THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
(Cape Town, South Africa)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release March 26,1998
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE PARLIAMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA
Chamber of the House of Assembly
Cape Town, South Africa
4:45 P.M. (L)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Premier Molefe, for that fine
introduction. Mr. President, Deputy President Mbeki, Madam Speaker, Mr.
Chairman of the National Council of Provinces, Members of Parliament,
ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply honored to be the first American
President ever to visit South Africa, and even more honored to stand
before this Parliament to address a South Africa truly free and
democratic at last. (Applause.)
Joining my wife and me on this tour of Africa, and especially here, are
many members of our Congress and distinguished members of my Cabinet and
administration, men and women who supported the struggle for a free
South Africa, leaders of the American business community, now awakening
to the promise and potential of South Africa, people of all different
backgrounds and beliefs.
Among them, however, are members of the Congressional Black Caucus and
African American members of my government. It is especially important
for them to be here because it was not so long ago in the long span of
human history that their ancestors were uprooted from this continent and
sold into slavery in the United States. But now they return to Africa
as leaders of the United States. Today they sit alongside the leaders
of the new South Africa, united in the powerful poetry of justice.
As I look out at all of you, I see our common promise. Two centuries
ago the courage and imagination that created the United States and the
principles that are enshrined in our Constitution inspired men and women
without a voice across the world to believe that one day they too could
have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Now the courage and the imagination that created the new South Africa
and the principles that guide your constitution inspire all of us to be
animated by the belief that one day humanity all the world over can at
last be released from the bonds of hatred and bigotry.
It is tempting for Americans of all backgrounds, I think, perhaps to
see too many similarities in the stories of our two countries, because
sometimes similarities which appear to be profound are in fact
superficial. And they can obscure the unique and complex struggle that
South Africa has made to shed the chains of its past for a brighter
tomorrow.
Nonetheless, in important ways, our paths do converge -- by a vision of
real multi-racial democracy bound together by healing and hope, renewal
and redemption. Therefore, I came here to say simply this: Let us work
with each other, let us learn from each other, to turn the hope we now
share into a history that all of us can be proud of.
Mr. President, for millions upon millions of Americans, South Africa's
story is embodied by your heroic sacrifice and your breathtaking walk
"out of the darkness and into the glorious light." But you are always
the first to say that the real heroes of South Africa's transformation
are its people, who first walked away from the past and now move with
determination, patience, and courage toward a new day and a new
millennium.
We rejoice at what you have already accomplished. We seek to be your
partners and your true friends in the work that lies ahead -- overcoming
the lingering legacy of apartheid, seizing the promise of your rich land
and your gifted people.
From our own 220-year experience with democracy, we know that real
progress requires, in the memorable phrase of Max Weber, "the long and
slow-boring of hard boards." We know that democracy is always a work
still in the making, a march toward what our own founders called a more
perfect union.
You have every reason to be hopeful. South Africa was reborn, after
all, just four years ago. In the short time since, you've worked hard
to deepen your democracy, to spread prosperity, to educate all your
people, and to strengthen the hand of justice. The promise before you
is immense -- a people unshackled, free to give full expression to their
energy, intellects, and creativity, a nation embraced by the world,
whose success is important to all our futures.
America has a profound and pragmatic stake in your success -- an
economic stake because we, like you, need strong partners to build
prosperity; a strategic stake because of 21st century threats to our
common security, from terrorism, from international crime and drug
trafficking, from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, from
the spread of deadly disease and the degradation of our common
environment. These perils do not stop at any nation's borders. And we
have a moral stake, because in overcoming your past you offer a powerful
example to people who are torn by their own divisions in all parts of
this earth.
Simply put, America wants a strong South Africa; America needs a strong
South Africa. And we are determined to work with you as you build a
strong South Africa. (Applause.)
In the first four years of your freedom, it has been our privilege to
support your transition with aid and assistance. Now, as the new South
Africa emerges, we seek a genuine partnership based on mutual respect
and mutual reward. Like all partners, we cannot agree on everything.
