The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH

Tag: Nelson Mandela

  • Mr Mandela’s Speech at Luncheon – 9 July 1996

    Below is the text of Nelson Mandela’s speech at a luncheon in London held in his honour on 9th July 1996.

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    Mr. Prime Minister;

    My Lords;

    Ladies and Gentlemen.

    Thank you for your kind words of welcome and support. My delegation and I have been moved by the warm welcome we have had. We are greatly encouraged by the evident desire on the part of the British public that South Africa should succeed in her endeavours.

    When you visited South Africa you said that you had come to re-awaken an old friendship and to signal a new fellowship between our two countries, a fellowship for the future. Your visit, Mr. Prime Minister, and the highly successful visit by Her Majesty did indeed achieve these goals, beyond our wildest expectations. Visits between our two countries are at an all-time high, cooperation is increasing and awareness of each other’s interests is growing.

    South Africa today is in a constructive mood. Our new democratic institutions have taken firm root and won the respect of all sectors of our society. The new constitution adopted by our elected representatives widens the frontiers of our freedoms, and gives South Africa democratic government based on the universal norm of majority rule.

    In the past two years, despite the absence of legitimate local authorities, we have been able to make a start in improving social services. The lives of millions have been changed through better health care, water supply, electrification and education, amongst others. Constructive and focused development assistance from Britain made a significant contribution to this progress.

    The completion of our first democratic local government elections not only puts in place a critical element of democracy, but provides an indispensable instrument of development and opens the way for faster delivery of services.

    The peaceful manner in which the elections in KwaZulu/Natal were conducted should give confidence to all those with an interest in South Africa’s future. That was a joint achievement of the province’s people, political parties, and our security forces; and we are confident that the constructive relationship forged in political contest will endure in democratic local governance.

    Underpinning all the progress we have so far made is a powerful impetus towards national unity and reconciliation. We have achieved consensus of the broadest kind around the programme being defined by government for the reconstruction and development of our country.
    In particular, our recently announced strategies to combat crime and to effect growth, job creation and redistribution, have established a framework within which all major social sectors will be working in partnership. Building on the work of the last two years, it will move us beyond the present constraints.

    As we implement our programme and move towards our goals, our partnership with Britain will play a critical role.

    We are pleased to note the rate at which economic links with Britain have been growing, and appreciate the British Government’s active promotion of trade with South Africa.

    Britain furthermore remains South Africa’s main source of tourism – I am told that the current rate of 37 departures from Heathrow to South Africa every week will increase to more than 40 by the end of the year.

    The importance to us of our economic relationship with Britain is reflected in the fact that I am accompanied by one of the largest business delegations that has ever left our shores. This morning’s conference provided them with an invaluable opportunity to engage with Britain’s business community. They will also be keenly using other occasions to promote expanded economic activity between our countries. For, in the final analysis, the success of our macroeconomic framework relies on rapidly increasing investments.

    We also appreciate the British Government’s willingness to assist South Africa in obtaining the best possible agreement with the European Union, in order to promote development in South Africa and underpin the durability of the new democratic order.

    Investment that boosts our productive capacity, introduces new skills, and increases exports is critical to the reconstruction and development of our country. Conversely, the potential for growth in South Africa creates immense opportunities for profitable British engagement with our country, in a relationship of mutual benefit.

    Mr. Prime Minister;

    The British Government’s support for democracy and development in South Africa is invaluable. Co-operation and assistance with regard to economic, development and military matters have brought South Africa significant and substantial benefits. The discussions we held today will strengthen these relations, and deepen our co-operation as members of the Commonwealth.

    My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen.

    I now kindly request you to raise your glasses to British/South African friendship – a fellowship for the future!

  • Mr Major’s Speech in Cape Town – 20 September 1994

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s speech to the South African National Assembly, in Cape Town, on Tuesday 20th September 1994.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Madam Speaker and President of the Senate, President Mandela, Members of Parliament.

    It is 34 long years since the last visit to South Africa by a British Prime Minister. Madam Speaker, it is good to be back.

    This Parliament has been elected to embrace both the old and the new. To be here four months after South Africa’s rebirth is intensely moving, to rise and to speak in this building at this time is to sense the weight of history, I am privileged to be here. They have been long years for South Africa, years of isolation, years of hope deferred, years of potential unfulfilled.

    The policy of apartheid isolated South Africa, it isolated it from the West because it affronted democratic values, it isolated it in Africa because of its treatment of Africans and others, it isolated the government from its own people because it would not accept them as equals.

    And yet in another sense South Africa was never isolated, you were never forgotten, you were never out of our debates, you were never out of our affections. We knew that change had to come and when it came it came more rapidly, more comprehensively than we had dared to hope.

    Now South Africa is taking up her responsibilities, her responsibilities to herself, to her peoples, to the wider world. You have made a new beginning.

    Perhaps those of you who sit here in this change do not see perhaps with the perspective of the world the extent to which the world is watching what you have done and applauding the direction in which you are going. You are quite literally a source of hope to a whole continent.

    Today, as we approach the 200th anniversary of Britain’s old Cape colony, I have come here to re-awaken an old friendship, to hold out my hand to the new South Africa, to make a new beginning and to signal a new friendship between your country and mine.

    Mostly this afternoon I wish to look forward, I wish to look forward to see what the United Kingdom and South Africa can do for each other, for the progress we can make together, to our joint role in the Commonwealth of which we are both influential members, and to the contribution we can make both to Africa and to this country and to everywhere in Southern and Central Africa.

    But I also want to look back for a few moments. To make a new beginning we must first look the past in the eye. It is there in our hearts, it is there in our joint history, so let us be frank about what has united us and also about what has divided us.

    We British were relative late-comers to Africa, but in the 400 years since Sir Francis Drake’s epic voyage of 1580 we have been deeply involved with this continent. Trade rather than colonisation was the reason for early British and European contacts with Africa. Benign commerce turned however into the slave trade and at the height of the 18th century into the transportation of over 6 million Africans. The British Parliament outlawed this moral outrage in 1807 and the Dutch followed 7 years later.

    As the 19th century progressed philanthropic explorers and Christian missionaries travelled courageously through Africa, but in turn they unwittingly paved the way for the harsh incursions of rival empire builders, and at the century’s end right and wrong mingled on each side in the Boer wars and left a bitter legacy.

    And yet despite these recent wounds, former adversaries from Britain and South Africa fought side by side in two World wars, in Flanders, in East Africa, in North Africa, in Europe, on the ground and in the air. We in Britain owe those South Africans – from all the country’s main communities – a great debt of gratitude. They joined us in a common cause and they were ready to make, and did make, a common sacrifice.

    Perhaps then we should have seen hints of the future. For the magnanimous spirit which brought once sworn enemies together showed the remarkable capacity of South Africans to put deep rifts behind them.

    Between the World Wars, and afterwards, we divided again. Britain cannot escape her share of responsibility for the tragedy which followed. This notwithstanding the enlightened steps which Britons had already taken in South Africa. The Lovedale Mission in the Eastern Cape, for example, had educated such influential figures as the writer and editor John Tango Jabavu. And from 1916 the University College of Fort Hare provided a platform which was in time to launch President Mandela and many other young people on their long road to leadership.

    But on the debit side of the account, the handing over of power from Westminster was tragically followed by a long period in which the majority was disenfranchised and dispossessed. These injustices have taken the best part of a century to rectify. Harold Macmillan’s clarion call sounded a clear warning but it could not prevent the isolation which enveloped South Africa for too long.

    I have confronted history frankly and with all the easy wisdom of hindsight. Just as the people’s of South Africa have had to put a great deal of their own painful history behind them, so too have the British in Africa. Neither of us should forget, we should remember so that we can learn that we should not saddle the next generation with the mistakes and mis-deeds of forebears.

