Programme director
Your Excellency Dr Kenneth Kaunda
Esteemed guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is indeed an honour for me to be part of this magnificent awards ceremony.
I wish to commend African Consciousness Media and the Kenneth Kaunda Foundation for creating this opportunity to recognise achievement on our continent.
I am deeply humbled by this award. It is a special privilege to be among those honoured tonight. What is most special about the award is the fact that it is Africans recognising what they regard as achievement and appreciating their own.
While individuals have been singled out for awards, this evening's ceremony is also about acknowledging the collective efforts of Africa's people to build a better life.
It acknowledges that, by working together, the leaders and people of the continent can overcome all the challenges that we face.
Esteemed guests,
As we accept these awards, it is proper that we pay special tribute to our African elders who fought for freedom and independence. They fought for the unity of the African people. The formation of the Organisation of African Unity is a key example of Africans consciously working for unity.
President Kenneth Kaunda was part of that process and the quest for unity is still paramount for him. We must learn from him and emulate him and his generation.
Ladies and gentlemen it is a special privilege to receive this award from President Kaunda in particular. His brand of Ubuntu, Zambian humanism, has been the guiding moral compass in that great country, where love and care for humanity is hailed as the greatest virtue in all aspects of life.
Zambia, the former headquarters of the ANC was our home away from home due to President Kaunda's solidarity and hospitality that we will never forget as South Africans. Particularly humbling is the fact that Dr Kaunda still has the passion and energy to work for the improvement of people's lives. We need to emulate his example.
We need to rekindle the values that bind us together as one people. We need to elevate the needs of humanity above our material achievements, as he has always done. As African leaders we have pledged to our people that we will strive for the eradication of poverty, disease and conflict.
We have pledged to promote trade, investment, economic growth, skills development and stability on the continent.
To promote good governance, we established the African Peer Review Mechanism. To foster economic integration and development, we established the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad).These must be the instruments we use to advance the cause of our continent. But most of all, we must work for the unity of the African peoples at all times.
If we deviate or if we falter, we expect all of you ordinary citizens, civil society, academics and the media – to sound the warning bells. Good leaders heed these warnings and respond constructively. They do not consider themselves to be above their people.
Esteemed guests,
These awards will help to remind African leaders of their responsibilities to their people. They will serve as a reminder that nothing can be achieved without the confidence, trust and support of our own people.
A true leader is guided by the needs and the collective wisdom of his or her people. These awards should therefore not be about status or prestige.
They should be about service and sacrifice.
Let us work together to ensure that they achieve these goals.
I thank you.
Enquiries:
Matshepo Seedat
Cell: 082 679 9473
Issued by: The Presidency
10 November 2009
