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SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER
LUNCHEON IN HONOUR OF MR NELSON MANDELA,
DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
CANBERRA 23 OCTOBER 1990
M4r Maidela
P'arliamentary Colleagues
Ladies and Gentlemen
We welcome you here today not simply as a distinguished
visitor to our country, but as a modern day hero whose
personal struggle and personal achievements have been
admired by so many Australians.
We salute you for your commitment to the struggle against
apartheid; for your suffering in the service of that Cause;
for your moral authority which has not only survived, but
has grown through your ordeals; and for your example of
courage and strength that is showing the way for your
people, and all the people of South Africa, towards the
exciting and perilous transition from apartheid to nonracial
democracy.
In prison you were a potent symbol of the struggle to free
South Africa of apartheid. For twenty seven years you bore
the heavy burden of imprisonment.
Now you bear a heavier burden of responsibility. You have
become not only the symbol, but also the leader of your
great cause.
Your task is to lay the foundation of a South Africa which,
on the ashas of apartheid, will build a democratic, just,
stable, prosperous and non-racial society.
No one bel ' Leves that will be easy. But no one here can
doubt your fitness for the task. For what is truly
inspirational is not that you bravely faced imprisonment for
twenty-seven long years, but that you have now put behind
you those bitter years, to sit down at the negotiating table
with your former gaolers, and to plan with them the future
of a democr~ atic and non-racial South Africa.
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So we welcome you to Australia, Mr Mandela, both with
respect for what you have suffered and achieved in the past,
and with hope for the work you have ahead of you in your
great struggle.
The iniquity of a system which determines political, social
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perfect, but the concept of " a fair go for all" is an
Australian ideal.
The iniquity of institutionalised apartheid, the censorship,
the repression, the denial of economic opportunity that have
character ised South Africa are deeply offensive in a country
like ours where democratic rule, freedom of expression and
freedom of movement are so familiar as to be sometimes taken
for granted.
So ordinary Australians understand your struggle and
sympathise with it. They recognise the fundamental evil of
the system of apartheid, and the moral bankruptcy of
successive South African Governments which have upheld it.
They recognise the absolute justice of your crusade against
that system.
And they also understand that an evil system such as
apartheid cannot prevail against the good will and good
sense of the many determined people demanding its end.
Among those determined people you, Nelson Mandela, occupy a
pre-eminent position.
I am proud, as an Australian and as a leader of a free
country, to count myself and my country among those who have
stood with you in these difficult years.
We have not of course been able to share your sacrifice of
imprisonment. But we have shared your goal of working not
to destroy South Africa but to rebuild it.
For us eks a member of the Commonwealth, as a member of the
Western alliance, and as a nation which prides itself on
setting standards for responsible international conduct, our
duty to be closely involved in the fight against apartheid
was cryatal clear.
AS early as 1983, my Government began a scholarship program
for educating and training disadvantaged black South
Africaniu. Now we have-d-)$ 17 million humanitarian scheme
providing education, training and development assistance for
black South Africans.
It was this Government which, within the framework of
Commonwealth pressure, proposed the Eminent Persons Group
which developed a negotiating concept close to that now
being implemented by the ANC and the South African
Government.
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But it was clear to us that tough sanctions ware also
needed. Australia, in concert with the Commonwealth and
with other nat: Lons, took these difficult decisions. We took
them early, we took them resolutely and w& Ipplied them
broadly. Let mfe in this audience enumerate them.
Aviation zervices between Australia and South Africabanned.
Trade: import of agricultural products, oil, uranium,
coal, iron and steel banned. Government procurement
in South Africa banned.
Sporting contacts: all South African teams banned
from Australia. All individuals who represent South
Africa banned from competing in Australia.
In the field of investment: new investment or
reinvestment of profits, and all Government assistance
to investment and trade with South Africa all banned.
Import and export of all military arms and ammunition
banned. Services: Australian consular services in South Africa
withdrawn. Promotion of tourism to South Africa
banned. Government contracts with South African
companies banned.
Finally, financial links: New loans by Australian
financial institutions to South Africa halted.
Australia led the Commonwealth, and through it the
international financial community, to intensify the
pressure on South Africa's financial system a system
that was already struggling to meet its onerous debt
obligations in the face of the enormous economic
inefficiencies of apartheid.
Australia has not simply applied these measures; we have
been among the foremost advocates of them in the
international community, and we have been a leader in their
international acceptance and application. We have taken
this course in the full knowledge that there would be
tangible costs to the Australian economy. We have borne
these costs and the slurs of those who oppose us because
of our overriding belief in the effectiveness of sanctions
as a means of removing the international scourge of
apartheid. It is important in this parliamentary forum that I point out
that Australia's abhorrence of apartheid has not been the
exclusive preserve of this Labor Government. The depth of
Malcolm Fraser's commitment testifies to that. 2t1; 3 I
4.
But equally, it should be understood that since we have been
in Government we have been alone among the major parties in
our commitment to sanctions as a means of translating that
abhorrence into effective action.