    That is what the leaders of the Government of National Unity have achieved, they have triumphed over a divided history. President Mandela was a symbol of hope during the years of apartheid. He, perhaps above all, has built on the non-racial legacy of the ANC’s founders. There are many of his colleagues – Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo, Robert Sobukwe, and many others – who sadly did not live to see the day of freedom. They would I believe have been proud to be here today and perhaps in the spirit of this Parliament in some fashion perhaps they are here today.

    South Africa’s useful transition owed a huge amount to Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary partnership with F W De Klerk. Without the provision and the profound courage of ex-President De Klerk I do not believe that we would have been here together in this Chamber today. He held steadfast to his course even when the odds seemed almost insuperable.

    Likewise Dr Buthelezi, now Minister for Home Affairs, has over many years played a very prominent part in South Africa’s political life. He wrote some years ago, in 1990: “There is a vastness about black politics in which the major forces of history are at work. A new South Africa will arise as blacks and whites salvage the best and jettison the worst”. As he predicted, this has happened, and in bringing the Inkatha Freedom Party into this government he took a crucial step towards that vision of a new South Africa.

    Upon the backs of many and the wisdom of a few a new South Africa has been born. Acts of reconciliation and statesmanship have made it possible to look back on apartheid, and how old and out of date it now seems. The time that Harold Macmillan longed for has come.

    He said here in Cape Town those many years ago, and again I quote: “I hope, and indeed I am confident, that in another 50 years we shall look back on the differences that exist between us now as matters of historical interest. For as time passes and one generation yields to another, human problems change and fade.”

    He was right, they have done, and now South Africa can look forward to a brighter future.

    Let me turn now to that future. It is founded on two shining assets. First parliamentary democracy and the consent of the people. For all its distinction, its ceremony and its discipline, until this year this parliament failed the ultimate test of legitimacy, the legitimacy that flows from the consent of the governed, the majority of people who fell subject to its laws had no say in choosing the law-makers. It was a parliament in Africa but not a parliament of Africa.

    Now at last all that has changed as across the world we watch in wonder at elections as moving as they were tumultuous. People who for much of their lives languished in prison across the bay now sit here in this chamber to build South Africa as duly elected representatives of the people of South Africa. More remarkably still, they have extended the hand of forgiveness and cooperation to their former captors. Here too to play their part in parliament are those who opposed the Round Table talks yet participated in the elections for the sake of a peaceful outcome to those elections, and those too deserve credit as the new age begins.

    President Mandela spoke in April of “the dream of building a greater South Africa in which South Africans of all racial groups can work together to promote a spirit of reconciliation and of nation building.” Madam Speaker, those who sit in this Parliament, and all those whom they represent, have now joined in that great task of nation building.

    The new South Africa’s second great asset is to have inherited by far the most modern and effective economy and social infrastructure in all of Africa. We British want to work with you as you develop those efforts. Like you, we want all of South Africa’s people to enjoy the fruits of success. And I say this not as a pious sentiment but because we British have a direct interest, a very great stake, in your future. We have a stake because almost a million people of British descent live in South Africa, a huge community. Our peoples are inextricably linked in all manner of public and private relationships, in business, in cultural, sporting, scientific, military, political ties and for a great many people family affections as well. These bonds are a source of pride and confidence and I am confident that they will endure.

    And Britain has a very substantial economic interest in South Africa. British investment in South Africa has an estimated market value of between 40 – 50 billion Rand, this is greater than our investment in the whole of the rest of Africa combined, it shows the depth of Britain’s national commitment to South Africa.

    For Britain, South Africa is already an export market of the same scale as India, close to the markets of Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.

    But this is not one-way, but two-way trade. The United Kingdom is South Africa’s second larges supplier, we are also your second largest export market.

    This is a formidable relationship, but I hope it represents no more than a beginning. The global economy today is marked by the growth and dynamism of its newcomers. South Africa has great human and national resources. The potential is there, the need is there, your people are impatient for results. Yet no government on earth, however benevolent, can develop an economy with strokes of the pen. Prudent management, alertness to the challenges of the market, the acquisition and retention of international business confidence, that global economy offering hope and progress remains one of competition and a drive for success. You have achieved an historic launch towards it and you will need to hold to that momentum over the years ahead.

    Sustaining confidence, meeting in time the high expectations of your people, will come, I firmly believe, if you follow the policies of the open society, as you have set yourself to do. Policies which emphasise the individual and private initiative, policies which reward hard work, policies which encourage free choice and discourage bureaucratic meddling. Policies of competitiveness and openness, a free press and an environment for constructive criticism. An approach that will attract hard-headed investors into South Africa to create jobs, to create prosperity, to create growth, to enable those dreams that exist within South Africa to be met within the years that lie ahead.

    That is the proven approach, the proven approach which has worked in Britain, worked in the West, increasingly in the dynamic economies of the Far East, once developing and now on their way to giant success, and is being adopted also throughout the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe.

    Madam Speaker, Britain will not stand idly by on the sidelines and wait to see how you get on. We want to take part with you in this great and exciting enterprise to the furthest extent that we are able and in all the ways that you think best.

    I want to form a fellowship between Britain and South Africa, a fellowship for the future, a fellowship for reconstruction. Through business, through investment, through development assistance we wish to support your reconstruction and development programme. The British Minister of Africa and Head of the Overseas Development Administration, Baroness Chalker, is here with me today. Over the whole of the past decade her team have been developing projects in townships and rural areas throughout South Africa, planning for South Africa’s future after apartheid. As your transition came closer they stepped up their work.

    But your needs are greater now and in the next 3 years we plan to commit a further 530 million Rand. Lynda Chalker, who I know is well known to many of you here in this Chamber today, will work with your government to channel 350 million Rand into the Reconstruction and Development Programme. The remainder will be contributed through the European Union and the Commonwealth Development Corporation, and I have brought the Chief Executive, Roy Reynolds, with me today so that he can begin to examine how best that can be done as you build the future of the new South Africa.

    And I want also to develop a dynamic partnership in trade and in investment. The Chairmen and Chief Executives of some of Britain’s largest companies have come with me to South Africa and they will be taking part in a Business Round Table in Johannesburg tomorrow. We are already big investors in each other’s country. 68 British companies have made new investments in South Africa over the past four years. The Commonwealth Development Corporation is planning a substantial programme of investment for the future. And to encourage this process, President Mandela and I signed this morning an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.

    There is enormous potential for direct trade, for even closer links in finance and services and for partnership between our companies in manufacturing and in exporting. Our businessmen have known one another for years and their willingness to invest is a sign of their confidence in your future.

    Take, for example, the Columbus Project, which has married British technology, engineering and finance to South African resources and manufacturing capability and will produce stainless steel largely for export. Projects like these will generate thousands of jobs in each of our countries and my ambition is to see far more of them develop in the future.

    So do not be surprised to see ever increasing numbers of British businessmen coming to South Africa. They came in July with the President of the Board of Trade, Michael Heseltine, you might just possibly have noticed he was here, people usually do. They have come with me on this occasion, they come in every day of the week under their own steam, with no pressure from governments and no incentives. They come because they wish to and because they believe in your future. They will come next year to the “Opportunity South Africa” Campaign which we are mounting in Cape Town, in Johannesburg and in Durban. And they will come with the backing of 1 billion sterling in official export credit guarantees to smooth the path to trade and increase the relationship between our two countries.

    British business is going to grow in South Africa but partnership is a two-way process. Your businessmen are equally welcome in Britain and we provide a point of entry to the huge European market. One-half of all your exports already go to Europe, well over half of them go to companies which keep their European headquarters in Britain.

    Madam Speaker, business sometimes carries an image of big business. I am not talking only of big business; I am talking of all sorts of businesses; I am talking of small business as well; I am talking of businesses of all sorts; I am talking of established businesses and the businesses that are yet to come and will be popular and successful in the future. A very important aim of our fellowship is to help to encourage small businesses, black businesses and new entrepreneurs. Tomorrow, I shall announce steps under our Soweto Skills Initiative to provide advice for small and medium-sized businesses here and training for entrepreneurs in Britain. [Applause].

