SA 'hard at work' - Mbeki
2004-11-18 14:26
Cape Town - President Thabo Mbeki has told the European Parliament that South Africa was "hard at work".
In a speech delivered on Wednesday but released by the South African department of foreign affairs on Thursday, he said Africa as a continent was "today involved in an extraordinary and creative endeavour that might contribute something new to the understanding of the capacity and ability of human beings to overcome adversity and build a new world of hope".
Speaking to European members of parliament in Strasbourg, he said: "I come from an African country whose future was highly uncertain a mere decade ago.
"As we approached the end of three-and-a-half cruel centuries of white minority rule, many in the world held their breath, foreseeing a cataclysmic clash of races that would transform the streets of our towns and cities into rivers of blood.
"But because of what the black and white Africans of South Africa did, understanding that the taking of even one human life would neither remove the great harm that had been visited on millions for centuries, nor create the possibility to repair the damage that had been done, Africa's South Africa is today at peace with itself.
"Black and white South Africans, and others from elsewhere in the world who have chosen to join in this effort, are hard at work, striving together, everyday, to build a new African country that will, in all respects, truly belong to all who live in it."