The people of the UK want South Africa to succeed

Today, we flew out of London to return home, on the conclusion of our State Visit to the United Kingdom. We had visited this country at the invitation of its Head of State, Queen Elizabeth II. Other members of the Royal Family joined in welcoming and looking after us during our stay. These included His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen's husband, their children, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, the Duke of York, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, as well as the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, Prince Michael of Kent, Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy and the Rt. Hon. Sir Angus Ogilvy, and the Viscount and Viscountess Brookeborough.

During our stay, we were privileged to meet other leaders of the people of the United Kingdom. These included the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Tony Blair and John Prescott, respectively. The leaders of the opposition parties, William Hague of the Conservative Party and Charles Kennedy of the Liberal Democrats, as well as David Trimble, First Minister of Northern Ireland and David Steele, Speaker of the Scottish Parliament.

I hope that our Government will produce a more comprehensive report of this important State Visit that, among other things, will give an accurate reflection of the contact we had with a most extraordinary range of the leaders of the people of the UK.

That list will give a very interesting picture of the people who came out to receive and interact with us. These included not only political leaders, but also large numbers of business leaders, academics and analysts, the judiciary, the security forces, the media, diplomats, mass organisations, such as the trade unions, and well known leaders and activists of the anti-apartheid movement.

The visit was undertaken by one of the biggest South African delegations to a foreign country. Apart from the strong government delegation, there was an 80-strong business group that fruitfully engaged with a number of their British counterparts. Indeed the whole South African delegation could be aptly described as a Dream Team South Africa.

Wherever the legation went, in Windsor, London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Coventry and Warwick, it was very warmly welcomed and received. Ordinary people in the streets waved at our convoy as it drove down the streets of the cities of the UK. We can boldly say this, and without fear of contradiction, that the people of the UK are, to us, committed and genuine friends. Many in these Isles wish us well. I am confident they will do whatever they can to see our country succeed.

The bonds between South Africa and Britain run very deep, spanning centuries and cutting through many generations. Our relationship has been bitter-sweet, characterised by alternate periods of war and peace, of tears of bloody conflicts and the warmth of friendly co-existence.

The tone of the visit was set by none other than the Head of State, Her Majesty the Queen, who hosted a luncheon and an evening banquet on the very first day that we arrived. In her welcoming speech at the State Banquet in our honour, she told us of the friendship and support for our people and country that we would experience. She told us of her admiration and that of her people of the progress we had made as South Africans, to overcome the legacy of racism and apartheid.

As we have already reported, our own experience proved to us that she was, in fact, correct in her assessment of what the people of the UK thought of us. She was also very accurate in her estimation that these, who are her people, are committed to work with us to overcome our challenges.

From this visit, we have to draw a number of conclusions that are important to us, based both on the formal speeches that were made by leaders of the UK during the visit, our direct interactions with the broad leadership we met, and the response of the ordinary people we came across as we followed the programme that had been set for the visit.

One thing stands out very clearly. The people of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland see us as real brothers, sisters and friends that they want to work with in a common effort to respond to the challenges that both of countries face. Accordingly, I believe that, as South Africans, regardless of race, gender or social status, we must work to strengthen the ties of friendship and solidarity that bind South Africa and the UK together. This will give us great possibilities to overcome the problems we face as a country, sooner rather than later.

The people of the UK are also deeply concerned about the future of our continent, Africa. They see our country as an important player in the struggle to ensure that we achieve the critical objective they support, of ensuring that the current century does, indeed, become an African Century. They feel part of the historic effort to ensure that the pursuit of the objectives of the African Century does, in reality, result in the achievement of the African Renaissance.

Because of what we have reported to you already, of their feeling of oneness with us, they want to work with us to achieve the rebirth of Africa. This means that all of us must further extend our contacts with the people of the UK to draw on their strengths to reinforce the drive towards the renewal of Africa. It is also clear that the fundamental reason that these people want to act together with us as friends and comrades-in-arms, is because they understand, support and admire what we have done and doing in South Africa, to achieve the objective of a better life for all, in a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist country.

The conclusion we must reach from this is that we must continue to do everything that is good and progressive for our people and country, as defined by our national constitution. It is the progress we are making in our country, to end poverty, to narrow and end our race and gender imbalances, to create a truly non-racial and non-sexist society, to build a thriving and modern economy, to build a strong democracy, and to work with other Africans to deal successfully with the all problems of our Continent, that tells the people of the UK that we are people who are worthy allies in the struggle for a better world.

