South Africa celebrates a decade of freedom by UN News / ABC News 10:39am 28th Apr, 2004   Sunday, 2 May , 2004    "South Africa celebrates a decade of freedom". (ABC News: Correspondents Report - Reporter: Sally Sara)    HAMISH ROBERTSON: As Europe celebrates its historic enlargement this weekend, tens of thousands of South Africans have been marking the tenth anniversary of the end of apartheid.    President Thabo Mbeki was sworn in for his second term in office, during an official ceremony at the historic Union Buildings in Pretoria. Dignitaries from more than 100 countries gathered to acknowledge South Africa's first decade of freedom. But, as our Africa Correspondent Sally Sara now reports from Pretoria, the young democracy is facing some formidable challenges.    SALLY SARA: Democracy still generates a genuine sense of joy and wonder for many South Africans. It's a cherished gift that came from years of struggle. Freedom is something almost beyond words, for those who lived without it for most of their lives.    Now South Africa is entering a new stage in its history. The country is celebrating ten years since the end of apartheid. For President Thabo Mbeki, it's the time to set the agenda for his next term in office.    THABO MBEKI: Freedoms, opportunities, have given us the possibility to begin the long walk to a life of dignity for all our people. For too long our country contained within it, and represented much that is ugly and repulsive in human society.    SALLY SARA: Thabo Mbeki has been sworn in for his second and final term. He took the oath at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, the same place that Nelson Mandela was inaugurated ten years ago. More than 40,000 people turned out to celebrate.    For many South Africans, the tenth anniversary of the end of apartheid is time to move on. Those who lived their lives amid oppression and racism are looking to the future.    VOX POP: We have achieved a lot. We have come a really long way. But we still have a long way to go, understand. We've come this far. Let bygones be bygones, let's forget what happened and let's carry on.    SALLY SARA: But some political wounds are still festering. President Thabo Mbeki has announced his new Cabinet. He decided to drop the leader of the Zulu dominated Inkatha Freedom Party, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Chief Buthelezi was excluded form the Cabinet after bitter confrontations between the IFP and the ruling African National Congress during the election campaign.    In response, two members of the IFP who were picked for the ministry, have snubbed the President, and didn't turn up to be sworn in. The ANC won almost 70 per cent of the votes in the election, and outpolled the IFP in its home territory of KwaZulu Natal. Graeme Simpson is the director of the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation in Johannesburg. He says it's important for the ANC to leave enough space for its opponents.    GRAEME SIMPSON: You know, the last ten years of South Africa's democracy has involved the most extraordinary discourse around reconciliation and nation building. And I think to move beyond a rhetoric of reconciliation, to build a society in which you can truly celebrate diversity, rather then treat difference as an inherent problem, in some senses that's what's going to shape how the ANC does or doesn't succeed in manoeuvring around those needs and requirements.    SALLY SARA: South Africa's second decade of democracy has now begun. President Thabo Mbeki is leading his nation into new challenges.    27 April 2004    UN marks 10 Years of post-apartheid Democracy in South Africa. (UN News)    The United Nations today marked the 10th anniversary of South Africa’s battle to make the transition from apartheid racism to democracy in what Secretary General Kofi Annan called “a struggle that galvanized the entire world community.”    The fight against apartheid was “one that rallied people and Governments behind a common objective: the objective of reaffirming the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of all peoples,” he said.    The transformation was seen as little short of miracle, but “what made it possible was the South African people’s determination to work together to heal the deep scars caused by racial discrimination, oppression, humiliations, denial and exploitation and to transform their bitter experiences into the binding glue of a rainbow nation,” he said.    The international community was rejoicing to see South Africans of all colours, ethnic groups and creeds, working together to forge a common future, as civil society organizations, the Government and the private sector addressed the harsh legacies of the apartheid regime – crime, poverty and HIV/AIDS, Mr. Annan said.    Today South Africans have played key roles in trying to bring peace to countries in Africa, including Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and in 2001 their country became one of five countries that launched the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), he said.    “They are working with their brothers and sisters in the African Union (AU), the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other organizations to advance the cause of development, justice and African unity,” he said.    “Today the entire United Nations family joins with the heroic people of South Africa as they dedicate themselves to working even harder for a bright future. We pledge our support in the struggle to further consolidate democratic institutions, to promote human rights and to build an ever more successful South Africa,” he said. South African President Thabo Mbeki, in a message read by his Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, noted that a few years after South Africa took part in the 1945 founding of the UN, the General Assembly began to discuss the country's racial discrimination policies, which violated the UN Charter.    In 1973 the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid declared apartheid a crime against humanity. In 1974 South Africa was barred from participating in the General Assembly and the African National Congress and other liberation movements were invited to participate in its stead, Mr. Mbeki said.    When a changed South Africa was welcomed at the UN, its delegation immediately began to work with other delegations to strengthen the multilateral system so that it could effectively deal with similar challenges in the future.    The chairpersons of regional groups, the Presidents of the Security Council, the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and high-level Secretariat staff paid tribute to the UN and South Africa, including South African leaders Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.    "The people of South Africa have demonstrated an exceptional ability to forgive the architects and perpetrators of apartheid, which has earned them respect and admiration worldwide," General Assembly President Julian Hunte of St. Lucia said.    Noting that for over four decades, the United Nations gave international leadership to the anti-apartheid struggle, he said, "Notwithstanding the different perspectives some took on this issue, the organization shared the vision of the majority of South Africans for a country free from racism, racial discrimination, violence, despair and violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms."    28 April 2004    "Mbeki pledges to fight poverty as South Africa celebrates 10 years of freedom from apartheid", by Basildon Peta. ( The independent / UK)    Exuding optimism, Thabo Mbeki, the South African President, began his final term of office yesterday as his "rainbow nation" welcomed Freedom Day amid pomp and fanfare.    Mr Mbeki accepted his second term with a pledge to fight the widespread poverty afflicting his nation and a promise "never to betray those who died and suffered in the long struggle to end apartheid".    "Today we begin our second decade of democracy. We are convinced that what has been achieved during the first demonstrates that as Africans we can and will solve our problems," said Mr Mbeki after taking the oath of office in several languages.    "Having served as a prime example of human despair, Africa is certain to emerge as a place of human hope," he said.    Thousands of dignitaries from across the world, including John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister, joined the South Africans as they marked 10 years of liberty.. Unlike the inauguration as president of the anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela in 1994, which was marked by conflicting emotions, the mood among the jubilant crowds yesterday was festive.    Sikosana Sizwe, 39, a bricklayer, said: "In 1994, many people shed tears on these grounds. Many would not believe that white brutality against the black majority had indeed ended. It was a miracle." He added: "Today, we have every reason to celebrate what has happened since the 1994 miracle. Not only have we shamed those who thought the country would collapse under black rule, Mbeki has proved he can rule the whole world."    As the dignitaries arrived, walking up the steps to the amphitheatre, there was enormous applause for those recognised by the crowd. Among those applauded were Sepp Blatter, the Fifa president, a crucial figure as South Africa tries to win the right to host the 2010 football World Cup.    In what is now something of a South African tradition - or perhaps South Africa's version of blowing a raspberry to the rest of the world - there was a standing ovation for Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean President, and his wife, Grace. Why black South Africans continue saluting Mr Mugabe when his policies have destroyed a once promising nation remains a mystery. One European dignitary at the ceremony said: "It could be that they don't understand the real victims of his repression are his own black people. "Because of the legacy of white rule, the blacks here perhaps seem to see Mugabe as exerting the most revenge on whites."    F W de Klerk, the former president who freed Mr Mandela from prison and began the negotiations that led to the end of apartheid, was also warmly applauded.    But, as always, Mr Mandela himself remained the star of the show. His arrival was greeted with a display of adulation. Thousands clapped rhythmically as the "father of the nation" arrived. Others broke spontaneously into the song, "Viva Nelson Mandela, Viva Nelson Mandela". Visit the related web page
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