Source: The Presidency
Title: Mbeki: Message on 20th anniversary of the founding of the UDF
MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI ON THE 20th ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF THE UDF
Twenty years ago today saw the launch in Rocklands, Mitchell's Plain, in Cape Town, of an organisation, which led one of the most intense mobilisation campaigns against oppression in our history. The clarion call of the United Democratic Front, "UDF Unites, Apartheid Divides", represented the essence of the objective of South Africa's struggle against colonialism and apartheid. That objective, to create a united, non-racial, non-sexist and democratic society, remains our lodestar to this day.
The UDF was founded by the liberation movement at a critical juncture in our struggle, when many people's organisations inside South Africa had been banned, and when the experiences of the people signalled the need for a broad front of anti-apartheid organisations, to challenge the regime in all spheres of life.
The desire of our people to give the enemy no quarter was given impetus by attempts on the part of the apartheid regime to introduce meaningless "reforms" in the form of dummy institutions, with the aim of winning over sections of the oppressed to support apartheid. The people saw through these machinations, and a far-sighted leadership was at hand to mobilise and organise them in a new mass offensive.
Thus was born a people's front, bringing together organisations of women, youth, communities, workers, professionals, religious communities, anti-conscription campaigners and others - across class, colour, regional and other divides which apartheid sought to exploit to its advantage.
Thus was forged a people's mass uprising, which gained from experiences of the past as it blazed a new trail to the future. Thus emerged a people in political motion, benefiting from, and reinforcing the work of, underground structures, armed combatants and the global anti-apartheid movement. Thus the apartheid regime's illegality and illegitimacy stood out for all to see.
The message of the masses, led by the liberation movement, was clear: nothing could stop a determined people from attaining freedom - not death or detention, not mass arrests or poisoning, not torture or assassination, not massacres or Third Force violence, not letter-bombs or intimidation.
And so, in celebrating the 20th anniversary of the UDF today, we are paying tribute to the mass of South Africans for a defining moment in the history of our struggle, and for living in struggle the totality of ideals that inform freedom. Indeed, the very values and principles that the UDF represented remain the unshakeable beliefs of our people, the principles underpinning our system of governance, and the spur towards the society we seek to build.
As we celebrate our people's achievements, we also dip our banners in memory of those cadres and activists who paid the supreme sacrifice for the conditions we are privileged to enjoy today. Our solace in invoking their memory is that freedom has been attained. Though the path ahead remains steep and the terrain treacherous, the conditions are much more favourable. The tide has turned; and steadily but surely, a better life is becoming a reality.
The battle cry that issued from the lips of combatants even in the face of death is truer today: Nothing can stop us now!
For enquiries contact Mr Nazeem Mahatey at 082 376 3820
Issued by The Presidency
19 August 2003
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