Your Excellency, President Nyusi and Madame Nyusi,
Liberation Veteran Mr Marcelino dos Santos, Former President Joaquim Chissano,
Former President Armando Guebuza, Former Prime Minister Pascal Mocumbi,
Honourable Prime Minister Carlos Agostinho do Rosario and Mrs do Rosario,
Honourable Speaker of Parliament, Ms Veronica Macamo Dlhovo and Mr Dlhovo,
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Governor of Maputo Province,
Your Lordship, the Mayor of Maputo City,
Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening to you all!
I wish to thank you, Your Excellency, President Nyusi for your kind words of welcome.
May I also take this opportunity to thank you for inviting us to visit this beautiful country.
Equally, we wish to express our profound gratitude to the Government and the people of Mozambique for the exceptional hospitality that has been extended to us since our arrival.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Many South Africans are accustomed to the Mozambican hospitality. It is a hospitality that always reminds us of our past, a past that should never be forgotten.
We speak of a past when hundreds of South Africans, running away from the cruel apartheid system, descended into the shores of this great nation.
They were welcomed with warm embrace and solidarity by the Mozambican people.
This is a country that played a critical role in the fight against apartheid. We talk of Mozambique, a country that lost a leader and a President. The only sin of President Samora Machel was to take a principled stand against the unjust system of apartheid.
I cannot encapsulate the essence of our relationship better than Comrade Oliver Tambo in a speech delivered at a Frelimo rally on 14 February 1982:
"We are one people today. This means we are recapturing our glorious past. We were one people. History put us together on this continent from time immemorial.
"We evolved together, shared a common African culture, traded with one another and dealt with each other as human beings, whether in times of war or in times of peace, whether in circumstances of huger or in conditions of plenty”.
Ladies and gentlemen,
This history needs to be told and retold to the current and future generations.
This is a history that tells a story that we are One! Indeed, we are One. We share the same history, culture and ancestry. We speak the same languages and most curiously we share the same dreams! The dreams of socio-economic prosperity for all of us.
Your Excellency,
Your invitation to us to undertake this visit came just a few weeks after we saw in our country horrific incidents when some of our citizens, directed attacks to foreign nationals, including Mozambicans.
We take this opportunity to once more extend our deepest condolences to you Mr President, the families of the deceased and affected individuals and all the Mozambican people. Thousands of South Africans took to the streets,the media and other platforms to demonstrate their disgust and strong condemnation of the attacks against African nationals and other foreign nationals in our country.
We are attending to this matter with a view to ensuring that there is no recurrence in our country. We thank the Mozambican government for support and understanding while our country went through that difficult period last month.
Mr President
We are here this week to further deepen the strong historical relations between our two countries and peoples. The incidents of the past month can never undo the bonds between our two countries and peoples. We will never allow that to happen.
That political and historical bond must now translate into improved economic cooperation.
Our partnership over the years has yielded satisfactory results as evidenced by the existence of sixty (60) bilateral agreements and memoranda of understanding.
These legal instruments cover a wide range of sectors, including transport, trade and investment, energy, security, environment and tourism, science and technology, water, immigration, communication, sport, arts and culture, agriculture and mining.
There remains a need to provide momentum to further strengthen our economic relations by enhancing cooperation among our respective government departments and institutions.
This would inevitably result in increased trade and investment between our two countries and importantly also further promote intra-African trade.
We also encourage robust interaction between our respective business sectors. We are of the strong view that their interaction will further strengthen our economic ties and bring us closer to the achievement of our aspirations of growing our respective economies for the mutual benefit of all.
We are particularly encouraged that to date there are over three hundred (300) South African companies doing business in Mozambique, resulting in the steady growth in trade and investment between our countries. We believe that these companies have in no small measure contributed to the growth and development of the Mozambican economy.
Mozambique has for a decade now become one of our top trading partners on the Continent. This demonstrates the interdependency of our countries.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Our bilateral partnership was enhanced in 2011 when we signed an agreement establishing a Bi-national Commission between our two countries.
This means that every year we shall meet at the level of the Heads of State to discuss strategic issues of bilateral importance.
There is no doubt that this will create the required momentum to the implementation of all the signed agreements and memoranda of understanding.
I am happy that we have agreed that the inaugural session of the Bi-national Commission will be scheduled for later in 2015 in South Africa. We firmly believe that the structured platform that the BNC provides will further consolidate our bilateral relationship and will be utilised as a vehicle to advance broader and deeper cooperation between our countries and peoples.
Mr President, I therefore look forward to hosting you in South Africa for the inaugural session of the BNC on a date to be mutually agreed.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Mozambique and South Africa share common values of democracy, respect for human rights and social justice.
We should continue to build on our historical relationship to pursue these values. These shared values provide a firm foundation for cooperation beyond bilateral relations. We pursue these values not only within the broader SADC family but also we pursue these at the Continental level.
Our collaboration is epitomised by working together within SADC in pursuit of regional integration, peace, security and stability in the region. We need to double our efforts for regional economic integration. As a region, we have demonstrated a collective resolve to do that pursuant to the adoption on 29th April 2015 of the SADC Industrialisation Strategy as well as the Revised Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan.
The full implementation of these noble and visionary strategies and plans cannot be over emphasised.
We need to decentralise industrialisation through identification of cross border projects. The involvement of the private sector is inevitable and as Governments we need to encourage their involvement and participation.
Your Excellency,
I also remain encouraged by our common partnership as reflected in our shared vision for the promotion of multilateralism, continental integration, South-South cooperation and reform of the United Nations and its institutions.
Your Excellency,
May I take this opportunity to thank you once more for your warm welcome.
We are committed to working hard each day to ensure that current and future generations benefit from the historical bonds of our two nations.
Your Excellency and Distinguished Guests,
May you please rise and join me in a toast to the good health of His Excellency, President Filipe Nyusi and to the prosperity, everlasting friendship and solidarity between the peoples of Mozambique and South Africa.
To friendship and comradeship!
Muinto Obrigado!