    Madam Speaker, let me describe some other areas in which we wish to focus our fellowship; these include products on which President Mandela and I also signed a new Agreement this morning:

    First, fellowship in the community. This means healthcare. We shall provide training for primary healthcare managers and we shall continue our support for the healthcare programmes of the Rural Foundation and the Alexandra Health Clinic. [Applause].

    It means helping community policing. In the run-up to the elections, British police officers became familiar figures in your townships. If they are needed and if you ask for them, they will be ready to come back to help with training, recruitment and with detective work.

    It means education, this fellowship. We can promote English-language skills at university level and the teaching of mathematics, science and English in schools, we can help with basic education for adults and distance education. The British Council is eager to play a larger role in the new South Africa.

    I believe, Madam Speaker, that sport has a huge part to play in the life of a healthy community and as an outlet for the energies of young people. South Africa is one of the world’s great sporting nations; our sportsmen and sportswomen have had memorable encounters over the years; they have had memorable encounters this year on the cricket and rugby fields and at the Commonwealth Games but your sporting opportunities are not yet evenly distributed yet and we would like to help you spread them to each and every part of your community. [Applause].

    I have brought great sporting ambassadors with me. Over the next few days they will be meeting your young people and passing on their skills and most importantly their enthusiasm and I am sure that Sir Colin Cowdrey, Sir Bobby Charlton, Judy Simpson, Rob Andrew and Alec Stewart will inspire your youngsters with their love of sport and with the experiences and the worldwide friendships that it has brought to them. Their coaching sessions are a foretaste of the initiative that we are launching to train 200 sports coaches to work at both community and at national level. We shall take a special interest in the stars of your future even though I may curse the fact that we have done so when they are scoring goals or runs against us in games they play in the future!

    Second, fellowship in farming: We would like to develop sustainable farming systems for small farmers, to set up links with agricultural bodies in the United Kingdom and to work on land resettlement.

    Third, Madam Speaker, we should develop a closer fellowship in science and in technology. There are differing skills in our two scientific communities. The President of the Royal Society, Sir Michael Atiyah, and my own Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Sir William Stewart, are with me on this visit and will be exploring grounds for closer collaboration with the scientists of South Africa. They will pave the way for a mission of British companies with technical excellence in medical research and pharmaceuticals, water treatment and food production that will be led by the British Cabinet Minister responsible for science, David Hunt, and I believe this area of cooperation can be immensely fruitful for both our nations in the years that lie ahead.

    Fourth, Madam Speaker, there should be a fellowship in public administration and between our two Parliaments. We have experience to share in the training of senior government officials at the centre and in the provinces and I hope you will agree that the members of our two Parliaments – my Parliament and your Parliament – should develop close links and should meet often to share our experiences and to plan the way ahead [Applause] with that in mind, Madam Speaker, we intend to arrange joint seminars between our Members of Parliament and yours and visits to Britain by Provincial Executive Council members.

    Fifth, Madam Speaker, a fellowship is already developing between our defence forces. Your government paid Britain a great compliment in asking us to advise on the integration of the new South African National Defence Force. You have involved us in a task which is vital to future stability and I look forward to visiting the British military assistance team on Wednesday.

    Finally, Madam Speaker, I hope that we can develop a fellowship in international affairs and within the Commonwealth. I see very little to divide us and a great deal that we will be able to do together. When your Deputy Foreign Minister visits London in a few weeks’ time, I shall propose that his talks should become the first in a regular pattern of exchanges between our two Foreign Ministries. [Applause].

    Madam Speaker, our links have deep roots in the past but what I am describing today is not about the past, it is a fellowship for the future, it is already extensive but it, too, is only a beginning. Once launched, I have not a shred of doubt that it will grow and that it will strengthen of its own accord.

    Madam Speaker, I would like for a moment to say a few words about the Commonwealth before turning to the Continent of Africa. With so many Commonwealth members in Africa, the two are of course closely linked. Apartheid, even after South Africa’s departure, struck at the very roots, the very foundations, of the modern multi-racial Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was unanimously against apartheid but deep divisions opened within it, at times they threatened the very existence of the organisation. The Commonwealth was more strongly committed to ending apartheid and very heavily preoccupied with it than any other body in the world. The emergence, therefore of the new South Africa is a particular cause for rejoicing across the Commonwealth. When Deputy President Mbeki presented your new flag to the Commonwealth Secretary-General in Westminster Abbey in July, the congregation burst into spontaneous applause; South African participation in the Commonwealth Games in Victoria was greeted with equal delight and so it was at Lords cricket ground at that memorable moment when South Africa took the field. South Africa’s re-entry to the Commonwealth, her coming home to the Commonwealth where she belongs should do more than just heal a wound, it should provide a stimulus to the Commonwealth family of one-third of the world’s nations.

    Madam Speaker, I am a dedicated believer in the Commonwealth, its values are our values, its values are your values. I hope that between us we can develop an approach to next year’s Conference in Auckland which reinforces the 1991 Declaration of Harare on good government by drawing in particular on your powerful example here in South Africa and by working together, Britain and South Africa can help to bring the very best out of this very precious and wholly unique organisation.

    Madam Speaker, let me now look northwards. The past decade has seen dramatic changes for the better in other continents and regions, dynamic economic growth across Asia, the peace process in the Middle East and in Berlin just fourteen days ago I witnessed the final act of the Cold War, the withdrawal from a once besieged city of the Allied forces which had protected it for so long.

    The end of the Cold War has given Europe the opportunity of a new age of reason, the end of apartheid has brought South Africa into an age of enlightenment. For all the traumatic conflicts and appalling humanitarian disasters which have beset Africa, I believe this Continent too has the chance of a new beginning. The last years of this century and the early years of the next century can be the prelude to a new age for Africa.

    This may strike some, the cynics who are always there, the cynics who said that this day could never have happened and that this parliament could never have met, those cynics are still out there and it may strike those cynics as false optimism to say that there can be a new age for Africa; it may for some when set against the unimaginable horrors of Rwanda or Angola, the conflict in Sudan, the devastation inflicted on millions by the unbridled violence in Somalia and in Ethiopia but think a moment! Consider this region just fifteen years ago: the bitter war in Zimbabwe sucking in the front-line state was unresolved, so was the struggle for Namibia’s independence, civil wars scarred Mozambique and Angola and you know the circumstances in your country and now after a relatively short span only Angola remains at war; there too conflict may, I hope, be moving towards an end which would unlock Angola’s huge riches.

    So how can Africa be reinvigorated? What does it need, what must be done and who can do it, who can play a role to change the life not just of a country but of a whole continent and turn the history of two centuries on its head as we look forward to a better future? What does Africa most need? Africa needs peace and peace needs a combined effort by the United Nations, by external powers with strong African interests, by the Organisation of African Unity. Too often in history, Africa’s stronger countries have been so beset by their own problems that they have been unable to give really effective help to others on their same continent. Of course, your first priority must be to achieve success within South Africa. Nevertheless, despite those immense preoccupations that you have, despite the fact that you only now together are beginning to take up that great task, you have already begun to be more active further afield in Africa. South Africa will have a powerful voice in Africa’s future councils. The whole Continent, from the furthest north right down to your own country at the south, needs a strong, a vigorous and a benign South Africa and Africa needs development. That does not just mean aid.

    Outside aid can do almost nothing without internal self-help and that surely has been one of the lessons we have learned over the last thirty years. The right conclusions are now being drawn, there is now a new mood of economic realism in many parts of Africa, market-place strategies are being adopted, difficult and painful though they may be, the courage is there and governments are beginning to adopt those strategies. No less than 29 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have chosen the hard, the difficult but the necessary and correct course of economic reform.

