Address of the President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki at his investiture as Knight of the Order of Saint John, Cape Town

Your Royal Highness, Duke of Gloucester, Grand Prior of the Order of Saint John
Esteemed leaders and members of the Order of St John
Our distinguished international guests
The Hon Premier of the Western Cape
Your Worship, the Mayor of Cape Town
Your Excellency, High Commissioner Paul Boateng and Mrs Boateng
Distinguished guests
Friends
Ladies and gentlemen

First of all, I would like to thank the Sovereign Head of the Most Venerable Order of Saint John, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the Grand Prior, His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, and all members of the Order of St John for my investiture today as a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

This constitutes a rare honour that I will value throughout my life, signifying as it does that from today onwards I have become part of the great and inestimable family of humanists who make up the Order of St John.

I shall from today onwards always recall the commitment we made in the presence of the Grand Prior and all who were assembled at St George's Cathedral, "to devote myself, so far as I am able, to the objects and purposes of the Order, more especially the care of the sick and the injured, to conduct myself as a true Knight and a person of honour."

I shall from today onwards always recall the moving words of the Grand Prior that we should always remember that the points of the Cross of the Order of Saint John represent the eight beatitudes, representing the virtues of humility, sorrow for sin, meekness, thirst for righteousness, mercy, purity, peace and suffering under persecution, and that the whiteness of the Cross should always remind us of the purity of life.

Any of us would agree that modernity, despite its unprecedented advances, progress and splendour, is in many respects wanting in the essential acts of benevolence, chivalry and honour, values which guided past societies across the world and enabled generations to inherit the present in all its beauty.

And so the grand, honorific event, for which we have gathered here, today, reminds us of the immanence of virtue in all of us and further arms us with the necessary optimism about the capacity of humanity to construct a humane world.

As human beings, we should strive collectively to rescue from extinction the noble acts of selflessness, volunteerism, sacrifice and sharing, exalted human qualities that have been treasured throughout the collective past of all humanity.

Indeed, the loftiness of these values, which, in the context of South Africa inspired our vision of moral regeneration, should not be allowed to choke in the arid culture of individualism, selfishness and greed that is blights the soul of modern living.

The African-American Maya Angelou says in her poem entitled
'Touched by an Angel':

We, unaccustomed to courage
Exiles from delight
Live coiled in shells of loneliness
Until love leaves its high holy temple
And comes into our sight
To liberate us into life
Love arrives
And in its train come ecstasies
old memories of pleasure
ancient histories of pain
Yet if we are bold
Love strikes away the chains of fear
from our souls
We are weaned from our timidity
In the flush of love's light we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be
Yet it is only love which sets us free

The Most Venerable Order of St John does indeed give us the possibility to allow love to leave its high holy temple and come into the sight of many to liberate them into life, to wean ourselves from our timidity, to extend to the poor and the sick the love in whose train come ecstasies, permanent memories of pleasure and ancient histories of pain.

I am honoured to extend heartfelt thanks to the members of the Order of St John in our country and everywhere else in the world for the sterling work they have done and are doing to bring hope to those in despair.

To our visitors, I would like to say you are most welcome to South Africa. I hope your Grand Council has been fruitful and that in your spare time, you will have seen something of this beautiful City with its hopes and challenges.

Ladies and gentlemen, please rise and join me in a toast to the continued success of the Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

Success! Thank you.

Issued by: The Presidency
10 May 2007