Ramaphosa, Meyer honoured

2004-10-14 11:56

Lynn Bolin

Cape Town - The two men who stood at the eye of the political storms of the early 1990s and emerged as the heroes and architects of the negotiated South African Constitution, Cyril Ramaphosa and Roelf Meyer, have been honoured with the annual South African Breweries (SAB) Leadership and Service Award.

The awards aim to contribute to the development of pre-eminent leaders who should be able to serve South Africa in all fields of human endeavour.

Announcing the award on Thursday, managing director of SA Breweries, Tony van Kralingen, said Ramaphosa and Meyer's leadership through dangerous times of deadlocked negotiations and crises needed to be recognised.

"It must be acknowledged that more than any other two men, arguably even more than Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk themselves - it was Ramaphosa and Meyer who opened the road to peace, and kept it open right up until the election.

"The high level of mutual trust between the two, combined with their understanding of each other, time and again plucked negotiations back from the cliff edge and provided the leadership necessary for the resumption of talks between suspicious and often-antagonistic negotiating teams.

"We dare never forget how close our country came, not once but on several explosive occasions, to insurrection from which we would probably never have recovered.

"Without the unique human dynamics of the Ramaphosa-Meyer relationship and their shared conviction that the political future lay in national unity, all confidence in South Africa's future would have rapidly evaporated, resulting in the flight of skills, capital and hope.

"Above all, the eventual adoption of the Constitution was a triumph of leadership, a tribute to the determination of two men that a scorched earth was too high a price to pay for stubborn resistance in the face of the inevitable.

Ushered in new democratic era

"Eight years of stop-start negotiations in prison cells, intelligence networks and secret channels yielded a national settlement which closed the chapter on apartheid and ushered in a new democratic era.

"The SAB Leadership Awards arose out of our belief in the need to encourage and acknowledge leadership achievements by citizens who have rendered outstanding and exemplary service to their communities and to the nation.

"They developed, too, from our own determination to demonstrate inspirational leadership to our people at SAB and to the communities in which we do business."

The award was inaugurated in 2000, when Dr Brigalia Bam, the chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, and Dr Lillian Cingo, the manager of the Transnet Health Train, were honoured.

Since then, awardees have included such distinguished South Africans as Prof Eskia Mphahele, Don Mattera, Sibongile Khumalo, Dr Sam Motsuenyane and John Kani.

"South African business has a considerable debt to pay for the fruits of the powerful Ramaphosa-Meyer double act," Van Kralingen said.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)