Throughout my long and arduous political career I have received many honours. Some of them are important honours while others were less prestigious. I have always regarded all honours that have been bestowed upon me as equally important and I have always been equally appreciative and humbled on any occasion on which an honour of any type was bestowed upon me. However, I realise that I must make an exception for the honour which the city of Utrecht has bestowed upon me when it decided to grant me the freedom of the city.

I have accepted this honour with humility, and yet I recognise that its enormous importance goes beyond my person. I ascribe historical significance to this ceremony which I regard as an important milestone in the long journey which the people of this land commenced more than one hundred and fifty years ago. I know in the depth of my heart that the day will come when this journey will lead all our people into a new land in which all our sons and daughters may enjoy equal opportunities and a dignified life free from need and fear. As I receive this great honour I cannot but think about the long journey which we have endured together, and the many lessons which it can still teach to each of us and to our progeny.

The city of Utrecht, more than many others, stands in our history as a symbol of the genius, strength and spirit of the Afrikaner people. It is a historical moment when the honour of the freedom of the city of Utrecht is bestowed upon a descendant of King Mpande, who was the brother of King Dingane who fought the Afrikaner people at the Battle of Blood River. This is a great honour for our respective nations and shows how far we have come in the long journey which we once began together through conflicts and confrontations. There is an irony about 1838, for some of the Afrikaners helped my maternal great-great-grandfather, Prince Mpande, in the fratricidal battle which he fought with his half-brother, King Dingane.

As you know, King Dinuzulu was my maternal grandfather and he in turn was the son of King Cetshwayo, who in turn was the son of King Mpande, who was King Dingane's half-brother. Because of this bloodline and of the role that I play in the Zulu Nation as the traditional Prime Minister, I felt that it was my obligation as well as my privilege to express the apology and the regret of the Zulu people to the nation of the Afrikaner people for the conflicts which divided us one hundred and fifty years ago. I expressed this apology and regret on the occasion of a prayer breakfast held in Durban in 1991. Since then many representatives of the Afrikaner people have reciprocated similar sentiments of regret and reconciliation which have proven the strength of the historical ties between our peoples. However, I think that today?s gesture is one that has a special significance in the ongoing process of healing the wounds of the past and strengthening mutual respect. I told the TRC about the apologies which I made at the 1991 Prayer Breakfast.

I have a great and unqualified respect for the Afrikaner nation. I firmly believe that the history of the Afrikaner nation holds lessons which must be rediscovered because they remain of great importance to the future success of South Africa. I also firmly believe that the success of South Africa hinges on the positive role and contribution that Afrikaners must continue to make to build our country and invest in our shared future. South Africa needs the Afrikaner. Afrikaners must realise that their role in this land is far from finished and that, for an Afrikaner, there is no other fatherland except South Africa. We all belong here and with the help of God we must continue to struggle together to build this into a country of great economic prosperity and social stability.

South Africa is suffering under the plight of very severe social and economic problems. I have often been very critical of what has been done thus far to solve the many problems confronting us. I have criticised some of the economic policies of our government because of their negative impact on wealth generation, economic growth and employment levels. I did not agree with the failure to privatise and the many decisions which have enhanced the power and influence of trade unions. I have criticised our failure to restructure government into an effective and efficient machinery shaped around the principles of federalism and devolution of powers. I have criticised the indecision and ambivalence which have contributed to the spreading of corruption, criminality and a generalised lack of respect for authority. However if we accept how dramatic the present social and economic situation really is, we can no longer afford to indulge in recriminations but must look towards the future.

We must grow from the moral and spiritual energy of the Afrikaner people so that together we can map out the course towards our long-term prosperity. Together we must plan and decide what we wish South Africa to be twenty five or fifty years down the road. We must work together to make investments and accept sacrifices and discipline towards the achievement of this goal. I have often called for the beginning of a revolution of goodwill to bring about the moral and ethical re-foundation of South Africa. South Africa must be rebuilt from the bottom up, from each community and from each family. We need to bring about a national campaign to promote responsibility and commitment to our families, communities and work-places. We need a rigorous work ethic and high productivity in our work-places. We must achieve social responsibility and mutual assistance at community level. We must promote the strength of our families as the building blocks of our society. Throughout the land we must defeat the indolence, apathy and destructiveness which seems to be prevailing both in government and in civil society.

