[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 48 (Thursday, April 28, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        THE VOTE IN SOUTH AFRICA

  (Mrs. MEEK of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, in the past 5 years the world 
around us has changed so very rapidly. We now have a United Europe. The 
Berlin Wall has been brought down. Nelson Mandela is not only free, but 
a leading candidate in that country's first all races election. Side by 
side, come what may, South Africans of all ethnic backgrounds--
Afrikaners, Zulu, Xhosa--pronounced Hosa--have cast their ballots on 
the future of democracy in that country. Oppressed blacks long under 
the chains of aparthied, can now chant: Free at last, free at last, 
thank God Almighty we are free at last.
  Thousands of those who fled the oppression--white and black--can now 
look forward to a brighter future in their homeland.
  During the past 3 days the people of South Africa have begun turning 
the page on a very dark history, and ushering in a new majority rule 
democracy the likes of which that country has never seen. The joy they 
feel at casting their ballots for the first time parrallels the 
feelings of joy experienced by African-Americans some 50 years ago in 
this county.
  Mr. Speaker, what we have really witnessed this week is the birth of 
a new South Africa through the wonder-struck eyes of its citizens.
  Freedom, Mr. Speaker, freedom. This week's vote in South Africa was 
about freedom. A voice to the voiceless. Power to the powerless. That 
is what this week's vote in South Africa was all about.

                          ____________________