    Outside help can take many forms. There is of course a need and a place for development aid from multi-lateral institutions and bilaterally. My country alone provides aid to Africa worth nearly 800 million pounds each year. Debt relief is a necessity too and many African countries have benefited from the Trinidad Terms initiative which I launched through the Commonwealth Finance Ministers four years ago. But over the long term, development will come above all from trade, from investment and from infrastructure. The benefits which a free and a prosperous South Africa can bring in this way to your fellow members of the SADC are immense and they are already being felt. South Africans are trading, improving roads and air links and developing communications into the heart of Africa and some of our British companies are proud to be partnering you in that remarkable and necessary work but welcome though it is, this is just the beginning. In aid, in trade and in diplomacy, Britain would like to work closely with South Africa to turn the tide at last in this Continent in which my nation has been so deeply involved for so many years.

    Let me make to you this one final and important point. For years, more years than any of us would care to remember, our energies have been consumed in trying to limit trouble after it has started but it would be far far better – and indeed far less costly in lives and in other ways – if we were able to pre-empt that trouble before it began.

    I believe that an entirely new effort at preventive diplomacy is long overdue. With our friends in Africa and with their agreement and with their participation, Britain wants to develop new mechanisms to head off conflicts before they become unstoppable; before the bloodshed and the misery that we have seen become reality, let us see if we can head them off. We have in mind, for example, setting up regional peacekeeping cells. we need more people trained to mediate, more people trained to act as peace-brokers. We would not need a cumbersome bureaucracy – not now or in any circumstances – but a tight and properly resourced infrastructure that could best be established in Africa itself to deal with the problems that exist in Africa itself.

    These are ideas that we are developing and some of them will be put to the United Nations next week by the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, Douglas Hurd.

    Madam Speaker, with the right backing in Africa and with the right backing that I hope and believe we will receive from the new South Africa, we believe that imaginative diplomacy of this kind can help the Continent of Africa towards that elusive new age.

    Madam Speaker, to the early seafarers from Europe, this was not the Cape of Good Hope – it was the “Cape of Storms”, that is how they knew it. In more recent times it has been a Cape of political storms whipped up by the winds of change, storms which have seen many bitter and many painful events in these parliamentary buildings, in this beautiful city, throughout a country that is uniquely blessed by nature.

    In South Africa, the storm has gone. Hope, good hope, has come back to reside in your land.

    Madam Speaker, South Africa’s new beginning is bringing new opportunities, a new fellowship, to our relations and I am delighted that next year, at your invitation, Her Majesty The Queen will pay a State Visit to South Africa just as her father did before her many years ago in 1947. [Applause].

    I believe we can truly say now that we are reunited, reunited in the Commonwealth, reunited as true democracies, reunited as trading partners and as sporting rivals, reunited in seeking solutions for all the problems of Africa and united, as we have always been, in the affection and myriad ties between our two peoples.

    Madam Speaker, South Africa has come out of the storm and into the calm, out of isolation into fellowship, out of division into unity. Now you can light the way for others. You are forging a single non-racial, democratic nation at peace with itself. That is a formidable challenge for the years ahead. You will not lack willing helpers, you will not lack friends and we in Britain will be privileged to be first among them. I am grateful for your attention. [Applause].

  • Mr Mandela’s Speech at Banquet for John Major – 20 September 1994

    Below is the text of President Nelson Mandela’s speech at the banquet held for John Major, held on Tuesday 20th September 1994.

    PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA:

    Prime Minister John Major,

    Cabinet members and other members of your delegation,

    Madame Speaker,

    President of the Senate,

    Deputy Presidents,

    Dear Guests,

    I am deeply honoured to play host to you, Mr Prime Minister and your delegation.

    For the reasons that you so eloquently outlined in your address to parliament this morning, the United Kingdom and South Africa do have a special relationship.

    It may well be that in the centuries gone by, this was a relationship premised on the dictates of self-interest by the rich and mighty. It may well be that that relationship had its stormy moments over the decades – between our various communities and people.

    But that history has bequeathed on both our countries common attributes in more ways than one. Besides the fact that we are now communicating in one language, there are many positive traits, covering a wide range of areas – not least the system of democracy and culture of human rights – that inspired us over the years, and continue to be a source of reference even today.

    The Government of National Unity is truly appreciative that you have come to South Africa. Coming hot on the heels of the visit by the President of the Board of Trade, Michael Heseltine and indeed many engagements between our government representatives, business-people, sports personalities, cultural performers and others – your presence in South Africa crowns a partnership that we can now say has truly come of its own.

    You made detailed reference earlier today to the agreements that we have signed in many areas of common interest. We, in South Africa, and I refer here both to my Government and the people as a whole, are particularly thankful of the commitment shown by your government to help us deal comprehensively with the legacy of apartheid. We are impressed by your grasp of the difficult problems that we have to grapple with, and your generosity in making a contribution to their solution.

    In this way, Sir, Britain is asserting her role in the front ranks of nations that seek to help in consolidating our young democracy.

    We are committed to strengthening this relationship, conscious of the fact that both our nations will benefit tremendously from it. To this end, many issues have been broached during our discussions, including the meeting this afternoon with the business representatives in your delegation. On our part we shall ensure that all these matters are followed up and concluded.

    Our country has taken her rightful place within the Commonwealth of Nations. We saw it as entirely natural, that immediately after the establishment of the Government of National Unity, we should take this step. For, we are mindful of the many economic, political, cultural, sporting and other mutual benefits that will accrue from this relationship.

    We are pleased that Her Majesty, the Queen has accepted our invitation to South Africa and we are eagerly awaiting her historic visit.

    Mr Prime Minister,

    The attainment of democracy in our country has made it possible for us to forge a new partnership. In the long years of difficult endeavours to this end, we enjoyed the support of British people and various governments. Today, we meet at the beginning of a new dawn in our relations. And we are confident that these will grow from strength to strength.

    My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen,

    Please pray be up standing, for a toast to Her Majesty the Queen.

  • Mr Major’s Joint Doorstep Interview with Nelson Mandela – 20 September 1994

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s joint doorstep interview with Nelson Mandela, made in Cape Town on Tuesday 20th September 1994.

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    We have signed several agreements on investment, aid and on the assistance we are getting from the British Aid Team, and it was covered a wide range of issues on which [inaudible].

    QUESTION (Mike Brunson, ITN):

    Mr President, since this is such an historic day could I invite you to recall whether you heard the original “Winds of Change” speech in 1964 and where you heard it and all that has happened since then?

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    It was a very exciting speech. It was difficult at that time to comprehend the magnitude of what was going to happen in Africa and the British Prime Minister had a vision which was very altruistic and which propelled the movement for liberation all over the country, and especially in our country. And one tended to forget that in the intervening period, but now of course with the impending visit of the Prime Minister we remember that speech was a great speech indeed and I think it did a great deal to fuel the movement for liberation of the country.

    QUESTION:

    Where did you hear it yourself though?

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    I was around, you have to remember that I was around for a long time…

    QUESTION (Reuters):

    Where would you like to see the British aid money spent most?

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    It is not a question of where I would like to see. British aid has been well structured in various fields – education, military training, economic – and all these are very important aspects of our lives and I think British aid has been well structured.

    QUESTION:

    Could you tell us something about the agreements you signed this morning?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    We have signed a range of agreements. The one that the President did not mention was an agreement that we have signed for greater scientific cooperation. What we are effectively seeking to do is to work as well as we can with the new South Africa in terms of business, in terms of helping to redevelop and restructure the country in terms of the needs that exist, in terms of sharing the expertise that exists in the United Kingdom and exists in South Africa. We both have a great deal I think that we can gain from one another and the sum of the parts working together in many areas will be greater than the whole. So I think there is a great opportunity for us. I have brought with me on this occasion a very senior collection of businessmen, the President of the Royal Society, my own Scientific Adviser, a very senior educationalist, Sir Peter Newson, and of course some sporting Ambassadors. And I have brought them to illustrate the sheer breadth of the historical links that have existed between my country and. South Africa and as an indication of the areas in which we can develop and extend those links in the future. That is not an inclusive list but I think it is a pretty good start.

    QUESTION:

    Britain has slipped over the past years from 1st in the list of South Africa’s trading partners to 4th, would you like to see yourself back in first place, do you think you could and how could you achieve that?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I can give you some very good news this morning, since you say we are fourth, because we are back to second. So we are heading in the right direction and I have every ambition to see it improve.