We have been together since 1830 and together we can continue the journey towards prosperity and stability if we all accept that this journey will continue to be long and difficult. Both the Zulus and the Afrikaners have suffered enormously throughout our respective histories. We have been oppressed and attacked but we have endured and succeeded. We have fallen, but we rose again through no strength but our own. I have always been impressed by the unique strength of the Afrikaner people who over and over managed to pull themselves up by their bootstraps after having been prostrated by the adverse circumstances of history. The Zulu people have often admired the Afrikaners and taken their example when dealing with the paramount imperatives of survival, even though my people often did not even have boots from the straps of which they could pick themselves up. We can face the difficulties of the future if we remember the much greater ones that we have conquered in the past.

The Afrikaner people will never forget how they emerged out of the Anglo-Boer War when their national pride was subjugated by the English colonial empire. The Afrikaner people survived the untold horrors which led to the imprisonment and death in concentration camps of 26 000 women and children and the destruction of 30 000 farms. I know how the Afrikaners have never forgotten this horrendous page of our common history which would have shattered any other nation of a lesser ilk. As South Africans we shall never forget from whence we come, because the awareness of the length of the journey we have already travelled will continue to support us on the long and uphill road ahead.

For many decades I have fought for the liberation of all South Africans from the yoke of racial oppression and political intolerance. Now that we have achieved the political liberation of South Africa, I remain aware that our journey has reached but a small intermediary station towards its final destination. The majority of the people remain enslaved under the yoke of poverty, ignorance for lack of education and exposure, unemployment and a lack of the most essential public services, such as education, sanitation, electrification, health-care and welfare. We must realise that almost sixty percent of the South African population still lives under or close to the breadline, while close to forty percent of our population does not dwell in any type of formal housing. Unless we redress these social imbalances there will be no hope for a stable and prosperous future for any South African. In the past we came together to bring about the freedom and liberty of our country which indeed was the easier part of our journey. Now, we must once again pool our energies to bring about social justice, economic growth and human development in a great struggle against the plight of poverty.

The struggle against the plight of poverty should be a greater concern for those who are not afflicted by it if they indeed wish to bequeath to their posterity a country capable of producing the same prosperity which they once enjoyed. The affluence of the rich will not survive in South Africa unless the needs of the poor are met, and are met soon. If they are not addressed, the present social and economic imbalances are bound to lead to a radicalisation of politics and social demands. I believe that social revolutions have never worked and they have always caused greater anguish than the one they intended to redress. Yet they are difficult to prevent unless the desperation that prompts and fuels them is addressed. We must meet the anguish of desperation with real and tangible hope, not with false promises. Afrikaners and Zulus have been bound together by history to rise to this historical task. Blacks of all cultural groups and whites of every extraction, today form one South African Nation, together with our Asian and Coloured brothers and sisters. Our diversity is our strength as a Nation.

Our common histories show how we have always practised the culture of self-help and self-reliance which, in my opinion, remains the most viable basis on which we can build our future. We must continue to spread and practise this culture to meet some of the challenges of the present and of the future. Unfortunately, the economic future of our country remains bleak, because of the downturn in the worldwide economy which will undoubtedly have a stronger impact on weaker economies such as ours. However, I believe that we could sustain the impact of the negative economic contingency if we apply the same approach of self-help and self-reliance both in respect of life at community level, as well as the management of our macro-economic policies. While in South Africa we are holding discussions, conventions and even a Job Summit to find ways and means to promote economic recovery and maintain employment levels, I took it upon myself to go to Taiwan at the beginning of this month to investigate why that country was the only one in the Pacific Rim to have remained unaffected by the economic downturn.

I held many meetings with experts and high-ranking decision makers, and I was surprised to discover that the history of Taiwan reflects the same wisdom which we have employed for many years in order to uplift our own communities. I was surprised to discover that in the final analysis what can uplift a community can also hold the key to the success of an entire country, in spite of adverse economic or social circumstances. The people of Taiwan found themselves having to survive on a small island with basically no resources. Their greatest and perhaps only asset was their will to survive and succeed and indeed, survive and succeed they did. They turned self-help and self-reliance into a macro-economic philosophy. The basis of their success is perhaps hard work. Afrikaners raised themselves through hard work. There is no magic wand which we can wave to improve our lot.

