“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”- Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
Do you agree with this assessment? Do you too believe that we have entered an era of confusion, in which all of us cannot but lose our way, unsure of our steps, unsteady on our feet, fearful of the future?
This was a quote by President Thabo Mbeki in his opening of Parliament speech in 2008.
Are we as South Africans, after more than 22 years of democracy, united in the search for a better life for all?
In my search for answers, I studied various speeches by our various presidents since 1990. I have not found answers, but join me in the journey to find out.
A few days before former president Nelson Mandela was released from prison, the then president of South Africa, FW de Klerk, informed the nation: “I wish to put it plainly that the government has taken a firm decision to release Mr Mandela unconditionally. I am serious about bringing this matter to finality without delay.”
De Klerk invited the people of South Africa to “walk through the open door, take your place at the negotiating table together with the government and other leaders who have important power bases inside and outside of Parliament. Henceforth, everybody’s political points of view will be tested against their realism, their workability and their fairness. The time for negotiation has arrived.”
On May 10, 1994, Mandela was sworn in as South Africa’s first democratic president. Madiba’s messages was always hopeful, pleading for a peaceful and united nation: “We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfil themselves. Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world. Let freedom reign. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement! God bless Africa!”
On May 8, 1996, then deputy president Mbeki delivered a speech, I am an African: “I am born of the peoples of the continent of Africa The dismal shame of poverty, suffering and human degradation of my continent is a blight that we share. The blight on our happiness that derives from this and from our drift to the periphery of the ordering of human affairs leaves us in a persistent shadow of despair. This is a savage road to which nobody should be condemned. The evolution of humanity says that Africa reaffirms that she is continuing her rise from the ashes. Whatever the setbacks of the moment, nothing can stop us now! Whatever the difficulties, Africa shall be at peace!”
And then on May 6, 2009, Jacob Zuma was sworn in as president of South Africa. South Africa became part of the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (Brics) business community.
Various global companies invested in South Africa, various South African companies left and listed their businesses on global bourses; South Africa lost and gained. But did our people lose hope?
Do we seek to build or to destroy?
Did we lose our hope and passion to build a future together, united, or are we back on the road of despair and a cynical longing for a past that shall never return?
South Africa, let us be leaders, not “armchair critics or sirens of an apocalypse that exists only in the mind. Bring practical solutions to practical problems to the table. We have risen above historical differences to reach out to one another and build a new united nation”.
“More than at any other time, the situation that confronts our nation and country, and the tasks we have set ourselves, demand that we inspire and organise all our people to act together as one, to do all the things that have to be done, understanding that in a very real sense, all of us, together, hold our own future in our hands!” - Mbeki said in 2008.