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People of South Africa:

Christmas is a time when families come together often after long periods of absences from the family home, and it provides an opportunity for mothers and fathers and grandparents to spend more time with their children. It is a time marked by the spirit of togetherness, when those who have been torn apart are often reconciled to one another.

It is a time for rest and contemplation, as we take stock of what we have accomplished over the past year. But above all, Christmas is a time for giving and for receiving, for we know we will only get back as much as we are willing to give. For the spirit of Christmas is the spirit of our giving to ourselves through others. It is about acknowledging our common humanity by showing our unwavering commitment to community self-enhancement and to our own self-development.

Therefore, for us in South Africa, as we celebrate this Christmas, let us also use this opportunity for renewing our commitment to our nation, to the improvement of the quality of life of all our people, especially the poor and the marginalised.

Of highest priority is the consolidation of the democracy won in 1994 and driving the consistent transformation of South Africa into a non-racial, non-sexist society. In short, the moulding of a united nation.

Democracy must grow into a mighty tree in whose shade all South Africans can find safety and shelter. The principles that underpin the basic law of the land are enduring, universal values.

The formation of a single, united nation requires that we bridge the huge gulf presently differentiating the rich from the poor; separating white from black.

This necessarily requires the radical transformation of the quality of life of the majority of our people, focussing especially on ending poverty, hunger, insecurity and illiteracy. The national agenda for the immediate future must be harnessing the energies of the nation for this transformation process so as to create an ever expanding floor of opportunities for all South Africans.

In the last six years, as government working hand in hand with the people of this land, we have put in place legislation and policy frameworks to ensure that we do create this better life for all.

Through partnerships with communities, together we are improving infrastructure in black areas.

Together with communities and the private sector, we are empowering people in rural areas through skills development programmes linked to infrastructural development, notably also through the Spatial Development Initiatives . In this way, we are actively creating a better life for people in rural areas.

Through an integrated approach to our work and through improvements in the criminal justice system, we are making our country a safer place for all, especially the women and the children, and all those who are most vulnerable to being abused.

Through the success of the Reconstruction and Development Programme and GEAR, especially also through fiscal discipline and better revenue collection, we are beginning to see a sustained upswing in our economy. The lowering of interest rates is partly evidence of this upswing; and we are confident that if we work hard and act strategically, this trend will continue, so that our economy will be able to create the necessary jobs we need so much for our people.

In our building of a united nation, in our efforts towards national reconciliation, we are fully conscious that our unity exists also because of our diversity and that our strength as a new nation comes from our understanding and embracing all our heritages and cultures . I am confident that we are on track in our efforts to establish a Commission for the Promotion and Protection of Language, Cultural and Religious Rights.

As we renew our commitment to our nation this Christmas and to the building of a caring, people-centred society, therefore let us also pledge ourselves to continue to deepen democracy at all levels.

In this year, we held our second successful democratic elections, in this way proving to ourselves and to the world that we the people of South Africa are peace-loving democrats. In next year, with the local government elections, I am sure we shall continue to entrench democracy in the life of our nation, this time through our active participation at local level.

In our dealings with the rest of our continent and the world, we shall continue to insist that respect for democratic institutions and cultivation of a culture of human rights are the best guarantors of durable peace and stability.

We shall continue to play positive roles especially in continuing to work for peace on our continent through intra-African initiatives by SADC and the OAU to maintain stability and deepen the organs of democracy.

If Christmas is to be truly a time for peace, unity and reconciliation, then it must also be the time that everyone of us in this country renews our sense of shared purpose as Africans, centred on the development of the as-yet-untapped potential of African humanity.

We must re-capture lost opportunities and engage in a continent-wide cultural revival based on the spreading of literacy, numeracy, the natural sciences and the mastery of modern technology. The forging of close economic ties between us and our neighbours through cross-border initiatives will also ensure that we work and prosper together as one.

People of our country,

Christmas 1999 has come to be regarded as the last Christmas of this century and of the millennium, but it is important that what we have learnt in the last hundred years, be taken with us into the new era. We have learnt, mainly through suffering and struggle, how to overcome greed and selfishness, We have learnt this through embracing the values of sharing, of equality, of freedom. We have realised the necessity of peace, unity and reconciliation. This is what we must take with us into the next century and every Christmas that follows thereafter.

As we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who, from all accounts, was a great humanitarian (in his own right), we must learn from his life, from the vast experience of humanity in the last 2000 years, from our own unique tragic and joyful South African experience, that we must do all we can to create a new, equal, caring world - where the poor have triumphed and are no longer poor, where the wealthy share their wealth and are no longer selfish.

We must listen and be sensitised to the cries of those who are suffering, to the pleas for peace of ordinary women and men in nations who are at war. We must listen to the voices of those in underdeveloped nations who are still economic dependants, while others claim ownership of the world economy.

Our understanding of this pain and suffering must be channelled into concerted action in our organisations of civil society, in our businesses, in our governmental structures, so that all of us together make our country and our world a better place, where all people work together in peace and harmony, overcoming all our mutual problems, bound by our love for our fellow human beings.

Let us continue to pay special attention to the health needs of the frail, the sick, those who are dying from HIV/AIDS; and let us, by protecting ourselves and our families, intensify our fight against the spread of this disease.

In acting now, we are investing in our future and that of future generations.

For it is the children of today who will inherit the South Africa of tomorrow. The next century belongs to them and we must promote their rights and protect and enrich their inheritance.

I wish you and your families, all the men, women and children, of our land a blessed Christmas.

God Bless our People.
God Bless our Nation.
And God Bless Africa.

I thank you.

Issued by: Office of the Presidency