Thabo Mbeki remembers 'repulsive' Apartheid in South Africa by Sally Sara in Pretoria ABC News / AFP 10:28am 28th Apr, 2004   April 27, 2004.    South African President Thabo Mbeki has recalled the apartheid years, saying in his inaugural address that the regime represented "much that is ugly and repulsive in human society".    Welcoming guests after taking the oath of office for a second term, Mr Mbeki thanked foreign governments for supporting those who "confronted the apartheid crime against humanity".    "For too long our country contained within it and represented much that is ugly and repulsive in human society," he said at the inauguration, held ahead of celebrations marking the 10th anniversary of the end of apartheid.    "It was a place in which those who cried out for freedom were promised and rewarded with the gift of the cold and silent grave.    "To rebel for liberty was to invite torture, prison, banishment, exile and death."    Speaking at the ceremony at Pretoria's Union Buildings, Mr Mbeki said under white minority rule, South Africa was "a place in which to be born black was to inherit a lifelong curse" and endure murder, rape and "brutal personal wars without a cause".    The oppressors were ready with "guns and tanks and aircraft that would rain death on those who disturb the peace of the masters".    "It was a place in which those who were enraged knew that to kill those who promised freedom for all was to rid the world of the anti-Christ," he said.    The apartheid regime "thought it right that they should turn our country into a mighty and feared fortress ... to remove governments that would not compromise with racist tyranny, to place in power those who were willing to be intimidated, bought and corrupted, to kill and reduce whole countries to a wasteland, everywhere burning, burning, burning," he said.    "We are determined that where once we were the terrible example of racist bigotry, we should now and in future testify to the possibility of building a stable and viable non-racial society," Mr Mbeki pledged.    More than 40,000 people turned out in Pretoria for the celebrations, as military aircraft flew low and fast over the site. Dignitaries from more 100 countries took part in the event. Former president Nelson Mandela received a warm welcome from the crowd. The official ceremony was followed by a free concert.
	Next (more recent) news item
	Next (older) news item