SPEECH: SOUTH AFRICA’S CONSTITUTIONAL TRANSFORMATION: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE
2019-06-06
I am really honoured to have been asked to speak on this occasion, celebrating the 20th anniversary of the FW de Klerk Foundation and the 25th anniversary of true democracy in South Africa. Apart from its founder, I would like to pay tribute to the contribution David Steward and Dr Theuns Eloff have made to the Foundation and the leading role it has played in defence of the Constitution.
Earlier this week the Minister of the Sport and Recreation, Fikile Mbalula, announced the imposition of sanctions against four of South Africa’s main sporting codes (Athletics South Africa, Cricket South Africa, Netball South Africa and South African Rugby) for not meeting the racial targets that they themselves had earlier accepted. He said that he had resolved “to revoke their privilege … to host and bid for major international tournaments” in South Africa.
The ANC must be congratulated for the care with which it prepares its members for important policy discussions of the kind that will soon be taking place at its 2015 National General Council. The NGC is the most important ANC meeting between National Conferences. It gives the organisation an opportunity to consider progress made with the implementation of policy since the preceding National Conference and to develop proposals for new policies at the next National Conference – which will take place at the end of 2017.
The current crisis in the Ukraine points to one of the central challenges of the new millennium: the need to ensure the peaceful coexistence of diverse ethnic, religious and linguistic communities within the same country.
The sorrow and adulation that the world has expressed following the recent death of Nelson Mandela are a worthy tribute to his greatness. Last Monday the British parliament added its voice to the global chorus. It was appropriate – because it was the same parliament that set the course for South Africa’s future history when it created the Union of South Africa only 103 years ago. In so doing it set the stage on which Nelson Mandela – who was born only eight years later – would play out his extraordinary career.