And that belief, with some notable exceptions, is of course
almost universally shared by you, Mr Mandela, by the
African National Congress, by the United Nations, and
perhaps most strikingly of all, by the South African
Government itself.
We apply sanctions in the full knowledge that they have
adverse effects within South Africa. But we do so not out
of spite or malice but as part of a carefully designed range
of measures to influence the South African Government
towards recognition that its own self-interest lies in the
reform of apartheid.
In short, our sanctions are imposed, as we have reiterated,
not to bring South Africa to its knees, but to bring it to
its senses.
we recognise too, the unnecessary pain sanctions will
inflict if applied for too long. Sanctions must be lifted
not a moment too soon and not a moment too late. Following
my discussions with you today, I am pleased that I will have
the benefit of your wisdom and foresight as well as that
of Commonwealth and other international leaders in making
our decision about the right time to lift sanctions.
We have seen moves by the South African Government which
provide real hope. Substantive changes are being made. In
the past year, events have moved significantly and at times
with remarkable rapidity. As yet the South African
Government is only part way down that road, and it is a long
and difficult journey they have to make. many in South
Africa would lead them off that track.
But sense is dawning in the corridors of power in Pretoria.
With your counsel and persuasion, President de Klerk has put
Southf Africa on the road to reform. We readily acknowledge
and -admire the changes which President de Klerk has brought
about as I have in fact communicated to him.
A year ago, you were still captive, just as the South
African Government was captive of the immorality and
illogicality of apartheid. A year ago, the ANC was banned,
its membership as scattered as the hopes for a non-racial
South Africa. A year ago, the prospect of full negotiations
on a new constituti'i'-was as remote as were the ANC's exiled
members from their South African homes.
Today, much has changed. And if you and the ANC persist in
your cause with President de Klerk and the international
community, if you maintain the pressure and exercise courage
and wisdom, the next year or two will see a new constitution
in South Africa. This is an exciting prospect, but a
daunting one too.
Great expectations have been raised among your people that
the new South Africa will deliver immediate prosperity and
happiness. There are dreams to be fulfll1led but like all
dreams, they are difficult to realise..
It is salutary to be reminded that the euphoria of winning
power is of ten quickly followed by the realisation that the
realities of' government can be harsh. You will need to show
leadership In counselling your people about what they may
expect in the new South Africa.
Your coming South Africa will, happily, have a democratic
and non-racial constitution. Hut it will carry with it the
bitter legacy of the enmities which are a feature of the
apartheid system.
The recent violence in the townships is frightening and it
is tragic. More than that, it is evidence of the continuing
conflicts which will need to be addressed if South Africa is
to have a peaceful future.
Your coming South Africa will have great wealth. Like our
country, South Africa is blessed with mineral and
agricultural. riches. But its mew leadership will need to
take difficult decisions. Your now long-held commitment to
a fairer disitribution of the country's wealth and
opportunities remains valid.
But concepts that were formulated in the days when the
command economies presented some attractions for those
oppressed by an apparently uncaring capitalism require
revisiting, as those very command economies are being
jettisoned as incapable of meeting the needs of a free
people. Your new leadership will need to balance the need
for more equitable distribution with the imperative of
maintaining a market system that fosters economic growth.
Your new South Africa will be influential. With freedom
will come international respect and influence. South
Africa's economic strength, strategic importance and history
will ensure it takes a prominent place in the councils of
Africa. With this influence, however, will come heavy
responsibil: Lties. Africa's diversity, its many conflicts,
its poverty starvation in a continent which has the
intrinsic capacity to be a net exporter of food all this
brings greatc challenges for those who assume its leadership
over coming decades.
A new South Africa, freed from the shackles of its racist
past, will also begin afresh harmonious and profitable
relations w. Lth other nations, including Australia. There
will be opportunities for South Africa and Australia to work
together for a better and more harmonious international
community.
Mr, Mandela
The precepts which you set down three decades ago for a new
South Africa would be worthy aims for this international
community. Let me close by using some of your words, as
relevant now as they were when you spoke them at your trial
in 1964: " I have fought against black domination and I have
fought against white domination. I have cherished the
ideal of a democratic and free society in which all
persons live together in harmony and with equal
opportunities It is an ideal which I hope to live
for, and to achieve."
Mr Mandela, you went on to say that it was an ideal for
which you were prepared to die.
It is to the lasting relief and joy of all Australiansindeed,
of humanity itself that you did not have to pay
that price. If those of us who help to shape the world in
the coming decade can apply your standards of courage and
wisdom, and your capacity for reconciliation, this will be
an ideal for which no-one else will need to die.
Nelson Mandela, we welcome you and honour you for the
magnitude of your sacrifice over twenty-seven years; for the
far-sighted leadership you have exercised since your
release; and for the vastness of the task that still lies
ahead of you and your fellow South Africans.
So you are thrice welcome and we are thrice honoured in
welcoming you. Be assured of our pride in having stood with
you in your darkest hours; be equally assured of our
commitment to stand with you as you see the dawn breakingto
work with you now as you move surely towards our common
goal: a democratic, non-racial South Africa.
It will come. May it come soon.
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