The Taiwanese adopted a policy of forced savings at all levels of society to create the capital necessary to promote economic growth. Both families and industry saved and invested against their future, while the State promoted long-term plans holding back luxuries while creating infrastructures and additional productive capacity. They did not borrow against their future but adopted the principle that if they could not afford it, they could not consume it. In spite of a lack of resources they also adopted the principle that if they could not produce something, they would not import and enjoy it. They adopted a strict policy of import substitution which led to the creation of a national industry which can now basically produce anything under the sun. Most of all, all of them as a nation made a commitment to work hard and make long-term sacrifices.

I do not believe that the entire formula of the Taiwanese success would be applicable to our South African context and the specific circumstances at this present juncture of world history, characterised as it is by globalization and economic integration. However, I remain convinced that there is a factor in the formula of the Taiwanese success which we must value above all because it could become very close to our own shared and respected traditions. This is the value of hard work and dedication. The value of courage and self-reliance. The value of single-minded unity of purpose based on a long-term perspective which shows to every participant in the collective effort his or her long-term stake in the country's success. As the economic environment worsens, we must ensure that we utilise the resources we have, to cater for the needs of the poorest of the poor and promote self-reliance through hard work at community level.

We must ensure that the land is utilised to produce food for the vast segments of our population which still do not enjoy the essential benefit of a full and balanced diet. The production of food at community level in our region remains a pressing priority to create the conditions for long-term social stability. We must create opportunities where people can work hard in their rural communities and receive and enjoy the rewards of their industry, so as to prevent the further migration of people towards urban areas to feed into a growing army of urban proletariat seeking employment. It is essential that we re-establish the ties of social solidarity and mutual assistance which once united the most affluent segments of our communities, with some of the poorest, in order to strengthen developmental efforts in rural areas. I know that many people who work in this field often feel despair and the heavy burden of frustration and disappointment. I urge them not to give up, because even though one might not see immediate results, the seeds of goodwill and hope always germinate.

We must realise that there cannot be overnight miracles and that no one holds the magic wand which can instantaneously solve all our problems. We should not rely only on the efforts of government. I remain committed to doing what I can to make government work and finally make South Africa governable and well-governed. However, we should not believe that all solutions may and must come from government. Especially in our province, we are dealing with an enormous backlog which was the result of both the erstwhile KwaZulu Government and the erstwhile province of Natal having been under-funded for several generations. In spite of the constitutional promise that all provinces would receive an equitable share of national revenues as per 1994, to this day KwaZulu Natal remains under-funded. As it now stands, it will only be in five years' time that the people of KwaZulu Natal will no longer be discriminated against in respect of their right to equally share in the revenues and wealth of this country.

I remain committed to continue the struggle I began forty years ago when I dreamed of a free, prosperous and stable South Africa. Since then, along the journey on which I have embarked, I have often received assistance from many leaders of all the people of KwaZulu Natal which underscores the togetherness of the people of this province. We were together in 1980 when we defied the boundaries of conventional wisdom, and even the constitution of the country, by establishing the Buthelezi Commission to look into a joint future no longer divided along racial lines. We were together when in 1986 we established the KwaZulu/Natal Indaba which deliberated at length, producing recommendations for the establishment of the first inter-racial government for South Africa, which only partially became a reality when we succeeded in establishing the KwaZulu/Natal Joint Executive Authority. We were together when we rejected the armed struggle and the strategy of violence and intimidation, joining our voices to demand an all-inclusive solution based on negotiation.

The people of this province must remain together, because together we can continue to build up the dream that has taken us this far. Together we cannot only survive, but also prosper in the long journey ahead. It is in the name of this togetherness that today I accept the supreme honour bestowed upon me of the freedom of the city of Utrecht. It is with deep humility that on this occasion I must turn my thoughts to all those who made untold sacrifices and laid down their lives to enable all of us to go as far as we did in our journey. It is also on behalf of all of them that today I accept this great honour. I accept this honour on behalf of all those who dreamt that one day this miracle could come to pass, for their dream shall not die. Their dream shall continue to carry us forward so that together we can complete the journey towards prosperity, freedom, justice and stability.