Prime Minister Tony Blair,
distinguished guests, I am intimidated. Tony you know as well as I do
that the reason why there are so many people here at this moment is
purely out of curiosity. They want to see what a pensioner from the
colonies looks like. Well you know I am not an old man. Please take
these glasses.
One of the
distinguishing features of the anti-apartheid struggle was the very broad
support it enjoyed from most political persuasions in all parts of the world.
Apartheid was
experienced as such a basic onslaught against human dignity that it demeaned
all of us.
The political
parties in the major western countries often had different approaches in their
support for the freedom struggle in South Africa, but none could ever condone
the racism of apartheid.
This universal
abhorrence of apartheid contributed significantly to the ultimate victory of
freedom, non-racialism and democracy in our country.
One therefore has
an appreciation for the support received from people all over the world,
irrespective of their party political affiliation.
There were however,
political parties and organisations in the western democracies with which the
liberation movement developed particularly strong solidarity relations.
These derived from
a common approach to such social issues as poverty and the primary concern for
the marginalised.
These relationships
were built and consolidated in joint action and struggle with the solidarity
forces in those countries.
The Labour party of
Great Britain is one such organisation. It therefore gives us such great
pleasure to join with you here today at your party congress in the year that
the party celebrates its centenary.
Allow me in the
first place to extend our hearty congratulations to the Labour party. I am
certain that I can do so on behalf of all the freedom-loving people in our
country, who appreciated the extent to which the attainment of democracy in
South Africa was also due to our solidarity partners internationally.
I know that I can
do it on behalf of the organisation that you supported so faithfully over many
decades, the African National Congress.
Britain was in so
many respects the second headquarters of our movement in exile. Your solidarity
helped to make those years of exile bearable and contributed to them not
turning out to be wasted years. With you we can look back to the proud
beginnings of your organisation, rooted in the concern to give organisational
voice to those without power.
To have sustained
over a century such an organisation is a tribute not only to the Labour party,
its leadership and members. It is testimony to the resilience of the spirit
that continues to believe that the world can be made a better place for all.
It defies and gives
the lie to the pervasive cynicism and loss of hope that characterised so much
of political life in the latter part of the last century.
The centenary
celebrations of such a political organisation serves to remind us, here at the
start of a new millennium, of the continued need to persevere in the pursuit of
those ideals.
The
internationalism of which the Labour party was such a potent part, as we well
know in South Africa, today faces new challenges.
At a time
international solidarity was a triumph of the human spirit over the barriers of
distance and isolation. We marvelled at that generosity of spirit capable of
reaching out to take part in the struggles of those far removed and in distant
corners of the world.
Today the world has
become the global village of which we once spoke only in wishful metaphor. What
happens in one part of the globe is immediately accessible to the entire world
and affects others over great distances.
The danger is that
globalisation can come to mean only the free flow of goods and finance, the
open access to markets, the breaking down of barriers to trade and commerce.
The concern for the
common good, which characterised the international solidarity we spoke of, is
in danger of being lost in the current understanding of a global world.
We would argue that
the shrinking of the globe through the advances in communications and
information technology has made it even more incumbent upon us to become once more
the keepers of our brothers and sisters wherever in the world they may be. This
may very well be one of the major political and moral tasks of the Labour party
in the 21st century.
Globalisation is
extremely important, no country can avoid it. Those who are saying they are not
going to prepare for this phenomenon are like saying I don’t recognise winter
therefore I am not going to buy clothing for winter. We have our reservations
about globalisation as I have indicated [?] and we must certainly not be afraid
to condemn those aspects of globalisation which lead to more poverty in the
world. We can no longer tolerate where few powers dominate the world and dictate
to the world. All human beings are born equal. They must be treated equally.
But one can help, right expectation in regard to this global expectations only
of a party that domestically holds dear those values of solidarity with the
poor and the vulnerable sectors of society, especially women, children, the
disabled, the aged, those who suffer from terminal diseases like HIV aids,
cancer and others. It is a sad fact of our times that in spite of the massive
scientific, technological and economic advances humankind has made poverty and
social inequality remain features of most societies in the world. Our historic
relationship with the Labour party rests upon our common concern to centrally
represent the voice and interests of those sectors traditionally excluded from
power and privilege.
In our own country
poverty remains the greatest social problem and its eradication our greatest
political and societal challenge.
