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Clinton addresses a South Africa 'truly free at last'
President Clinton addresses Parliament Visit marks first by U.S. leader
March 26, 1998
Web posted at: 12:15 p.m. EST (1715 GMT)CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton on Thursday pledged that his country would help South Africans overcome problems left behind after decades of racial separation policies.
Calling for Americans and South Africans to work and learn with each other, Clinton said, "We seek to be your partners and your true friends in the work that lies ahead."
Clinton's visit is the first by a U.S. president to South Africa, a country once shunned for apartheid racial segregation but now hailed as a beacon of hope under South African President Nelson Mandela.
President Clinton's speech to South Africa's Parliament
VXtreme streaming video (17:00)
As he noted the unprecedented nature of his appearance before South Africa's first democratically elected Parliament, Clinton said he was "honored to address a South Africa truly free at last."
"The courage and imagination that created this new South Africa inspire all of us to be animated by the belief that one day, humanity all the world over can at last be freed from the bonds of hatred and bigotry," Clinton said.
His audience, a joint meeting of Parliament, included Mandela and his heir apparent, Thabo Mbeki. He was interrupted several times by applause.
Clinton addresses South Africa's Parliament...
201K/19 sec. AIFF or WAV 318K/30 sec. AIFF or WAV
213K/20 sec. AIFF or WAV 250K/23 sec. AIFF or WAV"America wants a strong South Africa, America needs a strong South Africa, and we are determined to work with you as you build a strong South Africa," he said.
Clinton pledges continued aid
Earlier Thursday, Clinton responded to South African critics of his trade initiatives by voicing a commitment to direct financial help for Africa. "My formula would be ... that you have trade and aid," he said after a half-hour meeting with Mbeki, South Africa's deputy president.
Mbeki Mbeki, who has been nominated by the ruling African National Congress to succeed President Nelson Mandela when he retires next year, in an interview reported Thursday criticized Clinton's intention to phase out aid and bolster trade.
But the two said after their talks that their differences were not significant.
"What I believe is that countries and individual citizens in the developing nations of the world will never be able to rise to level of middle-class nations ... unless they do it through the energies of private economic interchange, through trade and investment," Clinton said.
He added: "To get countries to the takeoff point ... we have to continue the aid program."
Impromptu bricklaying
The Clintons lay bricks at women's housing project Clinton began his official visit to South Africa with a surprise detour to the Victoria Mxenge housing project, where he and wife Hillary each laid a brick in a house under construction, symbolically helping to build a new South Africa.
Clinton was officially greeted by Mandela in a formal arrival ceremony in the plaza at Tuynhuis, a 200-year-old government building that houses Mandela's offices. As a band played the national anthems of both countries, the two presidents stood together solemnly on a red carpeted reviewing stand, then walked across the plaza to Parliament.
Goal: to highlight peaceful transition
In his speech to parliament, Clinton again brought up his intention to "help the African people help themselves, to be better equipped to make dreams come true." The president, on the fourth stop of a six-nation African tour, said their self-help was a shining example to other African nations.
U.S. officials say a key goal of the visit is to highlight South Africa's peaceful transition from white minority rule as an example of ethnic reconciliation for Africa and the United States, where Clinton is seeking to heal racial divisions.
Clinton has had differences with Mandela over the South African leader's friendships with Libya and Syria, countries Washington accuses of backing terrorism, but relations between the two countries are generally good and Mandela praised Clinton in a pre-visit interview.
On Friday, Mandela will show Clinton around the Robben Island prison off Cape Town, where the South African president was imprisoned for 18 years during the apartheid days.
Clinton will spend a day Saturday in the commercial hub of Johannesburg, where he is expected to talk trade with business leaders, before heading to Botswana and Senegal.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Special section:
Newsmaker profiles:
- Bill Clinton - U.S. President
- Nelson Mandela - South African President
Related stories:
- African leaders endorse Clinton pact on human rights, trade - March 25, 1998
- Clinton meets Rwanda genocide survivors - March 25, 1998
- Clinton offers Africa aid for schools - March 24, 1998
- Clinton faces diplomatic challenge in Uganda - March 23, 1998
Related sites:
- Parliament of South Africa
- African National Congress
- Embassy of South Africa in Washington D.C.
- U.S. State Department - Bureau of African Affairs
- Main Street South Africa
- Mail & Guardian - South African newspaper
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