BY BRIGID ROTHERHAM
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - "South Africans have at last won the right to determine their own destiny. Together we have fought the good fight and won in the streets, in the negotiations, and in the elections."
With these words South African president Nelson Mandela addressed a meeting of anti-apartheid activists on November 13, at the start of a visit to this country which saw thousands of people turn out to greet him, evidence of the enormous respect he commands.
The three-day state visit followed Mandela's attendance at a meeting of British Commonwealth leaders held in the city. More than 450 packed into a church that had been an organizing center against the tour of a South African rugby team in 1981. Another 100 were outside and heard his speech broadcast on a loudspeaker system.
Taking the opportunity to thank those who had participated in the campaign against apartheid, Mandela also outlined the challenges facing South Africa today.
"The war against the legacy of apartheid has just begun," he said. "The ascendancy of the democratic forces in our country has laid bare the mess that apartheid has wrought on our society. Many of our people have no real homes and they do not know where their next meal will come from.
"Within the government the consequences of apartheid mismanagement stand out in bold relief in the form of a large foreign debt, a bloated bureaucracy and other concerns.
"The ANC-led Government of National Unity," the South African president continued, "has started in earnest to deal with these problems. We have irreversibly established a human rights culture and the institutions to ensure that freedom has real meaning for ordinary citizens.
"We have started to tackle the socio-economic problems facing the majority of the people and our policies have started to make a positive impact on economic growth, inflation and investment. We have as a nation cemented our unity in the spirit of reconciliation."
Mandela was the guest speaker next day at the 125th anniversary celebrations of the Parliamentary Press Gallery. "We as a nation," he said at that event, "are engaged in ongoing debate in our country on how to give freedom of expression real meaning. If this is to be the case, people should not only have the right to hear what others say, but also themselves be heard. Only in this way can they become active participants in changing their lives for the better."
Nelson Mandela described the highlight of his trip as the rapturous welcome that he received when he visited the Turangawaewae Marae at the invitation of the Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikahu. More than 3,000 people crowded into the small North Island town of Ngaruawahia for the day.
The event included hundreds of school children lining the streets, many waving palm leaves.
Inside the marae people listened intently as Mandela explained that his delegation felt "truely welcome among our brothers and sisters.... Our two countries have much in common. Both have known the pain of conquest, dispossession, and oppression.
"As a people who have known deprivation we do appreciate your efforts to redeem a past of dispossession and social dislocation that colonization has wrought on your community."
Two Pacific independence campaigners, Oscar Temaru from Tahiti and Gowecee Moise from New Caledonia, were among those who lunched with Mandela on the marae.
He also received an enthusiastic welcome when he arrived in the capital city of Wellington November 15 to meet with the government and attend a state luncheon.
Three thousand people gathered outside the parliament buildings where he took time to greet some of parliament's waiters, security guards, clerical staff, and journalists as well as legislators.
Prior to his official tour, 200,000 people attending a fireworks concert on November 12 in Auckland, welcomed Mandela with sustained applause when he arrived as guest of honor and briefly addressed the crowd.
A collection was taken there for irrigation projects in South Africa. The New Zealand government has since announced that it will match the $NZ150,000 raised from individual donations.
Brigid Rotherham is a member of the Meat Workers Union in Auckland.