Date: 20/07/2010
Source: The African National Congress
Title: ANC: Phosa: Address by the ANC treasurer-general, at the City of Tshwane Annual Nelson Mandela legacy gala dinner, Tshwane

1. When we start to look at the characteristics of what it is that
makes the Mandela legacy so special, we need to firstly define those
characteristics that signify a magnificent triumph of the spirit. Some of
them are:

· Perseverance beyond normal endurance.
· Commitment to a cause
bigger than oneself. Richard Nixon once said that one has not truly lived
until you have found a cause bigger than your own life.
· A single-minded
dedication to liberate all the people of South Africa into a political
system that is free and fair.
· A love of your country beyond selfish and
partisan narrowness.
· Awinning and conquering attitude and spitit that
understands that adversity is the breakfast of champions and that, in each
disappointment and challenge there lies substantial opportunity.
· A belief
in partnership across all dividing borders, even when your partners are the
very people and institutions that oppressed and prosecuted you.
· Embracing
all the people in your environment, even those whose views differ
dramatically from your own, and understanding the deeper truth of the
statement that South Africa belongs to all who live in it.
· The enormous
ability to forgive and forget. Madiba taught us that the inability to
forgive saddles us with heavy and cumbersome baggage that holds us back from
living a full and fulfilled life.
· An understanding that hard work,
dedication, and commitment in the present is an investment into the future
that will create energy to propel us forward into a better life for
all.

2. There are, in the above lessons for us all in our own daily lives
as we are tasked, mandated and instructed to carry the Mandela legacy
forward. They are:
· We should move forward with a self-belief and
confidence instilled in us by the success of former President Mandela and
all who joined him in the fight for freedom.
· We should acknowledge and
celebrate our successes and not be shy to confirm and affirm our successes,
such as a number of World Cups staged here, notably the globally acclaimed
Soccer World Cup.

· We should develop not only responsible corporate
citizenship, but also responsible personal citizenship where each of us,
however small, makes a contribution to the betterment of our own lives and
the lives of others.
· We should, as a nation, invest more time, energy and
money in the development of leadership in schools, universities,
institutions and companies.
· We should, as Mandela had, develop an attitude
that we are bigger than any challenge, however daunting, that we might
face.

3. When former President Mandela rode onto the pitch at Soccer City
at the end of the successful Soccer World Cup, his presence there was the
embodiment of the enormous success of our nation in the past sixteen years.
4. It was symbolic of the hard-fought victories of the past two decades
since his release from prison, and symbolic of the future we want for all of
us.

5. It was, however, also an affirmation of our ability and commitment
as a nation to be successful in whatever we set out for ourselves to do.

6. It inspired us with pride, confidence and the energy to say: If we can
do this, we can also tackle any of the challenges that face us in South
Africa today. We can, and will overcome any challenge that we
face.

7. There is, however, also the critical issue of what we should now
take ownership of on behalf of Mr Mandela, what the next step is for us as
those who need to co-own his spirit of triumph and victory over massive
challenges.

8. For me, that instruction is clear and unambiguous.

9. We
can celebrate the victories of political liberation and other magnificent
successes such as the Soccer World Cup, but we cannot have the final
celebration until we lift the trophy of economic liberation and place it
next to that of political liberation.

10. That, for me, is the next step in
our liberation, in our investment into the future, and in celebrating the
life of a great man and leader that refused to be bowed and defeated by
almost unbearable onslaughts.

11. To achieve that, we need to be able to
transplant the magnificent project management skills of the Soccer World Cup
into a number of areas such as:

· Dramatically improving the standards of
our delivery in the health and education sectors
· Ensuring that our skills
development initiatives benefit long term job seekers with high quality and
low cost programs
· Continuing the resounding successes of the World Cup
regarding anti-crime management
· Putting our money where our mouths are in
fast-tracking our discussions regarding anti-corruption programmes
· Forming
partnerships with labour and the private sector in dedicated projects to
boost our exports
· Investing in leadership development in the state owned
enterprises so that a hole does not open up every time a CEO or head of a
department leaves.

Each and every one of us has a duty to push the Mandela
legacy-the triumph of an unbreakable spirit, into the future.

Let us take
that duty-and gift-seriously, and move forward without hesitation.

Thank
you.