Sometimes our interests and our views diverge, but that is true even in
family partnerships.
Nonetheless, I am convinced, we agree on most things and on the
important things because we share the same basic values: a commitment to
democracy and to peace, a commitment to open markets, a commitment to
give all our people the tools they need to succeed in the modern world,
a commitment to make elemental human rights the birth right of every
single child. (Applause.)
Over the past four years, we put the building blocks of our partnership
in place, starting with the Binational Commission, headed by Deputy
President Mbeki and our Vice President Al Gore. This remarkable effort
has given high-level energy to critical projects, from energy to
education, from business development to science and technology, cutting
through red tape, turning good words into concrete deeds. We are deeply
indebted to you, Mr. Mbeki, for your outstanding leadership, and we
thank you for it. (Applause.)
The BNC brings to life what I believe you call "Masahkane," the act of
building together. (Applause.) As we look toward the future, we will
seek to build together new partnerships in trade and investment through
incentives such as OPEC's new Africa Opportunity Fund, already
supporting two projects here in South Africa in transportation and
telecommunications.
We will seek to expand joint efforts to combat the grave threat of
domestic and international crime through our new FBI and Customs and
Immigration offices here in South Africa. We will seek to strengthen
our cooperation around the world, for already South Africa's leadership
and extending the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and creating an
Africa nuclear-free zone have made all our children's futures more
secure.
I also hope we can build together to meet the persistent problems and
fulfill the remarkable promise of the African continent. Yes, Africa
remains the world's greatest development challenge, still plagued in
places by poverty, malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, and unemployment.
Yes, terrible conflicts continue to tear at the heart of the continent,
as I saw yesterday in Rwanda. But from Cape Town to Kampala, from
Dar-Es-Salaam to Dakar, democracy is gaining strength, business is
growing, peace is making progress. We are seeing what Deputy President
Mbeki has called an African Renaissance. (Applause.)
In coming to Africa my motive in part was to help the American people
see the new Africa with new eyes, and to focus our own efforts on new
policies suited to the new reality. It used to be when American
policymakers thought of Africa at all, they would ask, what can we do
for Africa, or whatever can we do about Africa? Those were the wrong
questions. The right question today is, what can we do with Africa?
(Applause.)
Throughout this trip I've been talking about ideas we want to develop
with our African partners to benefit all our people -- ideas to improve
our children's education through training and technology, to ensure that
none of our children are hungry or without good health care; to build
impartial, credible and effective justice systems; to strengthen the
foundation of civil society and deepen democracy; to build strong
economies from the top down and from the grass roots up; to prevent
conflict from erupting and to stop it quickly if it does.
Each of these efforts has a distinct mission, but all share a common
approach -- to help the African people help themselves to become better
equipped, not only to dream their own dreams, but at long last to make
those dreams come true. Yesterday in Entebbe we took an important step
forward. There, with leaders from eastern and central Africa, we
pledged to work together to build a future in which the doors of
opportunity are open to all, and countries move from the margins to the
mainstream of the global economy; to strengthen democracy and respect
for human rights in all nations; to banish genocide from the region and
this continent so that every African child can grow up in safety and
peace.
As Africa grows strong, America grows stronger. Through prosperous
consumers on this continent and new African products brought to our
markets, through new partners to fight and find solutions to common
problems -- from the spread of AIDS and malaria to the greenhouse gases
that are changing our climate. And most of all, through the
incalculable benefit of new ideas, new energy, new passion from the
minds and hearts of the people charting their own future on this
continent.
Yes, Africa still needs the world, but more than ever it is equally
true that the world needs Africa. (Applause.)
Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, at the dawn of the 21st
century we have a remarkable opportunity to leave behind this century's
darkest moments while fulfilling its most brilliant possibilities -- not
just in South Africa, nor just in America, but in all the world. I come
to this conviction well aware of the obstacles that lie in the path.
