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Date : 16/09/2004
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
Title: S Ndebele: Cocktail function welcoming President of India to KZN


SPEECH BY THE PREMIER OF KWAZULU-NATAL, MR SBUSISO NDEBELE, AT THE COCKTAIL FUNCTION WELCOMING THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA TO KWAZULU-NATAL, Pietermaritzburg, Kwazulu-Natal, 16 September 2004

Your Excellency, Dr Abdul Kalam, President of the Republic of India and distinguished members of the Indian delegation;
The Honourable Mayor of Msunduzi Municipality, Councillor Hloni Zondi;
The Honourable Members of the Executive Council: KwaZulu-Natal;
The Honourable Members of KwaZulu-Natal Legislature;
The South African Delegation;

Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen

It is indeed an honour for our province to welcome His Excellency, the President of India and the entire Indian delegation to the capital of our province, Pietermaritzburg.

It would have been remiss of our province not to host the Indian delegation, a country that harboured us when we were naked among the wolves, as we celebrate our ten years of democracy. Indeed we would have been accused of gross neglect as a province if we had not taken time to say thank you to the contribution that South Africans of Indian descent had in our struggle for equality, justice and freedom, especially in our province.

At times like these when there is so much to say and seemingly not enough words to say it, I am reminded of the words of one of the most gallant freedom fighters our country has produced, one of the former Presidents of the African National Congress (ANC), the late Oliver Tambo. Accepting the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding on behalf of Nelson Mandela in Delhi, 1980, President Tambo said of the relationship between South Africa and India: "the striking role of India in the development of the struggle for national and social liberation in South Africa has its firm roots in the early campaigns led by Mahatma Gandhi in that country, coupled with the continuing and active interest he took in the South African situation. All South Africans have particular cause to honour and remember the man, who was in our midst for 21 years and went on to enter the history books as the Father of Free India. His imprint on the course of the South African struggle is indelible. If Mahatma Gandhi started and fought his heroic struggle in South Africa and India, Jawaharlal Nehru was to continue it in Asia, Africa and internationally. In 1946, India broke trade relations with South Africa - the first country to do so. In the same year, at the First Session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Indian Government sharply raised the question of racial discrimination in South Africa - again the first country to take this action".

Your Excellency, the sentiments expressed by the late Tambo are no different to how we feel today towards India. We feel a great affinity for India not only because we played a major role in shaping the political outlook of Mahatma Gandhi who went on to become a world icon for justice, peace and equality but also because through the indentured labour system, our colonial masters contrived, unwittingly, to create an unbreakable force for justice and equality between Africans and Indians. Mahatma Gandhi was a product of this. There were many others, South Africans of Indian origin, who stood side by side with their African brothers to wage a war against a tyrannical racist system. Among them we can count Yusuf Dadoo, Monty Naicker, IC Meer and many other stalwarts of our struggle.

Today we meet when the dream of many of our struggle stalwarts has been fulfilled.

Today we meet in a KwaZulu-Natal where no one can fear to be thrown out of a train simply because their skin tone is undesirable to certain individuals. Today we meet in a KwaZulu-Natal where the enterprising spirit of all the people of our province is encouraged and not suppressed. Today we meet in a KwaZulu-Natal led by a government chosen by the majority of its people. Indeed Mahatma Gandhi, Chief Albert Luthuli Oliver Tambo, Monty Naicker and other heroes would have been proud of the strides we have made.

However, Your Excellency, as we celebrate our hard earned freedom, there is a pressing need for us to consolidate the gains of our struggle. How do we do this? We, again, need to stand together and launch a decisive assault against poverty that continues to grip our people both in Asia and Africa. We, again, need to stand side by side to fight diseases that continue to afflict our people. We, again, need to form a united front in our fight to ensure good governance and accelerated service delivery. We, today, more than at any other time, need to stand together as formerly-colonised people to chart and determine our own destiny.

The name African National Congress was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi who formed the first organization of the oppressed in Africa, the Natal Indian Congress in 1894. The defiance campaign of 1952 was the natural development from the Passive Resistance Campaign of 1946 led by the Indian Congress.

Today, more than ever before, the unity between African and Indian in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa is more critical in the urgent task of the reconstruction of a truly non-racial, non-sexist, democratic South Africa.

Non-racialism as distinct from multi-racialism is a South African innovation. KwaZulu-Natal is critical in showing that non-racialism is not only morally correct but is imperative if we are to embark on a path of progress.

This is a difficult task, a task we cannot accomplish on our own. We need the expertise of all progressive people to turn KwaZulu-Natal into a province we can be proud of.

Your visit here, Excellency, gives hope to our people. They derive hope precisely because they know that our relations with India have always yielded good results. It is up to us to build on this hope and I am convinced that we will have the support of our Indian brothers and sisters in our struggle to rebuild KwaZulu-Natal.

Your Excellency, I hope the few days you spend in our province will be exciting and fulfilling. KwaZulu-Natal is a warm province. We welcome Your Excellency to the province of peace and prosperity.

I thank you

Issued by: Office of the Premier, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government
16 September 2004
Source: KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government (www.kwazulunatal.gov.za)

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