Item 1296 - Speech by President Nelson Mandela at an ANC Election Rally in Belhar

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ZA COM MR-S-1296

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Speech by President Nelson Mandela at an ANC Election Rally in Belhar

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  • 1996-04-12 (Creation)

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Transcription of speech made by Mr Mandela

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(18 July 1918-5 December 2013)

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Migrated from the Nelson Mandela Speeches Database (Sep-2018).

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ANC Election Rally

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  • English

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TRANSCRIPT

Chairperson;
Fellow South Africans

It is indeed a great honour for me to visit Belhar today.

I have two very strong memories about your community: The one is from my prison days, when I read with great excitement in the newspapers about the Belhar Declaration, in which the then NG Sendingkerk declared that apartheid was evil and a heresy. The other was of a visit to a church service to celebrate the unification of the NG Sendingkerk and the Dutch Reformed Church in Africa to form the Verenigende Gerefonneerde Kerk.

The first event tells of our struggle against apartheid, and out of that struggle came the second, reflecting the search for unity and a new identity for our Rainbow Nation. For these reasons alone, the name of Belhar will be written in the history of our country.

Daarom is ek bly en trots dat ek vanmiddag my eerste massa vergadering in ons verkiesingveldtog vir die metroploitaanse Plaaslike Regeringsverkiesig bier kan hou. Die ANC se verkiesingveldtog kom na u toe net 'n baie duidelike kennis van waar ons vandaan kom, van die lang en bitter maar ook trotse stryd van al die mense wat onderdruk was deur apartheid. In daardie geskiedenis het die kleurlingmense'n baie belangrike rol gespeel. 'n Rol wat niemand, insluitendende uself, nooit moet vergeet en negeer met die politieke besluite wat u nou neem Me. Gebou op die waste fondament van daaardie kennis, kom ons na u toe met 'n positiewe en toekoms gerigte boodskap.

Verlede jaar in November het die meeste mense in Suid-Afrika in Plaaslike Regeringsverkiesings gestem. Vandag is daar alreeds dwarsoor Suid-Afrika verkose dorps- en stadsrade besig am te werk vir verandering en om hulle mense te dien. Maar hier is u non al vir maande terug gehou as gevolg van die vertragings taktieke van die Nasionale Party. Nou is dit u leans om te stem en die ANC se: kom ons werk saam om ook hier 'n beter leave vir almal te skerp.

During the last two years we have started implementing the ANC's plan for a better life for all. Despite the terrible legacy of apartheid we have managed to introduce free healthcare for young children and pregnant women; throughout the country there are school feeding schemes for needy children; every day many homes are getting electricity for the first time and in many areas where there had been no running clean water, running water is low available.

All of these developments are important and we are proud of the way in which communities have worked with the Government to build themselves. But we do also know that it is only a start.

Here in the Western Cape the ANC-led national Government has not been able to do as much as we would have liked, because the National Party is the majority party in the Provincial Government. But wherever it is Constitutionally possible we have acted to protect the people of the Western Cape and to fight for a better life for you too.

Ons is ook daarvan bewus dat die mense van Belhar en baie ander gebiede baier swaar kry as gevolg van die hoe kriminaliteit en probleme net bender. Feitlik elke dag sterf daar mense, vroue en kinders kan nie sonder gevaar uit hulle huise gaaan. So kan dit nie aangaan nie: Genoeg is genoeg!

Daar moet non baie sterk teen kriminaliteit opgetree word. Die Nasionale Regering is besig met die ontiwikkeling van 'n misdaad bestrydingsplan wat u almal se hande sal versterk. Omdat meer middelle beskikbaar gestel moet word aan die polisie, is daar heelwat meer geld in die begroting bewillig en ons kon die week verhogings in die polisie se salarisse aankondig. Die ANC het die leiding geneem met wetgewing in die Nasionale Paarlement om to verseker dat persone \vat aangekla is van ernstige misdade nie meer maklik borgtog kan kry nie. Ons neem nou weer die leiding om te verseker dat gevonnisde misdadigers, venal die wat skuldig bevind is aan ernstige misdade, nie maklik op parool uitgeplaas sal kan word in ons gemeenskappe nie.

Die belangrikste element in die bestryding van kriminaliteit is egter elkeen van u in die gemeenskap. Indien u almal saamspan om u gemeenskappe plekke te maak waar kriminele nie meer kan voortgaan met hulle aktiewiteite nie, sal ons die stryd teen misdaaad kan wen. Indien u bereid is en veilig genoeg voel om elke misdaad waarvan u bewus word aan te meld; nie enige gesteelde goedere koop nie; en seker maak dat die Geemeenskaps Polisie Forums werklik deur u gemeenskappe beheer word - dan kan ons kriminaliteit suksesvol bestry.

Gedurende hierdie verkiesingsveldtog gaan die ANC Plaaslike Gemmenskapsforums hou waar u, u probleme en gevoelens ander ons kandidate se aandag kan bring. Ek versoek u om met betrekking tot misdaad u mening oor hoe ons daarteen moet veg duidelik oor te dra. Die ANC is 'n party wat luister na die mense en saam net u planne beraam hoe om probleme op te los. Ons het apartheid aangepak en oorwin: ons kan en sal the toelaat dat misdadigers ons non van die vrugte van ons oorwinning beroof nie. Maar dan is dit bate belangrik daat u reg moet kies in hierdie Plaaslike Regeringsverkiesing.

