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Mr. President
Mr. Deputy President
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Heads of the Intelligence and Managers
Invited Families
Members of the Intelligence Community
Ladies and Gentlemen

After closing our recent divisive and conflict-ridden history in 1994 our country and our people took the urgent steps of building a future in which all of us could equally proclaim this country as ours. As we are gathered here today nourishing the fruits of liberation, we recognize that some of our gallant men and women with whom we fought in the deep ugly trenches of war are not here to share the fruits of our successes. The contours of their faces, which are etched in our collective memory, are all that remains.

For the past seven years we have been navigating a path which at times has been overwhelmingly daunting: the task of bringing legitimacy and legality to our domain. And as we navigated and balanced the concept of secrecy versus transparency we have stumbled upon many unanswered questions.

The first is the one we sought to answer today. We are a legally constituted security apparatus of government governed by the same norms of transparency as other security apparatuses. Why, if this is the case, do we not honour our own as other security organs do? We could find no reason why that should not be done, and having taken the decision that it should be done - of course within the confines of our circumstances - we are conscious that we have come of age and have reached that state in the development of our own affairs where we feel confident that we have got the balance right.

To construct a permanent symbol by which we all can remember our fallen heroes and heroines for whom the cries of freedom were a higher calling to everything else they had and possessed, we as the intelligence services, decided on erecting this Wall of Remembrance.

Here, families, comrades, friends and colleagues, will have the opportunity to touch the silent names of their beloved ones and remember them with love. In this restful place we will remember them for their heroism and bravery and for what they have done in service of the country and our people.

The Wall as you see it now is only the first phase. It is anticipated that when we are through it will be three times the size it is now. The names that are engraved in gold on the wall depict two categories. Those who died on duty. These span the period from Comrade Zakithi to Mziwendoda Mdluli, the first officer to die in the new dispensation, through to the cadre who died in a drowning accident in the Vaal Dam and six cadres who died in a minibus accident on their way to work.

The second category consists of members who died within the Services. The third category that is not yet complete will give recognition to people who have given outstanding service to the Community and this will include, amongst others Mzwai Piliso.

Our second responsibility is to honour those who presently are in the services of the country.

Your presence at this occasion Mr. President and Mr. Deputy President is extremely significant for us, not only because of the honour that you bring by gracing this occasion, but because you both have a common root with all of us here. Mr. President, when you and the Deputy President, representing both the political and intelligence services of the ANC, met the former intelligence services of the previous government - represented here today by Mr. Mike Louw - and began the discussions around the negotiations that brought us where we are now, you defined a new façade and a new character for intelligence.

As we are today you set us on the new path as agents of change and guarantors of the liberty of our people, we shed old stereotypes and showed the world what was possible when intelligence services are used as an instrument for good - intelligence services which value integrity. You showed us how potent an instrument we can be. We thank you all of you who charted this path that has allowed us to bask in its glory. We thank you for giving us our dignity.

Today we are a proud service with a solid foundation in our freedom. We have decided that annually this day will be celebrated by the intelligence community in recognition of their own work; their own successes; unknown, unacknowledged.

Acknowledgement is an essential aspect of the human consciousness. It forms part of one's self-assessment. It is a barometer that we each use to gauge how others assess us and it therefore becomes a building block of our own assessment of ourselves. Our own self-worth depends on our being able to gauge how we reflect on others. This essential part of the building of self-worth is denied the services because by their own commitment what they do remains unknown, unsung and unacknowledged. One is called upon to conceptualize a human being denied the ability to sense how they reflect on others. One is called upon to try and conceptualise a community denied of this necessary impetus, which one gets from recognition and approval - the necessary impetus that compels us to even greater achievements because acknowledgement and recognition underpin the development of the human character. Such is the world the services inhabit - a very unnatural world. Yet even with all these unnatural impediments, the services have performed to the best of their ability - unknown, unseen and unacknowledged. They have given absolute commitment! A commitment so much more palpable by the knowledge that it is unrecognized. It is made more palpable by the fact that it is not self-seeking. It seeks no glory and no laurels. Having imagined all this, I ask you: is there a more noble calling than that a man or woman should give his or her life so completely to ensure that all of us who live in this country and all of us who govern this country are safe; to ensure that the democracy we fought for, that so many died for; is protected and secure? Mr. President, Mr. Deputy President, We will use this day to recommit ourselves to the mission of defending the constitution of our country and to defend our democracy. We can without any reservation say to you that we stand ready - make us instruments of peace. Where there is strife in Africa we can be called upon to work tirelessly for the resolution of conflict; where there is danger we will forewarn you. We commit ourselves to this. For we have learnt from you and our lineage a rich lesson and to paraphrase a famous spy: "All history teaches that today's allies are tomorrow's rivals. Fashion may dictate priorities, foresight doesn't. For as long as rogues become leaders, we shall spy. For as long as there are bullies and liars and madmen in the world, we shall spy. For as long as nations compete, and politicians deceive, and tyrants launch conquests, and consumers need resources, and the homeless look for land, and the hungry for food, and the rich for excess, we shall spy, for as long as mad right-wingers threaten our peace, we shall ensure they rue the day they were born - they will do well to check our credentials with Pagad. Each member of the service lives his life in a twenty-four hour service to his or her countrymen. He or she is called upon to be an unstinting patriot. For we have a common purpose - Again to paraphrase, this time a great poet;

Our common purpose is to follow knowledge like a sinking star! Beyond the utmost bound of human thought, To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield!

I thank you.