'South Africans are optimistic'
2006-03-21 12:29
Johannesburg - South Africans were the eighth most optimistic people in the world and more than 80% believed in a happy future for all in the country, environmental minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said on Tuesday.
Speaking at a seminar in The Hague, Netherlands, to mark national Human Rights Day, Van Schalkwyk said South Africa was also experiencing the single longest period of sustained economic growth since the Second World War.
"Perhaps the single greatest achievement of our new democracy however has been the growing national consensus... of pride in our shared South African identity... " he said.
The minister said the differences between the South Africa of 46 years ago, when the Sharpeville massacre happened, and the country of March 2006 could not be more pronounced.
"In place of global headlines about repression and violence, South Africans today are making news as world leaders - from the Oscars to the cricket ovals, from boardrooms to cyberspace and even outer space."
- SAPA