The peaceful resolution of South Africa’s long-standing racial imbroglio 24 years ago seemed to show that even the most intractable disputes could be solved peacefully by compromise and negotiation. Our experience gave new hope to the world that it might be possible to mediate the impossible and that other long-standing disputes might also be resolved through peaceful negotiations.
Everywhere people are on the move.
One of the inescapable implications of globalisation is an enormous increase in the interaction between people from different backgrounds, cultures, languages and religions. The management of the resulting cultural, language and religious diversity will be one of this century’s greatest challenges.
Twenty-four years ago when we established our new non-racial democracy we hoped that South Africa would settle down to the humdrum process of becoming a normal society. We hoped that we would be less ‘interesting’ than we had been during the preceding 30 years.
We were wrong. South Africa was never destined to be a boring country.
Every year, the FW de Klerk Foundation hosts a conference on 2 February in Cape Town, to coincide with the announcement in Parliament in 1990
The FW de Klerk Foundation annually hosts a conference on 2 February in Cape Town to coincide with the announcement in Parliament in 1990 of
Observers must watch the right markers in order to determine whether South Africa is now on a reformist trajectory. One set of markers relates to the rule of law, corruption and accountable government. These are getting the bulk of analyst attention. But the second set are even more important and relate to policy reform in areas of empowerment, the labour market, property rights, and education.
Twenty-two years ago elected representatives of all the people of South Africa, gathered in Parliament, sitting as a Constituent Assembly, adopted a new Constitution as the supreme law of South Africa.
It is a great pleasure for me to be able to address you this evening during this – my first – visit to Panama.
Panama City is one of the great crossroads of the world – between the two largest oceans – the Atlantic and Pacific, and between the two continents of the new world, North and South America.
It is a great pleasure for me to visit Quinnipiac University.
I first met Professor David Ives several years ago at one of the annual Summits of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Over the years we became firm friends. Each time I met David he told me about Quinnipiac – and each time I listened to him I told him how much I would like to visit his university.
