25 May 2008
Radio and
television address to the nation by the President of South Africa,
Thabo Mbeki, on the occasion of Africa Day
Fellow South
Africans :
Today, the 25th of May, all of us, Africans on the Continent and
in the Diaspora join together to celebrate Africa Day. We
therefore take this opportunity to convey the best wishes of our
Government and the people of South Africa to all Africans
everywhere.
We also join
other Africans to renew our pledge to work together for the
rebirth and renewal of the African continent and the advancement
of Africans wherever they may be.
We also recommit
ourselves to work with other Africans in our region and the rest
of our Continent to promote the achievement of the goal of African
unity. That unity also means that in our own country, South
Africa, we must continue to live together with our brothers and
sisters from other African countries as good neighbours.
On this day,
wherever we may be, we should be proud of our identity as Africans
and do nothing that brings shame and humiliation on ourselves both
as a country and as Africans.
Sadly, here in
South Africa, we mark Africa day with our heads bowed. The
shameful actions of a few have blemished the name of South Africa
through criminal acts against our African brothers and sisters
from other parts of the continent, as well as other foreign
residents especially from Asia.
Our television
sets, newspapers and other media have brought us shocking images
of violence against people from other countries who live in our
country, including cold-blooded acts of murder, brutal assault,
looting and destruction of their property.
Never since the
birth of our democracy, have we witnessed such callousness. As
part of the reflection that Africa Day requires of all of us, we
must acknowledge the events of the past two weeks as an absolute
disgrace.
The violence and
criminality we have seen perpetrated by a few South Africans is
opposed to everything that our freedom from apartheid represents.
The violence and
criminality we have seen by a few South Africans stands against
everything we have sought to do to build a humane and caring
society built on the values of Ubuntu.
The actions of
these few individuals do not reflect the values of our people who
for decades have lived together with their fellow African brothers
and sisters – whom they accept, without question, truly as their
own!
As South Africans
there are some things we must never forget.
We must never
forget that our struggle for liberation has always been both
national and Pan-African. For this reason, when the ANC was
established 96 years ago it included peoples from the rest of our
region, stretching as far North as present-day Zambia.
We must never
forget that our economy was built by the combined labour of
Africans drawn from all countries of our region, many of whom died
in our mines together with their fellow South African workers.
Neither should we
forget that many people from other African countries helped to
build our liberation movement, while many in our region died
because of apartheid aggression as they supported us in the
struggle to defeat apartheid.
We must also
sustain the understanding that our own progress and prosperity is
dependent on the progress and prosperity of our neighbours and
other African countries.
This means that
we must remain firm in our commitment to work hard to achieve the
goal of the renewal of our continent, understanding that again in
this instance, an injury to one is an injury to all.
Though it will
not and must never be allowed to succeed, the violence and
criminality we have seen by some South Africans seeks to soil the
good name of the best of our leaders, such as John Dube, Pixley ka
Isaka Seme, Clements Kadalie who was himself of Malawian origin,
Chief Albert Luthuli who spent the first years of his life in
Zimbabwe, Lilian Ngoyi, Thomas Nkobi who was himself of Zimbabwean
origin, Oliver Tambo, Nelson Mandela and others such Joe Slovo and
Ruth First, themselves children of migrants.
These leaders,
together with the overwhelming majority of our people, have always
understood that they are South Africans and Africans
: they are both local and continental.
None of these
leaders, nor the majority of our people, would ever countenance
such savagery as we have seen in the last two weeks.
For this reason,
many of our communities have rallied together to defeat the
senseless agitation of the few seeking to mount attacks on people
from other parts of the continent.
I refer here to
communities such as Diepsloot in Johannesburg, Hammanskraal
outside Tshwane, Mkhambathini in KwaZulu-Natal, communities in the
Western Cape, many others throughout the country and various
religious communities.
Many of our
people, black and white, have come out to condemn this barbarity,
offering food, shelter and clothing to those affected. We commend
and thank all these patriots and appeal to them to continue their
good work, to reject and isolate the criminals in our midst and
extend a hand of friendship to our foreign guests who are nothing
more than our fellow-human beings.