What this means is that we must stick to our chosen path, to ensure that, whatever the difficulties, our practical deeds convey the message to the world that we are a country and a people, who are determined that South Africa succeeds in all the aims we have just mentioned, within the context of the process of globalisation. Our deeds must speak louder than our words.

The last point we would like to make is that our State Visit to the UK showed that we can, and must, work together as Team South Africa. This is so because during the visit, our public and private sectors worked together very successfully as Dream Team South Africa. Within our own country, we have to work together as Dream Team South Africa, to create the kind of South Africa that is spelt out in our constitution. This stands at the centre of our universally acclaimed miracle of effecting a peaceful transition from apartheid to democracy. This miracle has inspired the world, including the people of the UK.

During this week, the people of the UK said to us that they want us to succeed in the struggle for the creation of the society that the overwhelming majority of South Africans want. They told us that they want to be part of this struggle, because what we do, will help them to solve their problems as well. They said that they believe us because they know that we keep to our commitments and do not tell lies. They told us that what we are doing in our own country, gives hope to the whole world, about what can be done to ensure that nobody suffers from poverty and thereby loses his or her human dignity.

The message we must send to the UK and the rest of the international community, is that we will not give up the struggle for non-racism, non-sexism, and the prosperity of all our people. Our credibility as a country rests on the progress we can achieve with regard to these areas. We must continue to unite in action for change. The world expects of us no less than to do what we have already told ourselves to do.

June 16

Youth must unite in action against racism, sexism and other discrimination

This week, on 16 June, we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the heroic 1976 youth uprising. What started as a peaceful protest of youth against injustice ended in tragedy as scores of youth were brutally maimed and sent to prison. We salute the youth of 1976 and all the generations of youth before and after it for the sacrifices they made to further the cause of our freedom. Thanks to their sacrifices, we were able to score a decisive victory against apartheid on 27 April 1994.

This year is the year for the commencement of the African Century during which, acting together, we must score new victories in our continuing struggle for national and continental renaissance. During this African Century we must solve the problem of the colour line, moving beyond merely identifying racism as a persisting challenge to unite in action completely to eradicate it together with sexism, xenophobia, ethnicity and all other forms of discrimination.

To this day, the deep socio-economic and political disparities of apartheid underpin the entire socio-economic and political fabric of our society.

Inspired by the youth of 1976 - who, even in the face of death refused to believe in counter-racism, upholding instead their principled belief in non-racialism - we must by our actions, demonstrate that we are a youth united in action against racism, sexism, xenophobia and all other forms of discrimination.

Once more, we must affirm our commitment to the ideal of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society whose people are united in their diversity. Our diversity is a source of strength and our different cultures, languages and religions must be respected, promoted and celebrated, but must all lead to the development of a unique South African culture.

Sadly, even as we progress towards this future without discrimination, many dispersed forces of inertia continue to slow us down, resisting change and seeking to preserve the past through the denial and defence of racism. At the same time, the process of globalisation has exacerbated the deepening of socio-economic disparities between and within countries, with dire consequences for developing countries.

We urge our young white compatriots not to fear a non-racial and united society, but voluntarily to plough their skills, resources, capacity and goodwill for the common development of their fellow youth.

The white youth must not fear discussing "racism". When we attack racism, we are not attacking white people. White people must not equate themselves to racism. Accordingly, they must feel anger towards and denounce racism and shoulder collective responsibility with all South Africans for its eradication.

The victory of the struggle against racial oppression would inevitably result in the emancipation of white people themselves. For as long as racism persists, so long shall white people remain in bondage with the responsibility to perpetuate and sustain it.

We urge the Indian and Coloured youth to know that it is not their African patriots that are their competition for scarce resources. Instead, together they must pursue the creation of prosperity for all. We urge the African youth to remain relentless in their fight for a non-racial society, to continue to affirm their identity and their humanity, as well as their right to a better life.

No other generation of youth in South Africa will ever again be present at the moment of this historical transition from the past of racism, sexism and discrimination to the future of non-racialism, non-sexism and inclusion.

