Your Excellency, President Museveni
Honourable Speaker
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable Members of Parliament
Distinguished guests
Allow me first of all to thank you for this privilege to address the Parliament of the Republic of Uganda, on this occasion of our state visit. We convey heartfelt greetings from the government and people of South Africa.
We thank His Excellency President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for inviting us to visit this country, which we naturally regard as our home. We have been treated exceptionally well since our arrival. The warmth is indicative of the depth of the relations between our two countries and peoples.
From ministers, to senior officials and the business delegation representing various sectors we all extend our gratitude for the wonderful hospitality and look forward to a very successful visit.
Honourable Members, we have accepted the invitation to undertake this state visit because there is a lot that we must do together to ensure that the bonds of friendship and solidarity yield fruits economically, politically and socially.
But before we outline our views on areas of cooperation, let me state Honourable Speaker that the people of South Africa have not forgotten what Ugandans did for them during their hour of need. In 1989, when the negotiations for the independence of Namibia seemed to stall due to the ANC-MK presence in Angola, the leadership of the ANC took a historic decision to withdraw from Angola.
The ANC approached some countries in Southern Africa for possible military bases for its armed wing, uMkhonto Wesizwe. The government and people of Uganda, under the leadership of His Excellency, President Museveni, received us with open arms. Our cadres landed in this sister country.
Many of those who received their initial basic training here in Uganda occupy positions of leadership in the South African National Defence Force.
Our words of gratitude to the Ugandan people should be heard by all in this beautiful country, young and old. We will always remember the sacrifice, solidarity and support of Uganda during the struggle against one of the worst crimes against humanity.
It is within those same hills, and on those same streets, that our liberating cadres found comfort, inspiration and strength. The people of Uganda never denied us shelter and assistance, and they never asked for anything in return. They gave, because that was what they knew.
They knew the difficulties we faced, and they could not sit on the sidelines when their brothers and sisters in South Africa needed them.
Our relationship is based on that strong comradeship. The bonds of solidarity endure.
Honourable Speaker
Your Excellency, the President
Today, I salute you as comrades and partners in developing this continent we all call home. Arising from the historic and unbreakable bond between our peoples, the attainment of democracy in South Africa created new opportunities for cooperation.
Former President Nelson Mandela visited your country twice in 1994, the year of our liberation, a signal of the importance that we attach to this relationship. This year we celebrate the 20th anniversary of his release from prison, and it befits that auspicious day that we now stand before the leaders of the Republic of Uganda to once again renew our commitment. Let us celebrate, together, the emancipation of our people and the common goals that we pursue to develop Africa.
Ladies and gentlemen
The excellent relations between South Africa and Uganda were elevated to a strategic bilateral level with the signing in 2005 of the South Africa �" Uganda Joint Permanent Economic Commission. We trust that this visit will allow us to further explore the function of this and other formal mechanisms of cooperation. It is important that the practice of our bilateral relations matches our intent, and that implementation follows agreement.
In doing so, we can call on a recent history of effective cooperation, with significant results. South Africa and Uganda have worked closely in the search for peace in Burundi with Uganda as chair of the regional initiative and South Africa as facilitating country. I had the pleasure to work with you directly Your Excellency during the Burundi peace process. I was inspired by your commitment to finding a solution, and by the manner in which you were always ready to provide leadership.
Honourable Speaker
We continue to cooperate closely in continental and international forums, working together towards the shared objectives of a better Africa and a better world. Much of our cooperation today has been made possible by the close ties of our past. During his visit to Uganda in 2005, former President Thabo Mbeki pledged, as a token of gratitude to the government and people of Uganda, to assist in the construction and refurbishment of the military camp of the ANC in Kawaweta into a School of Leadership facility for senior police, prisons and military personnel. We are privileged that on this visit we will formally open this school, which will remain as a testimony to the selflessness of the Ugandan people.
During my own visit to the site, on 17 July 2008, I said, “As liberation movements in the past we were always conscious of the changing role of soldiers. We understood that the cadres that we trained to liberate our countries would one day play a meaningful role in an integrated society ready to defend the very same revolution that they had been engaged in.”
We are conscious also of the changing nature of bilateral relations.
Once we were comrades in the fight against racism. Now we are partners in the struggle to achieve a better life for our people.
We are partners in expanding the opportunities for commerce, investment, trade and the exchange of technical capacity. We both seek to increase the economic capacity of our people, to create sustainable employment, and to meet the basic needs of the poor. We both seek to provide every child with quality education, and to produce graduates with skills and experience suited to the needs of a modern economy. We both seek to better utilise our significant natural resources, and to diversify our economies. We both seek to improve our regulatory environment, to become more competitive, and to create opportunities for the development of small business.
If we try to achieve these objectives alone, in isolation, we will at best meet with only limited success. These are objectives we need to pursue in cooperation with others. Uganda is a country with great economic potential and an important destination for South African trade and investment. South African exports to Uganda amount to R1,3 billion, and imports R98 million.