Our National
Disaster Management Centre has been working with all the relevant
government departments, business, religious and humanitarian
organisations, as well as the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees urgently to respond to the humanitarian requirements of
those who have been displaced.
Fellow South
Africans,
While government seeks, always, to address people's
concerns, nobody will be allowed to pervert those concerns by
targeting vulnerable people from other countries.
Whatever concerns
exist, including those about housing, jobs and so on, these can
and must be addressed in a manner that is consistent with the
dignified, humane and caring characteristics that define the
majority of our people – not through criminal means. They must be
addressed through the structures of our democratic system.
Humanity,
democracy and protection of the law are indivisible. What begins
as attacks on people from other countries also involves, as we
have seen, the killing, rape and looting of property belonging to
fellow South African citizens.
Everything
possible will be done to bring the perpetrators to justice. Last
week, we approved the deployment of units of the South African
National Defence Force immediately after we received this request
from the Ministry of Safety and Security and the South African
Police Service.
We have issued
the necessary instructions to these forces and other
law-enforcement bodies to do everything necessary to stop and
apprehend the killers and looters, and ensure that everybody in
our country lives in conditions of safety and security.
Working together
with the South African National Defence Force, the Police have
already apprehended more than 250 alleged perpetrators. The police
will continue to do their job and will root out of our communities
the criminal elements who deserve to be nowhere else but in jail!
Nobody should be
left in doubt about the seriousness with which the entire
government views this matter. No one should doubt the capacity of
the State to deal firmly and decisively with criminal elements,
however daring they may be.
All our
communities should remain ever vigilant, making it forever
impossible for anyone to manipulate their concerns and aspirations
for criminal purposes.
We also urge all
our people to convey any information they may have about the
planned activities of the criminal elements to the Police Service
to empower them to act on time to protect everybody in our
country.
Fellow South
Africans,
Civic education is a vital part of what we need to do to deal with
the events of the last two weeks. We must all assist one another
to understand the phenomenon of migration, its global nature, its
causes and how others elsewhere in the world manage it, avoiding
its mismanagement.
I also call upon
community, political, religious, civil society, media and other
leaders of our people to act together against the manipulation of
our people by criminal elements. This is the time for unity – it
is a time to speak with one voice against something which if it
takes root, will take us back to a past of violent conflict which
no one among us can afford.
Government has
set up an Inter-Departmental Task Team to investigate all possible
causes of the attacks on foreign nationals and to make
recommendations about action that needs to be taken to prevent the
recurrence of the violence we have experienced and may continue to
experience.
In this regard I
must restate that our Government is firmly of the view that it
would be wrong to isolate and segregate our foreign guests in
special camps. Instead, we must build on the tradition of many
decades of integrating our foreign guests within our communities.
This also means
that all of us, Government, popular organisations and communities
will have to create the conditions conducive to good neighbourly
relations between ourselves as South Africans and our foreign
guests.
I would like to
reiterate that while government will do everything in its power to
address our people's concerns, we will
never accept violence and the destruction and looting the property
of any person regardless of their country of origin, as legitimate
ways of addressing those concerns.
The organs of
state have been fully mobilised to ensure law and order and
protect everybody in our country.
We are working on
an urgent basis with all other South Africans of good will to
attend to the needs of those who have been displaced.
All other
measures will be taken to avoid the recurrence of the criminal
violence which has besmirched the good image of South Africa.
On this day,
Africa Day, let us pause to reflect on what it means to be a human
being, a South African and an African. Thus we shall be able to
answer the question whether we are on the right path towards the
dawn of a new day for Africa and her people.
Africa Day
invokes the legacy of freedom, a legacy that must be protected,
cherished and passed on to future generations.
We have a
responsibility to defend human freedom and human life. We dare not
shirk our responsibility.
I wish everyone a
happy and peaceful Africa Day.
Issued by
: The Presidency
25 May 2008
Source : The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)