To play our role decisively and meaningfully, our youth must be empowered and equipped with all the necessary spiritual and material wherewithal to face their challenges with confidence. To do so shall require that enormous public and private resources be invested in youth development programmes, especially to develop the historically disadvantaged youth, paying particular and urgent attention to the matters of youth economic empowerment, especially as they relate to youth employment, entrepreneurship and skills development.

In this regard, white capital has a great role to play, having immensely benefited from apartheid. Accordingly, in the coming years we shall wage a sustained campaign to ensure that it does discharge its responsibility towards the disadvantaged. Further to this, the all-round needs of the youth for education, arts, culture, sports and recreation must be addressed. As part of this, we must reaffirm the indigenous sports.

Guided by the ideal of creating a non-sexist society, we must begin to agitate for unisex sports squads and break down the barriers that preclude the realisation of this effort.

A national campaign must be waged, in partnership with government and other stakeholders, to promote the study of science, mathematics and technology by black students.

Among others, we must help our schools transcend being merely multi-racial and become truly non-racial schools where the provision of amenities and education itself is integrated, and racism has become a punishable offence.

Further, we must establish partnerships between advantaged and disadvantaged schools. This should result in academic and social integration and exchange programmes between and within these schools, including with regard to learners and teachers, ensuring the transfer of skills and resources to needy schools.

Tertiary institutions, especially historically white institutions, must themselves strive for the same objectives. In every aspect of their academic and social activities, they must strive for integration, including in how they provide amenities and deal with the challenge of language policy.

White and male youth, who possess the bulk of the more advanced skills and other resources that we need to develop this country, must co-operate with and support their black and female counterparts in advancing their professions. Among the professional youth we expect, as well, a voluntary exchange of skills, knowledge and experience.

We must open the doors for professional youth from other African countries without discriminating against them, taking advantage of the enormous wealth of skills they possess that can help develop our country and continent.

None can question the pivotal need to empower and develop, support and affirm young women as a direct means to integrating them into all socio-economic and political spheres. Young men must make it their responsibility to shed backward beliefs and stereotypes about women, to join the fight against women harassment and violence against women such as rape, physical abuse and others.

A central part of this is to reject all the ridiculous stereotypes, divisions and relations defined for us by our colonial rulers and struggle against xenophobia which, sadly, in South Africa manifests itself exclusively against African immigrants.

In waging a sustained offensive against xenophobia, we must do all we can to ensure that the Millennium African Recovery Programme (MAP) succeeds so that we expand the material base for the creation of a better life for all in Africa. We must be conscious of and very sensitive to any form of discrimination and exclusion, anywhere, fighting it resolutely, everywhere striving towards inclusion and fairness.

During this, the 25th Anniversary of the 1976 Youth Uprising, we must, as the South African youth commit ourselves to leading the struggle against racism, sexism, xenophobia and all other forms of discrimination. We have a real opportunity to expand the frontiers of freedom, democracy and a better life for all.

Malusi Gigaba is President of the ANC Youth League.

MORE INFORMATION:

• ANC Youth League
• South African Youth Council

Human rights

The seventy year struggle for a bill of rights

The inclusion of a Bill of Rights in South Africa's democratic Constitution was a concrete expression of key demands of the Freedom Charter. It was also the implementation of a seven decade-old resolution.

The 1923 annual convention of the ANC, then known as the South African Native National Congress, adopted the first 'bill of rights' in South Africa, "respectfully urging members of the great European races of the Union to take the whole question into their serious consideration".

Couched in the restrained language of the time, the main themes of the bill were that human rights should be universal, that all South Africans had a god-given right to ownership of land, that there should be equality before the law and equal political rights and finally that all should be able to have an equal share in government.

Three decades later these themes were evident among the thousands of demands collated into the Freedom Charter and adopted by the Congress of the People on 26 June 1955. "All shall enjoy equal human rights," declares the Charter. It was a response to decades of human rights violations. "The Charter was line by line the direct outcome of conditions which obtain: harsh, oppressive and unjust conditions," then ANC President Albert Luthuli wrote.

Although outspoken members of the legal profession played an important role in the following decades in establishing the need for a Bill of Rights in South Africa, the main agency for finally creating a rights consciousness was popular struggle around the Freedom Charter. In 1987, the ANC National Executive Committee formally accepted the need for South Africa to have a justiciable Bill of Rights enshrining universally accepted fundamental rights and freedoms.