    QUESTION:

    [Inaudible].

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I truly hope so.

    QUESTION:

    President Mandela, the British government in the past were not always the greatest supporters of the ANC, have you managed to put all that behind you now?

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    There are two ways of looking at this problem, one superficial, and the one taking account of what goes on [indistinct] I can assure you that our struggle has been unique in that it has received support from a wide range of governments, Conservative, Liberal and radical, and I think that the support we got from the British government, to which no publicity was given, has been tremendous in ensuring that some of the democratic changes that have taken place did occur.

    QUESTION:

    [Indistinct] what were the below the surface, less superficial, measures taken by the British Government to support your cause?

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    I can assure you that if I had any complaint against the British government that this would be the appropriate time to voice it, and the fact that I am doing nothing of the sort shows how grateful I am for what came to us below the surface.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I will give your questioner a practical example, if I may. Over the last 10 years or so, perhaps a practical example is actually living proof with me with Lynda Chalker behind me who has been Minister for Overseas Development for a very long time. Throughout the past decade she has been structuring assistance, structuring aid actually to help in some of the most unprivileged parts of South Africa, now that is a single illustration which many could be given and I hope it will put your mind at rest.

    QUESTION:

    President Mandela, could I ask about your relations with the [indistinct] Royal Family at this time?

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    My relations with both His Majesty King [indistinct] are very good. We all face problems from the point of view of persuading our respective constituencies to work as harmoniously together as I and His Majesty and Chief Buthelezi, we are not alarmed over any developments because we believe we have the capacity to address them and to get things to move to normalcy in the near future.

    QUESTION:

    [Indistinct] will never meet Chief Buthelezi again.

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:
    I am aware of that. The [indistinct] is an event [indistinct] not on the basis of tribal affiliation but an event which should be celebrated by the whole of South Africa. My intention to take part in those celebrations was to [indistinct] to transform what is now a tribal to a national affair. But we have not done sufficient spadework to convince the people on the ground that this is how we should handle this event. But I have no doubt that we will be able to convince everybody that we should open up this event so that it should be celebrated with the dignity that it deserves.

    QUESTION:

    Prime Minister, without wanting to pre-empt your speech this morning how will you characterise what you are going to say to Parliament here today?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I reflect a little on the past, but the bulk of what I have to say about the future, about the prospects of a wholly new age for South Africa and over a longer timescale a wholly new age for the rest of Africa as well, and I will touch on practical ways in which I think that might be brought about in partnership.

    QUESTION:

    Could you very briefly sum up for us the the importance of the relationship that you believe there is between the two countries?

    PRESIDENT MANDELA:

    The [indistinct] of our relationship can never be over-emphasised. I did indicate inside here to the British Prime Minister that our relations date from times immemorial and it is our task to strengthen them. I am convinced that on both sides that there is the will and capacity to contribute towards the strengthening this relationship. It is in the interests of both countries and our respective people that that relationship should be intensified. And I think that the Head of Government was prepared to play that role.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I think our relationships are sufficiently close for me simply to say that I entirely agree with what the President said, nothing more needs to be said.

  • PMQT – 3 May 1994

    Below is the text of Prime Minister’s Question Time from 3rd May 1994.

    PRIME MINISTER:

     

    Engagements

    Q1. Rev. Martin Smyth : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 3 May.

    The Prime Minister (Mr. John Major) : This morning, I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House, I shall be having further meetings later today.

    Rev. Martin Smyth : While congratulating Mr. Mandela and Mr. de Klerk on the success of the recent elections, does the Prime Minister share with me praise for the South African people who, in the face of terrorism, came out in such numbers to exercise their vote with enthusiasm and good manners? Is not there a real lesson for any dissident group that it cannot, by terror, overthrow the will of a people dedicated to democratic practice, especially in this nation?

    The Prime Minister : I agree very strongly with the hon. Gentleman about that. I think that the democratic elections have been an enormous success for the people of South Africa, for Mr. Mandela and for Mr. de Klerk. I am delighted that we had so many British parliamentary observers there, of which I believe the hon. Gentleman was one. I am delighted also that British personnel and police were able to help with the elections.

    I spoke last evening to Mr. Mandela and assured him of our continuing help as his Government carry forward reform and change in South Africa. What has clearly happened in South Africa, as the hon. Gentleman intimated, is that the power of the ballot box has prevailed over force of arms. That should apply everywhere.

    Mrs. Peacock : Is my right hon. Friend aware of the very great support in the United Kingdom that there would be for the introduction of identity cards, particularly if the cards could incorporate a photograph and a driving licence?

    The Prime Minister : As my hon. Friend knows, I have considerable sympathy with that view. Two examinations are under way at the moment : first, identity cards particularly in so far as social security is concerned; and, secondly, a wider look at the prospect of identity cards more generally. As I have said to the House before, there are some practical difficulties, but we are examining them to see whether they can be overcome.

    Mr. John Smith : Does not the Prime Minister think that it is a quite extraordinary situation that, even before the local government election campaign is over, a senior member of the 1922 Committee should demand, on grounds of incompetence, the resignation of the chairman of the Conservative party and the Secretary of State responsible for local government?

    The Prime Minister : Unlike the right hon. and learned Gentleman, I have not faced senior members of my party emigrating to New Zealand.

    Mr. John Smith : Does the Prime Minister– [Interruption.]

    Madam Speaker : Order. The House must come to order. [Interruption.] Why? Because if you are here you must come to order, that is why; otherwise you can leave the Chamber.

    Mr. John Smith : But can the Prime Minister tell us why he presides over a Government in which one Cabinet Minister, the Minister of Agriculture, openly condemns Cabinet colleagues for plotting against his leadership? Was she right to do so?

    The Prime Minister : The whole Cabinet is completely determined to carry through the programme on which we were elected, and we propose to do so. That means low inflation, less regulation, low interest rates, strong defence, an active foreign policy and moving Europe in our direction. There is complete unity on that matter, much to the dismay of the right hon. and learned Gentleman.

    Mr. John Smith : If the whole Cabinet is united, does not the Prime Minister think that he should remind some members occasionally to demonstrate that fact in their public utterances? While Ministers are permitted by the Prime Minister to squabble and plot as they please, is he surprised that public confidence in his Government has almost completely broken down? If he cannot control his own Cabinet, is it any wonder that we doubt whether he can run the country?

    The Prime Minister : I must say that the right hon. and learned Gentleman ought perhaps to look more closely at what is said by many members of his own shadow Cabinet and his own party from time to time. What we are in the process of doing is moving this country into a position of the most sustainable growth with low inflation that we have seen in this country for several decades. That will affect to the good the living standards of each and every person in this country and it will be as a result of the policies followed unitedly by this Cabinet.

    Mr. Ottaway : Is my right hon. Friend aware that the recent Wellcome Foundation report on sexual attitudes and behaviour revealed that 19 per cent. of Britain’s teenagers under the age of 16 were sexually active? Under those circumstances, does he agree that, where such children have been prescribed contraceptives at the discretion of their GP, there might be cases where it is inappropriate to report that fact to the parents?

    The Prime Minister : I do not think that anyone condones that sort of activity by under-age children. I think that it is the responsibility not only of parents but of other people in responsible positions to try to put sexual activity in a proper context for young people.

    Mr. Beith : Does it remain Government policy that British participation in a single European currency is not ruled out but will be decided by Parliament at a later stage? If so, how can the Prime Minister have a senior Treasury Minister who believes and states that to join a single currency would involve giving up government of the United Kingdom? Have things gone so far that he cannot sack the young pretender?

