We believe that Africans can build Africa

The people of South Africa have spoken in these elections. They want change! And change is what they will get. Our plan is to create jobs, promote peace and reconciliation, and to guarantee freedom for all South Africans.

Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all. All this we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who are so well represented here today.

We are both humbled and elevated by the honour and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us, as the first President of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist government. We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success. We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all.

I must and will work to ensure that the new democratic South Africa has a fair chance to succeed economically as well as politically, and to try to assist in fulfilling at least a part of the dream of the oppressed and deprived when the new South Africa is born.

In time, we shall be in a position to bestow on South Africa the greatest possible gift - a more human face.

We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commit ourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting peace. We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity — a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.

Building a strong and inclusive economy, improving capabilities of South Africans, and building a capable, ethical, and developmental state. In a nutshell, using our presence in Singapore to existential domestic challenges.

Today we are entering a new era for our country and its people. Today we celebrate not the victory of a party, but a victory for all the people of South Africa. Our country has arrived at a decision. Among all the parties that contested the elections, the overwhelming majority of South Africans have mandated the African National Congress to lead our country into the future. The South Africa we have struggled for, in which all our people, be they African, Coloured, Indian or White, regard themselves as citizens of one nation is at hand.

A new era has begun in South Africa. My government is removing racial discrimination. We want to be accepted by our African brothers.

While we are and shall remain fully committed to the spirit of a government of national unity, we are determined to initiate and bring about the change that our mandate from the people demands. We place our vision of a new constitutional order for South Africa on the table not as conquerors, prescribing to the conquered. We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based on justice for all. This is the challenge that faces all South Africans today, and it is one to which I am certain we will all rise.

We must see the new Nigeria The Nigeria We Want we must accept personal responsibility to build it.

Dear friend, The time has drawn near for us all to help decide through a referendum what will become of our country and people in the immediate future. In a Republic we shall be able to give our full attention to what is so vital. It is to create a secure future for the whites, besides fairness to the non-whites as well. Furthermore, the development of prosperity is necessary for everyone. If we do not take this one step now, we ourselves may possibly, experience all the suffering of the whites who are being attacked in, and driven out of, one African territory after the other. You love your country. You love your children. Sixty or more years of life lie ahead of many of them. I plead for their sake; their unity, safety and prosperity. For all these reasons I feel justified in approaching you personally with this urgent appeal. Become by answering „Yes” through your cross on the voting paper, one of the founders of our Republic of South Africa. With best wishes, H.F.Verwoerd

Many white South Africans, including myself, are committed to contributing to South Africa. This is our home and at the same time we experience the tension of feeling we benefited from a long history of injustice and we wonder whether there is a place and role here for us now.