New Delhi, 27 January 1995
I can truly say that for me there is no greater privilege than to be honoured in India. I feel deeply humbled to receive the award bestowed on me today. That the award is in the name of Mrs. Indira Gandhi has a special significance. For she advanced the cause of the poor and the dispossessed in the tradition of her father, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and inspired by the great Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation.
The Mahatma's unique example of overcoming evil through moral action touched the hearts and minds of millions of people across the world and transformed the course of anti-colonial struggle in Asia and Africa.
It was in South Africa that the great Mahatma developed the philosophy of Satyagraha. As President Mandela, in a message smuggled out of prison when he received the 1979 Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, said:
"in 21 years of his stay in South Africa we were to witness the birth of ideas and methods of struggle that have exerted an incalculable influence on the history of the peoples of India and South Africa.”
His profound influence has been manifested throughout the South African liberation struggle by leaders such as Chief Albert Lutuli, Walter Sisulu, Yusuf Dadoo, Oliver Tambo and especially President Mandela whose presence here today means so much to me.
Through Mahatma Gandhi, the South African and Indian struggles became one - demonstrated so decisively by pre-independent India when in July 1946 it severed diplomatic relations with South Africa and imposed total economic sanctions.
It was also India which in June 1946 first placed the issue of South Africa's racial policies on the agenda of the United Nations.
Having arrived in South Africa as a young priest in 1943, through my pastoral work I was becoming inevitably involved in opposing the doctrine of racial superiority. I personally witnessed the profound impact of India's solidarity action on the oppressed people. I can truly say today that that action served to both inspire and guide me in all my anti-apartheid activities in South Africa and internationally.
In a real sense, at considerable economic and political sacrifice, India became the first Frontline State against apartheid and has remained steadfast ever since.
India's pioneering role resulted in the United Nations taking up the struggle against apartheid. And in this context, I feel bound to pay tribute to Mr. Enuga Reddy, the former UN Assistant Secretary-General, who personally played such an important role in this work.
India's unique anti-apartheid role has a special meaning for me also because of my personal involvement with your great country. At the time of my birth, my father was away serving in the Indian Navy. And over 60 years ago I celebrated my 21st birthday here in Delhi. I have always cherished the link with India and have been fortunate to have been able to visit it often.
This link was given a new dimension when I was elected as the Anglican Archbishop of the Indian Ocean and based in Mauritius. This experience also opened by eyes fully to the miracle of the diversity of humankind which also finds expression in the multitude of faiths which are practised on that small island.
It was whilst in Mauritius that I was privileged to meet Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This was at a critical period, after the independence of Zimbabwe, when the major western powers were making a determined effort to end South Africa's international isolation. As Chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement and host of the 1983 Commonwealth Conference, Prime Minister Gandhi played a decisive role in countering this offensive and simultaneously laying the foundation for effective action to secure Namibia's independence and to end the apartheid system.
Her assassination on that tragic day - 31 October 1984 - robbed not only India but the world of a great leader.
In devastating and tormenting circumstances, Rajiv Gandhi took over office and was able to give new expression to his mother's values and beliefs. These were challenging times for the freedom struggle in Southern Africa and in my capacity as President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement I was privileged to meet with Rajiv on many occasions.
When apartheid South Africa intensified its war of aggression and destabilisation against the independent states of Southern Africa in the 1980s, it was India which was asked by the Non-Aligned Movement to chair the Africa Fund which was set up in 1986 to mobilise international resources in support of the region.
I know from our discussions how seriously Rajiv Gandhi took this responsibility. In particular, I still recall as if it were yesterday, my lengthy discussions with Rajiv when I paid a short visit to New Delhi the following January to participate in a programme of events to mark the 75th anniversary of the ANC which were organised by the Congress Youth League.
I also experienced the warmth of his humanity and the quality of his friendship. Once, when I broke my arm and suffered complications with my diabetes a huge bouquet of flowers arrived - from Rajiv. I will never know how it was that thousands of miles away he learnt of my illness but I do know that such acts of friendship made the pain of my grief that much harder to bear when, tragically, he too, like his mother, was the victim of hatred and bigotry and never lived to see democracy triumph in South Africa.
But it was a source of great joy for me to be with his widow Sonia Gandhi in Pretoria last May to witness the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela as South Africa's first democratically elected Head of State.
The decolonization process which began with India's independence in 1947, was closed on that historic day. Now we are in a new era in Southern Africa where hope has to be turned into reality through a programme of reconstruction and equitable development throughout the region.
The award I have been honoured to receive today is the Indira Gandhi Award for Peace, Development and Disarmament - objectives which have always united the peoples of India and South Africa. Now for the first time the Governments of these two countries have the opportunity to work together to promote these objectives.
President Mandela in his Rajiv Gandhi Golden Jubilee Memorial Lecture two days ago set out a vision of a new relationship which will span the Indian Ocean bringing with it the prospect of the Indian Ocean becoming a zone of peace. I was particularly encouraged by the commitment to promote economic co-operation amongst all the countries which share this great Ocean.
Through trade, commerce and investment new initiatives can be taken to address the root causes of underdevelopment - thus bringing about a real improvement in the quality of life for all. This will also require a high priority to be given both to conventional disarmament as well as the outlawing of all nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
This is in the Bandung spirit of Afro-Asian solidarity. But cooperation in the Indian Ocean should also be in the context of a new pattern of South-South relations which the South Commission under the leadership of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere has done so much to promote.
One of the greatest challenges for the future of our planet is the confrontation between the hunger of the South and the affluence of the North. And I have no doubt that the future lies with the South. Whilst the North is gripped with a rising tide of racism and xenophobia, moral leadership is coming increasingly from the South - and there is no greater example than that now being set by President Mandela.
I believe that there can be no better tribute to Indira Gandhi than for the objectives of peace, development and disarmament to become a reality throughout the South, and especially the rim countries of the Indian Ocean, as a consequence of this week's historic visit by President Mandela to India.
With these words I am honoured to accept the Indira Gandhi Award for Peace, Development and Disarmament.