    The Prime Minister : My right hon. Friend has made it clear this morning that he fully supports our policy on a single currency, a policy agreed by the whole Cabinet of which he is a member. So that there need be no misunderstanding anywhere about it, let me tell the right hon. Gentleman what that is. We shall retain the right, confirmed in the opt-out that I negotiated in the Maastricht treaty, to make our own decision on whether to move to a single currency for Europe. That will be the subject of a separate decision by our Parliament here at Westminster if and when that decision needs to be taken, and it will be taken then in the light of our interests and needs. It will not be taken now. My right hon. Friend the Chief Secretary has made it clear that he subscribes wholly to this position.

    Mr. Jacques Arnold : Has my right hon. Friend noted that the councils charging the highest council tax band-for-band are all controlled by the Labour party?

    The Prime Minister : Yes, I had heard that, and I also hear the hon. Member for Blackburn (Mr. Straw) shouting at me, “Some £40 less.” I am pleased that he shouts that out because in front of me I have a quote from the deputy director of the Institute of Fiscal Studies who said :

    “Labour figures are misleading. The average bill may be higher not because of higher charges but because the average house is worth more”.

    Like for like, the Labour party is charging far more council tax than the Conservative party and so, although not quite so severely, is the Liberal party. However the hon. Member for Blackburn wriggles, that remains the case.

     

    Q2. Mr. Donohoe : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 3 May.

    The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Donohoe : Will the Prime Minister take a cursory glance at his own Front Bench and tell the House who he thinks Brutus will be?

    The Prime Minister : I think that the hon. Gentleman has mistaken the time of year. We are past March.

    Mr. Waterson : Will my right hon. Friend join me in welcoming the fact that, under the national health service, all patients are treated according to clinical need, irrespective of age? Thus, for example, in Eastbourne the 25 per cent. of the population who are over 65 account for 64 per cent. of the total resources and bed days.

    The Prime Minister : I am happy to accept the figures used by my hon. Friend. I am in no doubt not only that people over retirement age are given excellent treatment by the national health service but that they are entitled to that treatment as of right. They are given the best possible treatment and, where appropriate, are referred to specialists to obtain it.

     

    Q3. Mr. John Evans : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 3 May.

    The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Evans : Does the Prime Minister acknowledge that during the current local election campaign he has had a great deal to say about the levels of council tax charged by various local authorities? Is he aware of the fact that if Westminster city council had received the same rate support grant per head of population as the borough of St. Helens it would have been forced to charge £1,079, instead of £245, for a band D property? Will the Prime Minister explain to my constituents how a rate support grant system that throws up such huge disparities is not politically corrupt?

    The Prime Minister : The hon. Gentleman makes his usual assertion without any real examination of the facts. If he looks at the local authorities that lost a lot of money under the standard spending assessment this year he will find towards the top of the list Wandsworth borough council, which he neglected to mention. If he wants to know why Westminster sets the lowest council tax in England I can tell him that it is because it has tendered out more services than other councils. It saved £11 million on compulsory competitive tendering–equivalent to £110 on the council tax. The tendering of street cleaning is saving £1.8 million per year, yet the council spends more on arts than any other London authority. Those are some of the reasons why Westminster is so efficient and some of the reasons why the council deserves to be re-elected.

    Mr. Evans : On a point of order, Madam Speaker ; in view of the ineptness of that reply from the Prime Minister I wish to give notice of my intention to raise this issue on the Adjournment at the earliest possible date.

    Mr. Streeter : Is my right hon. Friend aware of the International Monetary Fund’s recent assessment of the British economy as being one of the few economic bright spots in the world? Is not this in stark contrast to the days, in the 1970s, when the Labour Government had to go, cap in hand, to the IMF to bail them out? What a difference 15 years makes.

    The Prime Minister : My hon. Friend is entirely right. Not only do we have both inflation and interest rates at historically low levels, but we have exports running at record levels and growth this year running at twice the rate in any other significant European country. This is expected to continue next year. It is a result of the policies that the Conservative Government have followed.

     

    Q4. Mr. Salmond : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 3 May.

    The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. Salmond : May this Bench join in the general celebrations and best wishes for President-elect Mandela and the new South Africa? Do the Government intend to redeem the Prime Minister’s clear pledge of three years ago that the Rosyth naval base would be sustained? Can Scotland have a yes or no answer to that question, and not more waffle?

    The Prime Minister : My right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Defence made it clear last year that the Rosyth dockyard has a programme of allocated work stretching– [Interruption.] Perhaps the hon. Gentleman will wait for just a moment. It was made clear by my right hon. and learned Friend that the Rosyth dockyard has a programme of allocated work stretching well into the next century. [Interruption.] If the hon. Gentleman shuts up he will get his answer. So far as the naval base is concerned, I can tell the hon. Gentleman that all defence bases are being examined as part of the defence cost study. Rosyth is being treated on the same basis as other naval bases. The study is continuing, and my right hon. and learned Friend has not yet received proposals.

    Mr. Dunn : Given that industrial disputes are at their lowest level for decades, does the Prime Minister agree that the reintroduction of sympathy strikes would cause a nightmare at the workplace?

    The Prime Minister : I have no doubt that that is the case. Last year, the sum total of working days lost was about 600,000. In 1979, in one month alone–January, I think–more than 3 million days were lost. There is no doubt of the damage that sympathy strikes would do. Equally, there is no doubt of the damage that would be done if our trade union reforms were repealed, and people were again encouraged to take their disputes on to the streets rather than to some form of satisfactory agreement.

     

    Q5. Mr. McFall : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list his official engagements for Tuesday 3 May.

    The Prime Minister : I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave some moments ago.

    Mr. McFall : Will the Prime Minister take the opportunity to endorse the remarks by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, who said that water in Scotland will never be privatised? In addition, will he give an assurance that value added tax will never be levied on water and sewerage charges in Scotland or anywhere else in the United Kingdom?

    The Prime Minister : I am interested to hear the hon. Gentleman say that. His party has been running a campaign referring to the privatisation of water in Scotland, yet he has just admitted that water in Scotland has not been privatised. I hope that he will now withdraw everything that he and his colleagues have been saying in recent months. They have been misleading the people of Scotland. The hon. Gentleman knows that Scottish Water is to be restructured into three new public water authorities. I hope that he will now go out and tell that to everyone in Scotland.

  • PMQT Written Answers – 10 February 1992

    Below is the text of the written answers relating to Prime Minister’s Question Time from 10th February 1992.

    PRIME MINISTER:

     

    Clearance Procedures

    Dr. David Clark : To ask the Prime Minister, pursuant to his answer of 3 December 1991, Official Report, column 94, whether those employed in executive agencies are also required to seek clearance before taking up posts with outside organisations and companies; and if he will make a statement.

    The Prime Minister : Yes, where appropriate.

     

    Iraq (United Nations Inspections)

    Mr. Flynn : To ask the Prime Minister when Her Majesty’s Government received the appeal from the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency for supplementary funds to continue the United Nations special commission on inspection in Iraq; and what response was made to the appeal.

    The Prime Minister : No appeal has been received.

     

    Nuclear Non-proliferation

    Mr. Flynn : To ask the Prime Minister what steps have been taken by Her Majesty’s Government to halt the geographical proliferation of nuclear weapons by nuclear-armed states to their military allies.

    The Prime Minister : As a depositary power for the treaty on the non -proliferation of nuclear weapons–NPT–the United Kingdom has consistently worked to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons and to encourage other states to accede to and abide by the treaty.

    Mr. Flynn : To ask the Prime Minister if he will list the actions taken by Her Majesty’s Government to support and strengthen each article, respectively, of the 1968 nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

    The Prime Minister : The information is not centrally recorded and could only be provided at disproportionate cost. In our role as a depositary power for the treaty, the United Kingdom has strongly supported the NPT since its inception, and has been consistently active to this end.

     

    South Africa

    Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister what is his policy in regard to South Africa on (a) the need for transitional arrangements for the Government during the negotiating process, (b) the continued detention of political prisoners, (c) the implementation of the national peace accord, (d) the introduction of regulations banning the carrying of weapons at political rallies and (e) the proposal to give the white electorate a veto through a referendum on any agreement reached at the convention for a democratic South Africa.