I told Prime Minister,
Tony, about an hour or so ago, that apart from poverty, that I’ve spoken about we
faced a crisis of a dimension which I can not put in words. In our country 10
teachers die every month of Aids, in one university a student dies every week
and in one of the most prominent universities in the country more than 25% of
the students are HIV positive, and in our of our neighbouring countries three
cabinet ministers one of whom was a doctor, have died of aids. We look to our
friends to assist us to stave off a crisis. I told the PM that President Bill
Clinton has given me five million dollars to use specifically to fight the scourge.
Bill Gates gave me ten million dollars and my wife five million dollars and the
partner of Bill Gates gave each of 7 and a half million. There are times when I
wish I had not got married. Because if I had not I would have got that 15
million. But what worries me even more is that my wife is becoming even more
important than I am. There was an ambassador in SA who came to me and said I
want to give your wife an honorary doctorate but if you accompany her you will
also get a doctorate. You can see the wretched life I am spending but please
don’t tell her that I made this remark.
In South Africa we
have achieved a non-racial democracy based on one of the most progressive
constitutions anywhere in the world. Our once divided society has come together
in an act of national reconciliation that ensures that our political order is
stable; we now live out our differences within the framework of our
constitutional democracy. The management of our economy is widely acclaimed for
the manner in which sound macro-economic fundamentals are maintained.
The people-centred
growth of our economy, with new jobs and increasing prosperity for all our
people, has however not occurred at the pace and volume we hoped for when we
set out on this road of reconstruction and development.
The growth of an
economy is no longer merely a national matter. Globalisation has exactly meant
that a nation's best made plans can go awry due to international factors beyond
its control.
We have seen that
with the financial crisis in the Asian markets, even though our economy
withstood that crisis better than most of the emergent economies. The effective
growth of an economy like ours is crucially dependent upon direct foreign
investment; yet one often witnesses how the political stability, social
progressiveness and sound economic management in the country are ignored when
investment decisions are made.
As we stood
together to oppose apartheid in South Africa, we are today called upon to join
forces for growth and development.
Democratic South
Africa has no pretensions whatsoever to being a mini superpower in our region,
on our continent or in the developing world. We do, however, realise that we
have a responsibility to articulate common concerns of those regions when we do
act on the international stage. In doing so, we turn once more to our
traditional solidarity partners, like the Labour party, to add their voice to
those clamouring and working for a better and more equitable life for all
throughout the world.
One of the issues
that gives me encouragement in all the turmoil that are taking place all over
the work, the thing that makes me go to bed feeling strong and full of hope and
feeling much younger than I am, is that in spite of all the problems, the world
is full of good men and women who are prepared to serve not only their country but
the entire world men and women who fight socio-economic evils wherever they are
to be found in the world. Men and women whose theatre of operations is the entire
world, who fight poverty, illiteracy, hunger, want. As I look at you here I can
see men and women who are worthy candidates to immortality. When their last day
comes we will be able to say here lies a man or women who has done his or her
duty to country, and to people. They will be like Aristotle or Plato we will
inter them into the earth but their names will live for eternity. That is how I
conceive of the Labour Party, because of the way on which is has selected such
economic issues like poverty, like hunger, to fight, wherever these are to be
found in the world. We are the beneficiaries of that vision, of that
sensitivity, to problems across the seas, and that is how the Labour Party has
conducted itself up to today. And that is why I am confident that there are
good men and women all over the world, those good men and women are to be found
in the Labour Party of Britain.
I wish you well as
you enter the second century of your organisational life.
The health of a
democracy is ultimately dependent upon the vibrancy of its political parties
and the active participation of the citizenry. It is our wish that the human
solidarity that has inspired the Labour party for such a long time will be kept
alive in action. May this century be one where the poor and marginalised come
into their own and the gross social inequalities of the past at last are
eradicated.
Tony, ladies and
gentlemen, I may have told you the story in the past, but it is crucial that I
should repeat it here, the day before my 75th birthday my security
told me that there was a young lady of about 4 at the gate that wanted to see
me. I said let her come in. They said “sir she is very cheeky” I said precisely
for that reason let her come in. They did. She was quite a lady. I was sitting
in my lounge she did not knock she did not knock she did not wait she said ‘how
old are you’. I said I can’t remember but I was born long, long ago. She said
two years ago? I said no much longer than that. Then she said ‘why did you go
to jail?’ I “no I did not go to jail before because I wanted to I was sent
there by other people”. “Who sent you there” “people who don’t like me”. She
said “how long were you there?” I said “again I can’t remember but I was there
for a very long time”. “No” she insisted “you must tell me how long you were
there”. I said “no I have already told you that I can’t remember”. She then
said “you are a stupid old man aren’t you”.
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