[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

I wish to thank my good and lifelong friend, John de Jesus, for having once again brought together an extraordinary group of people around his table. For many years business leaders, opinion makers and community leaders have met in this house to exchange the bond of mutual solidarity and friendship and pledge their mutual support in making our communities a better place to live, work, worship and prosper. Today we have been brought here to welcome my eminent and distinguished colleague, the Minister of Home Affairs of the Republic of Portugal, the Honourable Jose de Almeinda Cesario.

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to welcome my colleague to South Africa and strengthen through his visit the strong ties, which I have maintained for many decades with the people and the Government of Portugal. I had the pleasure of visiting Portugal on several occasions and I was even one of the guests of honour on the occasion of the inauguration of the New International Airport in Madeira. Whenever I have visited Portugal, I was left with an indelible memory of the warmth and hospitality of the Portuguese people.

It is also important that our colleague and distinguished representative of the Government of the Republic of Portugal is now visiting South Africa because his visit strengthens the ancestral ties between the Portuguese community and Portugal. More than any other communities of European decent in our country, the Portuguese community is rightfully a truly African community which belongs to the soil of South Africa and understands and loves Africa as much as any other African community. The Portuguese community settled in this region of the world almost at the same time as many African nations moved here from the northern part of our continent. In half a millennium of the Portuguese presence in this region, the Portuguese community has proven to be dedicated and committed to the growth of Africa.

For this reason, I feel that South Africa must recognise the great contribution that the Portuguese community has made towards its growth and prosperity over the centuries. South Africa ought also to accept to become more reliant on the contribution that the Portuguese community can and must make towards its future success. In fact, South Africa is at a crossroad between a path, which may lead towards the fulfilment of its great potentials and another, which may take it astray from it. The path, which leads to fulfilling South Africa's great potentials, is indeed still long and uphill, while the other is a leisurely down hill walk towards an ever-increasing process of social and economic involution and degeneration.

I am confident that with the assistance of the Portuguese community of South Africa and our many international friends, amongst which we must count the Republic of Portugal, South Africa will succeed in overcoming its present problems. HIV/AIDS, unemployment, crime, underdevelopment, and corruption are undoubtedly the top problems on the list of South Africa's priorities to be addressed in the next five years. Whenever we meet in this venue, convened as we are by the friendship of our kind and great host, Mr de Jesus and Mrs. de Jesus, we have always considered the challenges of the juncture and history of the time. We have convened here to discuss the uncertainties of our struggle against apartheid in the 80's, the many problems of the negotiation problems during the early 90's and the uncertainties in the first democratic government of South Africa after 1994.

Over and again, we have identified the real challenges of our country together with the opportunities we missed and those, which we successfully conquered. As we meet now, we are facing great challenges, which have the capacity of creating enormous setbacks for our country to the point of vanishing all the gains we achieved during liberation and democracy. HIV/AIDS, unemployment, crime, underdevelopment and corruption are very real and serious issues. However, in our discussions, time and again we identify issues, which at the time seem to be insurmountable. Nonetheless, every time South Africa musters the necessary resources to survive and overcome what seemed to be impossible challenges. I am an eternal optimist and I have lived long enough to see my country achieve miracle after miracle. I firmly believe that in my country there is a reservoir of uncapped human resources, which enables it to overcome the greatest of challenges.

The Portuguese community is undoubtedly a very valuable component of this reservoir. I am convinced that with the assistance of the Portuguese community we shall in fact overcome even the great challenges, which are now confronting us. I say this because it is with pride that I often feel I am member of the Portuguese community myself having spent so much time with the Portuguese people of my region.

For this reason, in welcoming our friend who represents the Government of the Republic of Portugal, I want to assure him that he is in a country, which is undoubtedly struggling with major problems, but one, which will eventually succeed. It is worthwhile to make investments in South Africa because South Africa is a winner, which has proven over again its capacity of disappointing all prophets of doom. We respect our friends and the international ties we have with his country and hope that through the visit of the Honourable Jose de Almeinda Cesario the ties with the Republic of Portugal may grow even closer so that the two countries may take full advantage of the greater role that South Africa intends to play in this continent.

I hope that the visit of the Honourable Jose de Almeinda Cesario will be a fruitful and enjoyable one and that he may receive the embrace not only of the Portuguese community of South Africa but indeed of all our many communities. Ours is a land of many diverse communities that however share the same characteristics of being extremely warm with and welcoming to foreigners, especially when they are friends as the Honourable Jose de Almeinda Cesario is. In fact I have long learnt from my Portuguese friends that the friend of a friend is a friend, and therefore a friend of my friend de Jesus is a friend of mine. Therefore I wish on him to be able to experience here the same warmth of reception and friendship which I have experienced over and again whenever I was in Portugal and in all my dealings with the Portuguese community. I welcome our friend.

I thank you.

Source: Department of Home Affairs (http://home-affairs.pwv.gov.za)