    The Prime Minister : I welcome the negotiations which are taking place within the Convention for a Democratic South Africa-CODESA. I have discussed them with President de Klerk and Mr. Mandela in meetings this month. It is for the South African people to decide on constitutional issues and any transitional arrangements.

    We have urged the release of all political prisoners throughout South Africa : more than 1,000 political prisoners were released last year.

    I welcomed the national peace accord when it was signed last year. Since then I have urged all parties to work for its implementation. I welcome all measures designed to reduce the risk of violence. The South African Government have proposed a referendum to obtain the views of all South Africans. The procedure for this is a matter for discussion in CODESA.

    Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister what consideration he has given to the National party proposals published on 5 September 1991 on constitutional change in South Africa; and if he will make a statement.

    The Prime Minister : I welcome the National party’s intention to negotiate a democratic constitution which is non-racial and based on universal suffrage. These issues are being discussed in the Convention for a Democratic South Africa.

     

    President de Klerk

    Mr. Robert Hughes : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his meeting with President de Klerk on 1 February.

    The Prime Minister : I met President de Klerk on 2 February. We discussed the constitutional talks in South Africa. The President expressed his determination to see them through to a new constitution. On township violence, President de Klerk said that national peace accord measures were in place and beginning to prove effective. The Goldstone commission was examining allegations against the South African defence force. The President explained the progress made in integration in sport, and said that unification of control of rugby should be concluded by late March. We agreed to keep up our dialogue.

     

    Dietary Supplements

    Mr. Fearn : To ask the Prime Minister who will represent Britain at the meeting to be held between the European Commission and the member Community states on a draft Council directive on dietary supplements.

    The Prime Minister : The meeting to which the hon. Member refers will be attended by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of Health. I should add that no Council directive on dietary supplements has yet been drafted : the meeting is to examine a Commission discussion paper.

     

    Pay Review Bodies

    Sir Anthony Meyer : To ask the Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the latest reports of the pay review bodies.

    The Prime Minister : In 1992 reports of the review bodies on the pay of the doctors and dentists, the professions allied to medicine, nursing staff, midwives and health visitors, the armed forces and school teachers have been published today. Copies are available in the Vote Office. The Government are grateful to the members of the review bodies for the time and care which they have put into the preparation of the reports.

    The following table shows the increases recommended by the review bodies for each group, and their cost.

    Review body |Pay bill |Range of |Public

    |increase |increases |expenditure

    |1992-93<1> |cost

    |per cent. |per cent. |£ million

    ————————————————————————-

    Doctors and dentists

    (DDRB) <2> |6.0 |5.5-8.5 |<3>314

    Nurses and allied professions (NAPRB) <2>

    -nurses and midwives |5.8 |5.6-6.0 |<3>435

    -professions allied to medicine (PAMs) |6.3 |6.2-6.5 |<3>48

    Armed forces (AFRB)<4> |5.9 |5.9-7.9 |274

    Schoolteachers (STRB)<5> |7.8 |7.5 |765

    <1> Percentages by which the awards would increase the estimated 1992-93 pay bill.

    <2> Great Britain. Northern Ireland health service pay normally follows Great Britain but is described separately.

    <3> Includes cost of staff in NHS Trusts.

    <4> United Kingdom.

    <5> England and Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate pay regimes for school teachers.

    The Government accept these recommendations and propose to pay them in full from 1 April 1992. The cost of implementing them will be met from within the public expenditure planning totals published in the autumn statement.

    The Government recognise that the cost of the health service awards could not be met in full from present health service provision without adversely affecting services to patients. The Government will therefore provide an extra £149 million from the reserve for next year. The Government also accept that local education authorities would have difficulty in absorbing the full cost of the teachers’ pay award, and have therefore decided to finance from the reserve an additional £60 million of grant to local authorities. The cost for the armed forces will be absorbed within the defence budget.

  • Mr Major’s Speech in Harare – 17 October 1991

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s speech at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Harare on Wednesday 17th October 1991.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Mr President, Your Majesty, fellow Heads of Government, Ministers, Secretary General, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a particular pleasure to be able to thank President Mugabe for the warm and friendly welcome that we have all received here in Zimbabwe. And I think in that warm and friendly atmosphere I both hope and believe that today we can see the opening of a new chapter for the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is unique, nothing like it has ever existed and nothing could replace it. It belongs to all of us and in particular perhaps it belongs to the young people who are with us today whose future we will be discussing this week.

    When we last met in Kuala Lumpur, East Berlin had just marked the first 10,000 days of the Berlin Wall. Little did the authorities realise, little did anyone realise that that wall would be breached before it was 100 days older. And I must say I had just completed the first 80 days of being Foreign Secretary, little did I realise I would no longer be Foreign Secretary 10 days later. But the world has changed dramatically since we last met. Communism has been discredited and it is being discarded. The events of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have proved that government by centrally controlled ideology is unfair, inefficient and ultimately unacceptable.

    People will not be governed indefinitely by a remote authority, people demand the right to express their nationhood and they also increasingly insist on their rights as individuals within each nation.

    In the Commonwealth we have long realised that international order is based on cooperation and that where a relationship rests on coercion then there is no basis for cooperation. Our common language is a cornerstone of our organisation but common values are even more important than a common language. Most of the world now agrees that democracy and the rule of law are indispensable to a civilised society. And since its establishment 45 years ago, the principles of the Commonwealth have been based on those values. The common law enshrined in the constitution of nearly all our members is there to uphold the impartial rule of law and our largest country is also the largest democracy in the world – India.

    Member states of the Commonwealth have not always applied the values which our organisation represents but we have always held on to those values, they represent a yardstick of behaviour for each one of us. The Commonwealth is well placed to catch the tidal wave of human rights and democracy which is sweeping across much of the world. We can ride that wave or be carried along by it, but we cannot ignore it. This meeting must set the framework for the Commonwealth of the 1990s, we must build on our existing strengths, make the most of new possibilities. But the bedrock of what we must do must be the general application of democracy and human rights. It is on that basis that we can build good government and economic prosperity.

    There is no wish to impose particular models. Different parts of the world have different traditions, different means of establishing a consensus, different institutions and different problems. Of course each society will strike its own balance between individual rights and the responsibilities of the state. But recent history shows us that stifling individual rights leads to discontent and economic failure and ultimately collapse.

    We must all meet basic standards in human and democratic rights, universal standards, not Western standards. When the Commonwealth discusses those standards the debate is not one part of the membership lecturing another, it is all part of the membership consulting, I hope also agreeing on what we should all strive to achieve. Those achievements should include tolerance of free debate and genuine democracy. That means the rights of our citizens to choose freely who governs them.

    These are the yardsticks by which increasingly governments will be judged and thanks to its traditions the Commonwealth can give a lead.
    Today President Sam Nujoma joins us for his first Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting since Namibia’s independence. For years Namibia was one of the world’s unsolved problems and seemingly some thought unsolvable. It took pressure, internal pressure and external pressure, hard negotiation and ultimately realism to bring Namibia to freedom and independence. And in welcoming Namibia to the Commonwealth we are doing more than simply inviting her to join a club. Namibia is joining an organisation which stands for certain values and which can use its collective strength to help its individual members and to wield influence in world affairs.

    In the past there have been differing views about how we should use that influence to bring about fundamental change in South Africa. But all of us have used our influence and all of us can welcome the radical changes that have taken place.

    In the last 20 months the South African government have repealed the Land Acts, the Population Registration Act and the Group Areas Act. The burden that now rests on all the leaders of all sectors of community in South Africa is a heavy one. There will be many obstacles and set-backs in the way of South Africa becoming a genuinely democratic nation. The core issue will be to draft a constitution for majority rule in a multiparty state. We can all play a part in helping South Africa to tackle the obstacles to agreement but only the South African parties themselves can make a new democratic constitution for their country and we all wish them well in that endeavour.

    But South Africa will need more than just our good wishes, they will need the help of the international community if they are to return to economic growth which is essential for the stability of South Africa and the prosperity of all the people who live in South Africa.