From Bosnia to the Middle East, from Northern Ireland to the Great Lakes
region of Africa, we have seen the terrible price people pay when they
insist on finding and killing and keeping down their neighbors.
For all the wonders of the modern world, we are still bedeviled by
notions that our racial, ethnic, tribal, and religious differences are
somehow more important than our common humanity; that we can only lift
ourselves up if we have someone to look down on.
But then I look around this hall. There is every conceivable
difference -- on the surface -- among the Americans and the South
Africans in this great Hall of Freedom. Different races, different
religions, different native tongues, but, underneath, the same hopes,
the same dreams, the same values. We all cherish family and faith, work
and community, freedom and responsibility. We all want our children to
grow up in a world where their talents are matched by their
opportunities. And we all have come to believe that our countries will
be stronger and our futures will be brighter as we let go of our hatreds
and our fears, and as we realize that what we have in common really does
matter far more than our differences.
The Preamble to your Constitution says, "South Africa belongs to all
who live in it, united in our diversity." In the context of your own
history and the experience of the world in this century, those simple
words are a bold clarion call to the future, an affirmation of humanity
at its best, an assurance that those who build can triumph over those
who tear down, that, truly, the peacemakers are blessed, and they shall
inherit the Earth.
Thank you, and God bless the new South Africa. (Applause.)
END 5:02 P.M. (L)
Office of the Press Secretary
(Cape Town, South Africa)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release March 26,1998
ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
TO THE PARLIAMENT OF SOUTH AFRICA
Chamber of the House of Assembly
Cape Town, South Africa
4:45 P.M. (L)
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Premier Molefe, for that fine
introduction. Mr. President, Deputy President Mbeki, Madam Speaker, Mr.
Chairman of the National Council of Provinces, Members of Parliament,
ladies and gentlemen, I am deeply honored to be the first American
President ever to visit South Africa, and even more honored to stand
before this Parliament to address a South Africa truly free and
democratic at last. (Applause.)
Joining my wife and me on this tour of Africa, and especially here, are
many members of our Congress and distinguished members of my Cabinet and
administration, men and women who supported the struggle for a free
South Africa, leaders of the American business community, now awakening
to the promise and potential of South Africa, people of all different
backgrounds and beliefs.
Among them, however, are members of the Congressional Black Caucus and
African American members of my government. It is especially important
for them to be here because it was not so long ago in the long span of
human history that their ancestors were uprooted from this continent and
sold into slavery in the United States. But now they return to Africa
as leaders of the United States. Today they sit alongside the leaders
of the new South Africa, united in the powerful poetry of justice.
As I look out at all of you, I see our common promise. Two centuries
ago the courage and imagination that created the United States and the
principles that are enshrined in our Constitution inspired men and women
without a voice across the world to believe that one day they too could
have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
Now the courage and the imagination that created the new South Africa
and the principles that guide your constitution inspire all of us to be
animated by the belief that one day humanity all the world over can at
last be released from the bonds of hatred and bigotry.
It is tempting for Americans of all backgrounds, I think, perhaps to
see too many similarities in the stories of our two countries, because
sometimes similarities which appear to be profound are in fact
superficial. And they can obscure the unique and complex struggle that
South Africa has made to shed the chains of its past for a brighter
tomorrow.
Nonetheless, in important ways, our paths do converge -- by a vision of
real multi-racial democracy bound together by healing and hope, renewal
and redemption. Therefore, I came here to say simply this: Let us work
with each other, let us learn from each other, to turn the hope we now
share into a history that all of us can be proud of.
Mr. President, for millions upon millions of Americans, South Africa's
story is embodied by your heroic sacrifice and your breathtaking walk
"out of the darkness and into the glorious light." But you are always
the first to say that the real heroes of South Africa's transformation
are its people, who first walked away from the past and now move with
determination, patience, and courage toward a new day and a new
millennium.
We rejoice at what you have already accomplished. We seek to be your
partners and your true friends in the work that lies ahead -- overcoming
the lingering legacy of apartheid, seizing the promise of your rich land
and your gifted people.
