VRYHEID: 24 APRIL 1999

It is a great pleasure for me to share the company of the Vryheid Council members as we lunch in these peaceful surroundings. It is good to take some time from the duties we need to perform in order to simply relax and enjoy the small pleasures which life affords. I am grateful that, on this historic occasion, our programme is so organised that we may share such time together. I believe that through the sharing of a meal we are drawing closer in friendship and cementing the ties which bind us as leaders in our communities and as fellow human beings.

This morning, we have taken giant strides in affirming the good relations which exist between myself, my Party, and the people of Vryheid. I spoke earlier of being the newest citizen of Vryheid through the acceptance of the honour bestowed upon me. As I received the freedom of the city of Vryheid I gave voice to my wish to see us all joined in a common effort towards building South Africa. On many occasions I have spoken to the people saying that nation building is not done from the top nor from central government. Nation building begins in our communities, with individual people, with families and with ordinary citizens.

The community of Vryheid received my message readily for I know that the people share my understanding of the important role which communities must play in the establishment of a prosperous and stable South Africa. I am pleased that our dialogue which began many years ago is continuing to grow from strength to strength and that we still speak the same language of hope.

I share with the people of Vryheid the deeply rooted hope for communities which are strong and empowered, communities which have a voice, which are self-reliant, and communities which can work for their own good. My work over the past forty years has been dedicated to this hope. Today, as I accepted the freedom of Vryheid, I once again became intimately aware of the social solidarity and the inspiration to be found among our South African communities.

I have received encouragement by being in Vryheid today. I am more certain than ever that our revolution of goodwill must succeed and that it must succeed out of our communities. It is time for us to approach one another one-on-one to find solutions to our social and economic problems. It is time to stop relying on an exalted and out of reach central government which does not hear the people or speak to the people.

As we are meeting today to speak directly to one another, as we share a meal and discuss our hopes for the future and our concerns of the present, we are setting the pace for a new form of government: a government run by the people, for the people.

This, of course, is the age-old slogan of democracy. Yet I do not think that we have yet fully comprehended how democracy can work for us. Until we come together on an equal footing as fellow South Africans and partners in the South African scene, we cannot begin to guess at how democracy can work for our country. It is for this reason that I and my Party advocate federalism. Democracy and federalism go hand in hand, to give us a voice and to make our voices heard.

As we muse upon these truths, I wish for us all to relax and enjoy the luxury of a leisurely lunch in good company. There will not be many moments when we will have the opportunity to be quite so restful as now. The road ahead in the next 38 days is filled with urgent activity and the task we face remains daunting. Yet we must complete our task as we struggle forward to bring the hopes of our communities to the forefront of the South African agenda for the 1999 elections. We are commissioned to be Atlases and to carry the burden of our country through the next 38 days.

Through working together with the IFP, we must carry the voice of our people into the next government. We will accomplish our task through a thorough preparation for the coming election. We must capture this moment, for if we allow it to slip by, we will see the hopes of the people of Vryheid and the hopes of the people of South Africa, slip through our fingers and vanish into the lamented pages of history.

We have our task. We have a plan. Let us summon our strength to move forward with enthusiasm. As we seek the spiritual energy necessary to complete our task, let us this afternoon also gather, through the sharing of this meal, the physical sustenance we require for the long road ahead. Bon appetit.

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