Item 1371 - Notes for remarks to Welcome French President Francois Mitterand: Joint Sitting of South African Houses of Parliament

TRANSCRIPT

Madame Speaker and Deputy Speaker,
President of the Senate and Deputy President,
President of the Republic of France, Francois Maurice Mitterand,
Foreign Minister Alain Juppe and other members of the Delegation,
Distinguished members of the National Assembly and the Senate,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps,
Esteemed guests,
Comrades,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great honour for me to welcome to the free soil of South Africa and these Houses of Parliament, Your Excellency President of the Republic of France, Francois Mitterand and your delegation.

From the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the Government of National Unity and the people of our country, I wish to express our heart-felt appreciation to you for accepting our invitation to visit South Africa at this, our dawn of a glorious new era. Welcome to Cape Town, to the southern tip of liberated South Africa; indeed, to the southern tip of liberated Africa.

We are assembled here to mark the first state visit to a free and democratic South Africa. You honour us, Your Excellency, with the first address to our democratic parliament by a visiting Head of State.

Just over thirty years ago, in these Houses of Parliament - then the den of racial infamy - Harold McMillan, the Prime Minister of Great Britain spoke of the winds of change sweeping across Africa: to the chagrin of the architects of apartheid and racial discrimination.

Today, you join us as we celebrate the cleansing effect of the breeze of freedom. It is, in our view, to the deserving that such a humble honour should be bestowed.

We are assembled here in tribute to one of the trail-blazers of democracy. For centuries, the French democratic revolution inspired nations, leaders and movements across boundaries and oceans. To us in South Africa, it is a moment of joy that we should welcome the descendants of those great revolutionaries whose simple but profound ideals of Liberte, Egalite and Fraternite are only starting to find concrete expression in our freedom and dignity as a nation.

When we took part 5 years ago at the bicentennial of the French Revolution, we were reinforced in our confidence that we shall overcome, by the determination you showed in support of our cause.

Your country and people know from recent history the pain and suffering of racism and chauvinism. As the world celebrates the 50th anniversary of the liberation of France and other parts of Europe from fascism and Nazism, there can be no better guest to have in our midst.

Your Excellency, Mr. President, your feats in the French Army, your wounding and capture, your internment and escape as prisoner of war, and your role in the French Resistance thereafter have been to us, and will always be, a shining symbol of the indomitable human spirit.

With regard to our own country, we shall forever be indebted to the French people and government for the support you gave us over the years - the kind of support which was, in many respects, quite unique.

Therefore, we embrace you, Your Excellency, as one of us - a colleague in the quest for freedom and the social upliftment of ordinary people. Our union today will certainly lay the foundation for a growing partnership between our Governments and peoples in pursuit of a better quality of life and a peaceful and caring world. As part of the African continent, South Africa will
always value our relations in these challenging times as Africa sets out on a new course of revival as a free continent.

Personally, I wish to reiterate that I shall always remember with fondness the meetings we have had, and your personal interest in the progress of our transition, to democracy. That you are here with us today, is testimony also to the calibre of your wise counsel and unwavering support.

We welcome you with both arms, and we shall always cherish this great moment.