    At the heart of the constitutional negotiations will be the values that we and the Commonwealth hold to be fundamental. I hope and I believe those values will be carried through into a new constitution and I look forward to the day when a non-racial South Africa might want to rejoin us. And we must in any case stand ready to re-admit South Africa to the international community of nations.

    As old problems are solved so a new agenda unfolds. On the environment, drugs, anti-terrorism, health, Commonwealth members have long had a tradition of cooperation. In these fields and others Britain stands ready to help where it can. Eighty percent of British development aid goes to members of the Commonwealth.

    Next year the United Nations will hold a conference on environment and development, a unique event. So far progress in preparing that conference has been slow, there is little sign yet of real consensus as to what the conference’s outcome should be. But here I believe the Commonwealth can give a lead. We, the Heads of Government can give a practical political push to the conference process. We can help to promote the signature at Rio of effective framework conventions on climate change and biodiversity.

    These are not just buzzwords, these issues are vital. The world is still losing a tropical forest the size of a football pitch each and every second. Many of the countries of Africa are having to find a balance between the competing claims of human development and natural conservation. All of us, developed and developing countries alike, have come to realise that the only solution is to work as one to safeguard the future of the one world that we all share.

    In these hectic times the chance to talk comprehensively over a few days is rare. But it is essential if we are to understand each other’s problems and each other’s hopes.

    I know this week, under your chairmanship, President Mugabe, we will all bring the spirit of mutual encouragement to our talks here. The Commonwealth is in tune with the spirit of the times, its structures, its history and its ethos all equip it to flourish in the 1990s.

    The Commonwealth has new relevance, its way of doing things will I believe be seen as among the best ways to conduct international relations. The Commonwealth can set an example, dialogue, negotiation, the peaceful settlement of disputes – that is the way forward and the Commonwealth can set the trend.

    Mr President, under your chairmanship this week we can begin that work.

  • Mr Major’s Joint Doorstep Interview with Nelson Mandela – 16 October 1991

    Below is the text of Mr Major’s joint doorstep interview with Nelson Mandela, held in Harare on Wednesday 16th October 1991.

    MR MANDELA:

    I just want to make a very brief statement and to say that I used this opportunity to brief the Prime Minister on the latest political developments in our country. I did so because of the involvement of the British government and the British people in the struggle against apartheid. Whatever differences may be there, one thing is clear, that the British government and the British people are the enemies of all forms of racial discrimination and I was therefore happy to be able to brief him on this question.

    I also raised the question of sanctions but because this is a matter which is still going to be discussed by the Heads of State it would be improper for me to say anything about it except to say that we discussed the matter. And I sincerely hope that you will not ask me any questions on this matter because I will not be able to be forthcoming.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    Thank you very much. We have had a number of discussions over the last year both face to face and a number of telephone conversations in order to keep up-to-date with events in South Africa. And I must say I have found that extremely useful and we have had a very useful and productive discussion again today.

    We have covered all the points that Mr Mandela has mentioned. One other point that we have been able to finalise today, Mr Mandela asked some time ago whether we would be prepared to take some ANC supporters and train them for future civil service activities in South Africa in due course. We have said yes and there will be a training programme to that end in the United Kingdom. It is in the pilot stage now but it may well grow and I think it is an indication of the extent to which we wish to cooperate in practical terms in helping prepare for a post-apartheid South Africa.

    So it has been a very useful worthwhile discussion and we will remain in close touch. There will be further discussions between the Foreign Secretary and Mr Mbeki over the next few days.

    QUESTION:

    Without pre-empting your discussions can we ask what is the present British and ANC position on the final removal of stage 3?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    We are not talking about that at the moment, that has been made quite clear by Mr Mandela. We are talking about that matter privately, it is best done privately.

    QUESTION:

    Are you both in agreement and are you working together to try to get South Africa into World Cup cricket next February?

    MR MANDELA:

    That is a question which has already been discussed publicly. We have recommended, as the ANC, that South Africa, as far as cricket is concerned, has complied with all the conditions which have been made by the Cricket Board and for that reason we see no reason why we should not be readmitted.

    QUESTION:

    There are leaders here which dissent from your view?

    MR MANDELA:

    You do not expect decisions to be reached easily and overnight. The fact is that we are trying to persuade everybody to agree to take the same position as ourselves.

    PRIME MINISTER:

    On that last point, decisions were reached a couple of months or so ago at the ICC meeting about the re-admittance of a non-racial South African cricket team into world cricket. The bridge was crossed then, decisions were made then that that was the right thing to do. The only question now is when that actually commences and whether that commences with the World Cup in Australia at the beginning of next year or a little later.

    Now that is not a matter for Mr Mandela and I. If you want to know my personal view I think we have crossed the Rubicon, we have made the decision, it is the right decision, you have a non-racial South African cricket team. There is no reason to my mind to bar them from playing international cricket against other teams anywhere in the world. I would be delighted to see them play in the World Cup in Australia and I think if they do they would do very well.

    QUESTION:

    Mr Mandela, are the recent outbreaks that we are reading about in South Africa an indication that the political change in that country is not coming as quickly as some people believe that it is?

    MR MANDELA:

    We have never thought that we would be able to reach a [inaudible] overnight. The fact is that we have made progress in this regard, whatever difficulties are emerging they are emerging against some solid progress which has been in the course of the discussions between the ANC and the government and I think that is what we should hold on to.

    QUESTION:

    You are not concerned that people are saying things are all right in South Africa, you are not cautioning that change is coming but too slowly?

    MR MANDELA:

    I did not expect it to be faster than it is and I am satisfied with the progress that was made and I am optimistic that this progress is going to be maintained in spite of the [inaudible].

    QUESTION:

    Will you be in any way linking the violence to the sanctions issue?

    MR MANDELA:

    That is a question that is difficult to answer. As we exchange opinions on the matter I do not think we should try and pre-judge the issue here.

    QUESTION:

    When there is a democratic government in South Africa is Britain going to stick to the same middle policies that it has elsewhere and would the ANC and government be prepared to accept that?

    MR MANDELA:

    We believe in a multiparty system, we have made this clear, and our basic policy which we published as far back as 1955 is most democratic. There is not a single political party in the country which practises democracy as we do. In fact there is not a single political organisation in the country which involves its members in the participation in democratic procedures, we have had seminars on controversial issues and just now [inaudible] the so-called imposition of a levy which is just a succession which emerged in the course of a seminar which was never taken up. But we believe in these democratic decisions, and there is not a democratic organisation in the country which has held seminars involving its members. That is an indication of our commitment to democratic government.

    QUESTION:

    What about the issue of centralised government and nationalisation?

    MR MANDELA:

    That is a question which we are discussing. You must remember that at one time the National Party which is today condemning us for advocating some form of state intervention in the economy did also call for the nationalisation of the mines.

    QUESTION:

    Would you feel it is necessary to talk to other groups besides the ANC, President de Klerk for instance?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    We do, we do. We have maintained a contact throughout recent years with all shades of opinion in South Africa, it is necessary for us to do so. we want to receive a rounded opinion from Mr Mandela, President de Klerk and others, one cannot get a rounded opinion unless one talks to everyone. So the answer is yes we have, we do and we will.

    MR MANDELA:

    I would agree with that.

    QUESTION:

    Would you have any difficulty with President de Klerk or PK Botha coming here?

    PRIME MINISTER:

    I am not chairman of the conference.

    QUESTION:

    Mr Mandela would you have any personal difficulty with President de Klerk or Mr Botha coming here to speak to Commonwealth leaders?

    MR MANDELA:

    That is a matter which would be the subject of discussion between ourselves and with the Heads of State. I do not think we should go into that.

    QUESTION:

    Do you want to see South Africa back in the Commonwealth?

    MR MANDELA:

    South Africa really belongs to the Commonwealth and it was kicked out simply because of its racial policies. Once the political situation inside the country is normalised I would strongly support our return to the Commonwealth.