U moet kies vir 'n party wat wel die wil en die nag bet om saam met u verandering te bring. U moet kies vir kandidate wat werklik 'n geskiedenis van betrokkenheid in u gemeenskappe het en wat hulle daartoe verbind het am u te dien, direk daar waar u woon. Die kandidate van die ANC is gemeenskapsmense van kwaliteit. Hulle is ondersteun deur die ANC, wat loshande die sterkste politieke party in Suid Afrika is, en wanneer u met hulle saamwerk is daar niks wat u sal stuit om ook bier in Kaapstad 'n beter lewe vir uself te skep nie.

Die mense in die Platteland in dorpe soos PĂ©rel, GenadendaLen Worcester het alreeds gepraat en vir die ANC gestem: Nou is dit u kans.

The challenge that faces all of us in South Africa is to bury the monster of racism and division once and for all. While respecting the rich diversity of cultures and languages in our country, we must ensure that this diversity becomes part of our strength, and that is no not exploited to create divisions.

In this regard I feel I cannot leave Belhar without expressing my profound distress at learning about the unfortunate incident in which Elana Theron was hurt. We are urgently investigating ways of dealing with this matter in a way which will promote reconciliation. I know that the Belhar Community is angry and incensed by this incident, which they regard as racially motivated. However it is important to approach the matter in such a way that we bring about reconciliation rather than polarisation. A prosperous future for the northern suburbs depends on our acheiving a harmonious community where once apartheid divided US.

I have travelled throughout South Africa addressing gatherings of all the cultural and language groups with one clear message: We are many cultures, but one Nation, and we must stand together to bring to an end the suffering of our people. It is only when we are united that we will be able to have economic growth and create jobs for the many who are jobless.

No sector of our community can prosper by isolating itself from the rest of the people of this country. That is why it is a matter of concern that there are still some in the Coloured Community who claim that the Coloured people's best protection lies in seeing themselves as a minority who must find their security in closing ranks with other minorities. This is the politics of the past, represented by a party like the NP.

In the National Elections on the 27th of April 1994, the majority of coloured people in the Cape Town metropolitan area voted for the NP. We all know that it was not out of strong support for the NP, and definitely not because the Coloured liked the NP s apartheid past. It was perhaps to do with uncertainties and even fears about the future under an ANC government, fears which the NP tried to encourage.

But one only needs to remember how much the coloured people, together with the African and Indian people suffered under Apartheid, and their proud history of resistance to know that the NP could never be their permanent home. I say to every one in the coloured community, the time is long overdue for the majority of coloured people to return to the ANC. And in this election campaign you will find that our, doors are wide open. The table is set, with your places waiting for you to share in the fruits of freedom and democracy.

The past fears have proved false, and we can now see things as they really are. Today we are a stronger and more united country than ever before. It is on that foundation that the ANC is coming to you with a positive election campaign, we want to work together with you to ensure that you will be empowered to move forward together with the rest of South Africa.

Our candidates will be out in the streets of their constituencies, visiting your homes, calling local community forums to hear what your concerns are. One of the most important things that the ANC will be doing is to listen to what you have to say. The ANC is not a party that will impose things on you - we want to work with you. No one knows better what is needed than you who are living here.

I do however, want to emphasise a few issues about our general approach:

Firstly, the ANC is committed to a programme of affirmative action that will empower all of those who have been oppressed and discriminated against under apartheid. This includes coloureds, Indians and Africans. We are strongly opposed to any affirmative action programme that favours Africans only, and claims that this is our policy are totally untrue. I would like to once again call on the Coloured community to fully utilise the opportunities that affirmative action open for you. If you find that there are any employers who place obstacles in your way, please bring it to the attention of your local ANC candidates in order for us to address such problems immediately.

Tweedens, wil ek u weereens daarvan verseker dat al die tale van Suid Afrika ten voile gerespekteer en beskerm sal word deur die ANC. Afrikaans maak n uiters belangrike kulturele, wetenskaplike en ekonomiese bydrae in ons land.

Ek is bewus daarvan dat daar bekommemis is dat Afrikaans ten koste van Engels afgeskaal sal word. Dit is glad nie waar nie, maar ons kan natuurlik nie toelaat dat Afrikaans ten koste van ander tale in 'n bevoorregte posisie bly nie. Dit sou
ongrondwetlik wees en ook glad nie in die beste belang van Afrikaans nie. Die beste manier om Afrikaans te beskerm is om dit as 'n gelyke en integrate deel van al ons land se tale behandel. Enige bevoordeling van een taal teenoor die ander insluitende Afrikaans, sal sodanige taal net skade berokken. In alle geval is dit 'n beledeging vir Afrikaans en vir Afrikaanssprekendes om te probeer voorgee dat u taal nie sterk genoeg is om ditself ten yolle, sander bevoorregting, te handhaaf nie nie. 'n Mens hoef net te luister na hoe lewendig Afrikaans hier in u gemeenskappe Wes-Kaap is om te weet dat Afrikaans sterker as ooit te vore is.

In conclusion, I would like to repeat the one message that I want every South African to make your own: This country is yours, do. not deny yourself the right to be !idly part of it. Grasp all the opportunities that it has to offer. It is your undeniable birthright.

'n Beter Lewe vir Almal:
Kom ons laat dit gebeur ook hier in Kaapstad!

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Part of speech is in Afrikaans

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Acquisition method: Hardcopy ; Source: ANC Archives, Office of the ANC President, Nelson Mandela Papers, University of Fort Hare. Accessioned on 25/01/2010 by Zintle Bambata

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