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Madam Chair,

Thank you for this invitation to speak in the NCOP in this landmark debate on racism. Government, as you know, was petitioned by the National Conference on Racism that was held from 30 August to 2 September last year, to declare the period 2001 - 2010 as the "Decade for the Mobilisation Against Racism."

You will recall that President Mbeki introduced the theme during his address at the official opening of Parliament on 4 February 2000. He then called for a national conference on racism to be convened and requested the South African Human Rights Commission to lead the task. As you well remember it led to another cathartic moment in post-apartheid South African history.

This momentum is being maintained with South Africa hosting the Third United Nations World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance in Durban later this year.

It is anticipated that close to 150 countries will attend and participate in this third World Conference against Racism, with close to 20 000 delegates attending. And there will be a parallel conference for the international non-governmental organisations, where it is anticipated that close to 12 000 delegates will be participating.

The invitation to host the conference came at the request of the United Nations Human Rights Commission and High Commissioner Mary Robinson, who recognised South Africa's unique role and experience in providing the setting for the proposed action campaign.

We feel greatly honoured that the international community, in recognition of our commitment to the struggle for a non-racial world, should have chosen our country to host such an important international gathering.

We are committed to act in unity with the rest of the world to confront this challenge together with and under the guidance of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights when we host the auspicious international event during August this year.

We are convinced that this important initiative will help to move our country faster towards the realisation of the goals contained in our Constitution, of the creation of a non-racial society and non-sexist society.

The declaration of the period 2001-2010 as the Decade for National Mobilisation against Racism will also serve to fulfil other very important objectives. It will enable us as a country, as a nation and as a people to:

* place the problem of racism on the national agenda
* have a national focus on the problems of racism
* raise the level of national consciousness about the problem
* develop clear time-frames for tackling the problems of racism
* develop a long-term strategy as opposed to ad-hoc, incident-related responses for combating racism

Our successes in the struggle to move our country from apartheid to democracy have led many people to reach the premature conclusion that racism in South Africa is dead.

This is despite the obvious and naked fact that to this day and unavoidably, the racial divisions, inequalities and prejudices of the past continue to characterise our society.

Some in our country are so determined to close their eyes to this reality that those who were forced to swallow the bitter fruit of racial inequality and arrogance, are regularly rebuked for speaking out against the pain they continue to endure.

We all cringe when we see or hear about naked acts of racism when we switch on the television or tune into the radio. But these reports continue to expose the thorn in this nation's flesh. These often shocking images we see or words we read, however repugnant, fulfil an important function - in that they bring us face to face with the brutality of the racism that will continue to exist in our society, unless all of us engage the beast consciously and systematically.

This requires of all of us:
* to promote understanding of the nature, meaning and manifestations of racism in our country; and
* to participate in common programmes for the elimination of all forms of racism.

I sincerely believe that we must never forget that the origins of Human Rights Day which we will all be celebrating tomorrow was borne from the valiant fight against racism by consecutive generations of racially oppressed South Africans. It is our duty to remind our youth - time and time again - of the battles, of the struggles, of the sacrifices that were made to achieve our democracy and freedom. And that these were often supreme sacrifices.

21 March is one of those days, which is immortalised in our history. We must never forget the bravery of our people and their refusal to accept an unjust and brutally, repressive regime, when on that day, 21 March 1960, tens of thousands marched to the police station in Sharpeville to hand over the hated 'dom pass' to the authorities and chose - consciously and willingly - imprisonment rather than denigration and humiliation.

So every year, when we commemorate Human Rights Day, we must remember that we are paying tribute to our brave forebears and to those martyrs who were brutally murdered on that day. But our celebrations of our freedom are also marked by sadness, as we remember the supreme sacrifices so many had to make, so that we can indeed taste the sweet fruits of liberty today.

The events which took place at Sharpeville all those years ago so horrified and inspired the world, that this day was chosen by the United Nations as the day for the coming into force of the International Convention Against the elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination, which as you know, became the first international treaty to be signed and ratified by our new democratic government.

Let us also remember how significant 21 March has become not only to South Africans, but also to the international community. For tomorrow, is not only South Africa's Human Rights Day, it is also the International Day Against Racism.

Let's all join hands in a show of strength and commitment to finally defeat racism so that we can celebrate true reconciliation on future Human Rights Days.

Issued by Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development

20 March 2001