From our own 220-year experience with democracy, we know that real
progress requires, in the memorable phrase of Max Weber, "the long and
slow-boring of hard boards." We know that democracy is always a work
still in the making, a march toward what our own founders called a more
perfect union.
You have every reason to be hopeful. South Africa was reborn, after
all, just four years ago. In the short time since, you've worked hard
to deepen your democracy, to spread prosperity, to educate all your
people, and to strengthen the hand of justice. The promise before you
is immense -- a people unshackled, free to give full expression to their
energy, intellects, and creativity, a nation embraced by the world,
whose success is important to all our futures.
America has a profound and pragmatic stake in your success -- an
economic stake because we, like you, need strong partners to build
prosperity; a strategic stake because of 21st century threats to our
common security, from terrorism, from international crime and drug
trafficking, from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, from
the spread of deadly disease and the degradation of our common
environment. These perils do not stop at any nation's borders. And we
have a moral stake, because in overcoming your past you offer a powerful
example to people who are torn by their own divisions in all parts of
this earth.
Simply put, America wants a strong South Africa; America needs a strong
South Africa. And we are determined to work with you as you build a
strong South Africa. (Applause.)
In the first four years of your freedom, it has been our privilege to
support your transition with aid and assistance. Now, as the new South
Africa emerges, we seek a genuine partnership based on mutual respect
and mutual reward. Like all partners, we cannot agree on everything.
Sometimes our interests and our views diverge, but that is true even in
family partnerships.
Nonetheless, I am convinced, we agree on most things and on the
important things because we share the same basic values: a commitment to
democracy and to peace, a commitment to open markets, a commitment to
give all our people the tools they need to succeed in the modern world,
a commitment to make elemental human rights the birth right of every
single child. (Applause.)
Over the past four years, we put the building blocks of our partnership
in place, starting with the Binational Commission, headed by Deputy
President Mbeki and our Vice President Al Gore. This remarkable effort
has given high-level energy to critical projects, from energy to
education, from business development to science and technology, cutting
through red tape, turning good words into concrete deeds. We are deeply
indebted to you, Mr. Mbeki, for your outstanding leadership, and we
thank you for it. (Applause.)
The BNC brings to life what I believe you call "Masahkane," the act of
building together. (Applause.) As we look toward the future, we will
seek to build together new partnerships in trade and investment through
incentives such as OPEC's new Africa Opportunity Fund, already
supporting two projects here in South Africa in transportation and
telecommunications.
We will seek to expand joint efforts to combat the grave threat of
domestic and international crime through our new FBI and Customs and
Immigration offices here in South Africa. We will seek to strengthen
our cooperation around the world, for already South Africa's leadership
and extending the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and creating an
Africa nuclear-free zone have made all our children's futures more
secure.
I also hope we can build together to meet the persistent problems and
fulfill the remarkable promise of the African continent. Yes, Africa
remains the world's greatest development challenge, still plagued in
places by poverty, malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, and unemployment.
Yes, terrible conflicts continue to tear at the heart of the continent,
as I saw yesterday in Rwanda. But from Cape Town to Kampala, from
Dar-Es-Salaam to Dakar, democracy is gaining strength, business is
growing, peace is making progress. We are seeing what Deputy President
Mbeki has called an African Renaissance. (Applause.)
In coming to Africa my motive in part was to help the American people
see the new Africa with new eyes, and to focus our own efforts on new
policies suited to the new reality. It used to be when American
policymakers thought of Africa at all, they would ask, what can we do
for Africa, or whatever can we do about Africa? Those were the wrong
questions. The right question today is, what can we do with Africa?
(Applause.)
Throughout this trip I've been talking about ideas we want to develop
with our African partners to benefit all our people -- ideas to improve
our children's education through training and technology, to ensure that
none of our children are hungry or without good health care; to build
impartial, credible and effective justice systems; to strengthen the
foundation of civil society and deepen democracy; to build strong
economies from the top down and from the grass roots up; to prevent
conflict from erupting and to stop it quickly if it does.
