STATEMENT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS,NELSON
MANDELA, AT HIS INAUGURATION AS PRESIDENT OF THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF
SOUTH AFRICA, UNION BUILDINGS, PRETORIA, MAY 10 1994
"Your Majesties,
Your Highnesses,
Distinguished Guests,
Comrades and Friends:
Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in
other parts of our country and the world,confer glory and hope to
newborn liberty.
Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too
long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud.
Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South
African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice,
strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain
all our hopes for a glorious life for all.
All this we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who
are so well represented here today.
To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is
as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the
famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld.
Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of
personal renewal. The national mood changes as the seasons change.
We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns
green and the flowers bloom.
That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common
homeland explains the depth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as
we saw our country tear itself apart in a terrible conflict, and as we
saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world,
precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious
ideology and practice of racism and racial oppression.
We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken
us back into its bosom, that we, who were outlaws not so long ago, have
today been given the rare privilege to be host to the nations of the
world on our own soil.
We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to
take possession with the people of our country of what is, after all, a
common victory for justice, for peace, for human dignity.
We trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the
challenges of building peace, prosperity, non-sexism,non-racialism and
democracy.
We deeply appreciate the role that the masses of our people and their
political mass democratic, religious, women, youth,business, traditional
and other leaders have played to bring about this conclusion. Not least
among them is my Second Deputy President, the Honourable F.W. de Klerk.
We would also like to pay tribute to our security forces, in all their
ranks, for the distinguished role they have played in securing our first
democratic elections and the transition to democracy, from blood-thirsty
forces which still refuse to see the light.
The time for the healing of the wounds has come.
The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.
The time to build is upon us.
We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge
ourselves to liberate all our people from the continuing bondage of
poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and other discrimination.
We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative
peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and
lasting peace.
We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the
millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the
society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able
to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their
inalienable right to human dignity - a rainbow nation at peace with
itself and the world.
As a token of its commitment to the renewal of our country,the new
Interim Government of National Unity will, as a matter of urgency,
address the issue of amnesty for various categories of our people who
are currently serving terms of imprisonment.
We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and
the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their
lives so that we could be free.
Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward.
We are both humbled and elevated by the honour and privilege that you,
the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us, as the first President
of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa, to lead
our country out of the valley of darkness.
We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.
We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success.
We must therefore act together as a united people, for national
reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world.
Let there be justice for all.
Let there be peace for all.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul
have been freed to fulfill themselves.
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will
again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the
indignity of being the skunk of the world.
Let freedom reign.
The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!
God bless Africa!
Thank you. "
Il mio Portfolio è un modesto tibuto a Madela e ai prati dove annegare in un infinito verde.
