, Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander, Belgian Princess Astrid, Chilean President Ricardo Lagos Escobar, East Timoran President Xanana Gusmão and Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik were among the highlights. From Africa, the Kings of Swaziland and Lesotho appeared alongside with 21 Heads of State, including Mwai Kibaki from Kenya, Olusegun Obasanjo from Nigeria and Robert Mugabe from Zimbabwe.

Outside the Union Buildings, a crowd of over 40,000 South Africans was participating in the celebrations, watching the events inside the building on eight big screens. In the nearby Caledonian Stadium, crowds transported in from the neighbour cities of Tshwane and Johannesburg also followed the celebrations on a big screen.

President Mbeki, who made his oath to serve South Africa "so help me God," was the host of the anniversary celebrations. In a much quoted speech, the President focused on the big ill of South Africa and the rest of the continent; the remaining pervasive poverty as the principal task for politicians. "Having served as the prime example of human despair, Africa is certain to emerge as a place of human hope," said the President.

President Mbeki expressed his "deep-felt gratitude" to the large number of foreign guest that had "put aside everything to lend weight and dignity to our celebrations." Indeed, the number was large and demonstrated that the victory over apartheid not had only been a South African event, but also the product of international efforts, something Mr Mbeki knew to honour in his speech.

- For too long our country contained within it and represented much that is ugly and repulsive in human society, said President Mbeki, after making a touching description of how the apartheid ideology had created victims of the entire South African people; blacks and whites, women and men. And he repeated it after describing the pain South Africa had inflicted upon its fellow African nations.

The President however also assured he would not run away from today's problems, which mostly are a heritance from 350 years of colonialism and apartheid dictatorship. "Endemic and widespread poverty continues to disfigure the face of our country. It will always be impossible for us to say that we have fully restored the dignity of all our people as long as this situation persists," he said.

- For this reason the struggle to eradicate poverty has been and will continue to be a central part of the national effort to build the new South Africa, explained President Mbeki. This struggle, South Africa shared with the rest of the continent, and Mr Mbeki promised a full-fledged effort to continue to fight against poverty all over Africa.

President Mbeki gathered enthusiastic applause from the many national and international guests, enchanted by the progresses in South Africa and the positive influence the country's democratic government has had on developments on the continent during the last decade.

The historic event was not only celebrated in South Africa. In addition to numerous celebrations and seminars held by old anti-apartheid activist groups around the world, also the UN today honoured the tenth anniversary of the fall of white minority rule in South Africa. Ghanaian UN Secretary General Kofi Annan today marked the day at UN headquarters in New York.

The fight against apartheid was "one that rallied people and Governments behind a common objective: the objective of reaffirming the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of all peoples," said Mr Annan at the UN celebration. The international community was rejoicing to see South Africans of all colours, ethnic groups and creeds, working together to forge a common future, he added.

South Africa, being a big nation in Africa, remains a relatively small nation internationally. Nevertheless, it is finding its place as an increasingly important voice for Africa. The very, very big attention South Africa's Freedom Day has achieved internationally today symbolises that the world indeed has celebrated freedom together with South Africans and that the Mbeki government has great international credibility and goodwill ten years after gaining power.

By staff writers

© afrol News

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