Each of these efforts has a distinct mission, but all share a common
approach -- to help the African people help themselves to become better
equipped, not only to dream their own dreams, but at long last to make
those dreams come true. Yesterday in Entebbe we took an important step
forward. There, with leaders from eastern and central Africa, we
pledged to work together to build a future in which the doors of
opportunity are open to all, and countries move from the margins to the
mainstream of the global economy; to strengthen democracy and respect
for human rights in all nations; to banish genocide from the region and
this continent so that every African child can grow up in safety and
peace.
As Africa grows strong, America grows stronger. Through prosperous
consumers on this continent and new African products brought to our
markets, through new partners to fight and find solutions to common
problems -- from the spread of AIDS and malaria to the greenhouse gases
that are changing our climate. And most of all, through the
incalculable benefit of new ideas, new energy, new passion from the
minds and hearts of the people charting their own future on this
continent.
Yes, Africa still needs the world, but more than ever it is equally
true that the world needs Africa. (Applause.)
Members of Parliament, ladies and gentlemen, at the dawn of the 21st
century we have a remarkable opportunity to leave behind this century's
darkest moments while fulfilling its most brilliant possibilities -- not
just in South Africa, nor just in America, but in all the world. I come
to this conviction well aware of the obstacles that lie in the path.
From Bosnia to the Middle East, from Northern Ireland to the Great Lakes
region of Africa, we have seen the terrible price people pay when they
insist on finding and killing and keeping down their neighbors.
For all the wonders of the modern world, we are still bedeviled by
notions that our racial, ethnic, tribal, and religious differences are
somehow more important than our common humanity; that we can only lift
ourselves up if we have someone to look down on.
But then I look around this hall. There is every conceivable
difference -- on the surface -- among the Americans and the South
Africans in this great Hall of Freedom. Different races, different
religions, different native tongues, but, underneath, the same hopes,
the same dreams, the same values. We all cherish family and faith, work
and community, freedom and responsibility. We all want our children to
grow up in a world where their talents are matched by their
opportunities. And we all have come to believe that our countries will
be stronger and our futures will be brighter as we let go of our hatreds
and our fears, and as we realize that what we have in common really does
matter far more than our differences.
The Preamble to your Constitution says, "South Africa belongs to all
who live in it, united in our diversity." In the context of your own
history and the experience of the world in this century, those simple
words are a bold clarion call to the future, an affirmation of humanity
at its best, an assurance that those who build can triumph over those
who tear down, that, truly, the peacemakers are blessed, and they shall
inherit the Earth.
Thank you, and God bless the new South Africa. (Applause.)
END 5:02 P.M. (L)
For all the wonders of the modern world, we are still bedeviled by
notions that our racial, ethnic, tribal, and religious differences are
somehow more important than our common humanity; that we can only lift
ourselves up if we have someone to look down on.
But then I look around this hall. There is every conceivable
difference -- on the surface -- among the Americans and the South
Africans in this great Hall of Freedom. Different races, different
religions, different native tongues, but, underneath, the same hopes,
the same dreams, the same values. We all cherish family and faith, work
and community, freedom and responsibility. We all want our children to
grow up in a world where their talents are matched by their
opportunities. And we all have come to believe that our countries will
be stronger and our futures will be brighter as we let go of our hatreds
and our fears, and as we realize that what we have in common really does
matter far more than our differences.
The Preamble to your Constitution says, "South Africa belongs to all
who live in it, united in our diversity." In the context of your own
history and the experience of the world in this century, those simple
words are a bold clarion call to the future, an affirmation of humanity
at its best, an assurance that those who build can triumph over those
who tear down, that, truly, the peacemakers are blessed, and they shall
inherit the Earth.
Thank you, and God bless the new South Africa. (Applause.)
END 5:02 P.M. (L)