This was the organisation's answer to those who were insisting on racial group rights as the foundation of constitutional development. The ANC was able to draw on half a century of campaigning for human rights as the foundation for its claim for equal citizenship in a united country. This human rights foundation is at the centre of the new Constitution adopted by the Constitutional Assembly in 1996.

The declaration of the Freedom Charter that "the rights of the people shall be the same, regardless of race, colour or sex" - sentiments for which 156 leaders were subsequently charged with high treason - now underpins South Africa's constitutional and institutional order. In addition to the constitution, the establishment of the Constitutional Court has established sound foundations for constitutional and human rights jurisprudence.

The Freedom Charter says that the law shall guarantee to all their right to speak, to organise, to meet together, to publish, to preach, to worship and to educate their children.

The right to form a political party, to campaign for a political party and to participate in its activities are guaranteed by the Constitution, as is the right to education, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association.

The Charter demands that all shall be free to travel without restriction from countryside to town, from province to province, and from South Africa abroad: "Pass laws, permits and all other laws restricting these freedoms shall be abolished." Section 21 of the Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of movement, the right to leave the Republic and the right of every citizen to enter, remain in and to reside anywhere in the Republic.

A right taken for granted in many parts of the world, freedom of movement and residence is a necessary assertion that all parts of South Africa belong to all its people. It is an unambiguous rejection of apartheid spatial planning.

The Charter demands that all national groups shall be protected by law against insults to their race and national pride. The preaching and practice of national, race or colour discrimination and contempt shall be a punishable crime. The right to equality is protected by Section 9 of the Constitution. To give effect to this right, the ANC-led government implemented the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act. The Act prohibits unfair discrimination on the grounds of race, gender and disability and places a duty on the state to promote equality.

The Constitution provides for a Human Rights Commission, which was established in 1996, with the task of monitoring the application of human rights and creating public awareness about human rights as part of the ongoing struggle, initiated in 1923, to entrench a human rights culture in South Africa.

MORE INFORMATION

• The ANC and the Bill of Rights, 1923 to 1993, A Seventy Year Survey
• Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, Act 108 of 1996

Equal Before the Law

The transformation of the South African legal system

The transformation of the South African legal system, currently underway, is guided in large part by the clause of the Freedom Charter that "All Shall Be Equal Before The Law".

It says that no one shall be imprisoned, deponed or restricted without a fair trial. Section 35 of the Constitution protects the rights of arrested, detained and accused persons. To give effect to the right to a fair trial the ANC-led government enacted the Criminal Procedure Amendment in 1996, which made provision for an accused to be informed of his or her right to legal representation and for court appointed legal representation for unrepresented accused. The Act also regulates the cross-examination and re-examination of witnesses.

The Charter says that no one shall be condemned by the order of any government official. South Africa has suffered from a long history of the abuse of executive power and the subordination of the rights of individuals to the arbitrary will of officialdom. The right to just administrative action is guaranteed by Section 33 of the Constitution. The government enacted the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act in 2000 which provided that administrative action must be lawful, reasonable and procedurally fair. The Act provided measures for the review of administrative action and for the state to provide written reasons for such actions.

The Charter calls for the courts to be representative of all the people, highlighting the domination of white men in the composition of the judiciary and magistracy. Under the current dispensation there are more black and female judges and magistrates than ever before. At the last judicial colloquium it was resolved that this process must continue to make the bench truly representative of all the people.

The Charter demands that imprisonment shall only be for serious crimes against the people, and shall aim at re-education not vengeance. In accordance with a Constitutional Court finding in 1995, the ANC-led government enacted the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 which made provision for the setting aside of all death sentences and their substitution by lawful punishments. The Parole and Correctional Supervision Act of 1997 provided for the establishment of parole boards and regulated the placement of prisoners on correctional supervision.

The ANC in government continues to enact legislation to give effect to the rights contained in the Constitution and to rectify the harsh, oppressive and unjust conditions that existed at the time of the creation of the Freedom Charter.

This is part of the broader of the broader vision of liberation contained in the Freedom Charter. "If the Charter is examined it will be seen that freedom means the opening up of the opportunity to all South Africans to live full and abundant lives in terms of country, community and individual," Albert Luthuli said.

MORE INFORMATION

• The Freedom Charter
• Information about the Congress of the People

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