Close to 50 South African companies operate in Uganda, contributing to employment creation and the country’s tax base. In a range of sectors, from banking to bottling, from energy to retail, South African companies are an integral part of the Ugandan economy. This says much about business confidence in Uganda, and about sentiment towards its prospects for future growth.
It also says much about the country’s position in the region, and the contribution it makes towards stability and development in East Africa.
Although there is already a high level of South African investment here, tremendous scope exists for further expansion, particularly in the areas of technical and human resource development.
We have come to Uganda with a significant business delegation, keen to discuss with their counterparts opportunities for future cooperation.
This is an element of our bilateral relations that we are keen to nurture, and we hope to discuss at government-to-government level how we can facilitate this interaction.
The people of Uganda and South Africa will be looking at this visit as an opportunity to advance their interests. They will be asking what benefit it brings to them as they struggle to improve their lives.
Honourable Members,
The people of Africa have done much to free themselves from the yoke of oppression, exploitation and want. They have fought colonialism. They have tamed many, but not all, of the conflicts that once plagued the continent. They have forged democratic and stable nations where once there was dictatorship. Now they must confront the challenge of forging a future free from deprivation and disease.
They must build an Africa that is prosperous and free.
The challenges are many, but none can deny the progress that has been made.
If we are to proceed any further, we will need to do so together. The unity of the nations of Africa is paramount. Since its formation almost a century ago, the African National Congress took as one of its central objectives the unity of the peoples of Africa.
That has informed the vision and programme of the South African liberation movement ever since. It is an objective that is shared by many on this continent, not least the leaders and people of Uganda.
That is why we have a shared responsibility to build such unity, to strengthen continental institutions like the African Union, and support continental programmes like the New Partnership for Africa’s Development.
We need to support institutions like the Pan African Parliament, to ensure that it does indeed become an organ that can effectively represent the will of the people of Africa.
I wish to take the opportunity of being in this house to make a special plea to the Honourable Members of the Parliament of the Republic of Uganda to invest time and energy in the work of the Pan African Parliament.
Only through the efforts of dedicated public representatives will this institution become a real force for continental democracy. In July this year, Uganda will host the African Union Summit. This country will be called upon to work with the continent to promote unity and togetherness, and ensure that the continent maintains its cohesiveness. We know that this country will indeed lead us well in this regard as host.
Honourable members we also wish to thank Uganda for supporting of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project especially during the African Ministers’ Conference on Science and Technology held in Egypt recently. The SKA project was endorsed as an African Project in preparation for the 2012 final selection between South Africa and Australia.
Hosting the telescope will help us to answer fundamental questions in the fields of astronomy, physics and cosmology, and may even detect intelligent life elsewhere in the universe. It will underscore our capability in science and innovation, and also adds prestige to Africa.
Honourable Members, as we seek unity at a political level as Africans, we must acknowledge that lasting unity must necessarily involve the economic integration of our continent. Common markets are far more effective at bringing countries together than common declarations.
Our economic development is constrained by the borders that colonialism imposed upon the African landscape. That is why we all support economic integration across the regions. We have to overcome lines drawn on a map; lines that reflect more the differences between the nations of 19th century Europe than between the peoples of today’s Africa. We must draw our own lines on the map. These should be lines that represent roads, railways, electricity lines, pipelines, fibre-optic cables.
Africans must develop the capacity to trade with other Africans. They must be able to invest in each other’s economies, and draw on each other’s skills and expertise. We are a rich continent, in minerals, in produce, in people, yet we remain very poor. It is only by uniting our peoples, by pooling our resources, and combining our efforts, that we will overcome this devastating legacy. That is what makes the relationship between South Africa and Uganda so important.
Within our respective regions, we both have important political and economic roles to play. We both make a significant contribution to the development of our respective regional economic communities. We are both involved in conflict resolution and peacekeeping. We are both attractive destinations for investment, trade and tourism, and we both offer great potential for commercial development. At the same time, we share a common vision for Africa’s development. In other words, cooperation between our two countries stands to benefit not merely our two countries. It stands to benefit the broader effort of continental regeneration.
Let me say in closing that Uganda has always been seen as the geographic heart on the continent. It beats steadily through the collection of music, art and cultural activities. Its rhythm vibrates along the more than 30 different indigenous languages. It embodies diversity, but cultivates a proud nation.
Honourable speaker, we would like to celebrate with Uganda the excitement we are to experience soon, of hosting the first ever African Soccer World Cup. The world will descend on South Africa in June and July and we will do our best to make the tournament a monumental success. We have to use the World Cup to challenge all stereotypes about the continent. Together, in this African World Cup, we must prove that as Africans we are capable of the best.
Once more, I thank you most sincerely for the privilege you have accorded us to address you, the elected representatives of the people of Uganda.
I thank you.
Issued by: The Presidency
25 March 2010
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za)
