[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 60 (Monday, May 16, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 16, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                         SOUTH AFRICA'S MIRACLE

 Mr. SIMON. Mr. President, seldom is world-shaking news good.
  But when Nelson Mandela stood to take the oath of office as President 
of South Africa, that electrified much of the world, for the good.
  Almost 10 years ago I made my first trip to South Africa and came 
away convinced that that nation was headed toward one of the bloodiest 
civil wars in history, in which millions of people would die. Few then 
would have disagreed with that analysis.
  Significantly, there were voices of reason within South Africa and 
outside of it, urging a change in policy, but they appeared to be 
muffled by the much louder voices of the extremists on both sides.
  Some religious leaders spoke out; university campuses had a few 
voices of reason in their midst; the United States and other nations 
had an economic boycott. But the chance for a real change in policy 
seemed remote.
  Two key people--one white and one black--played a decisive role in 
the miracle. F.W. de Klerk became President, someone whom many regarded 
as a caretaker leader until a more dynamic one emerged. But he startled 
South Africa and the world by freeing Nelson Mandela after 27 years in 
prison and by calling for the end of the stifling system of segregation 
in that country called apartheid.
  And Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, after 27 years in prison, emerged as a 
dignified man with one amazing, almost unbelievable trait: not a touch 
of bitterness.
  The rest you know.
  I had the privilege of being at the inauguration a few days ago, at 
the request of President Clinton, in a delegation headed by Vice 
President Al Gore and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The other 
Senator present was my colleague from Illinois, Carol Moseley-Braun.
  Those who predicted violence even at the inauguration saw a dignified 
ceremony with whites and blacks working together. Among others present 
for the event were three of the guards who kept Nelson Mandela in 
prison. He invited them. Nelson Mandela reached out to everyone, 
including his predecessor, F.W. de Klerk, asking him to serve as a Vice 
President, which he now does.
  The chasm between blacks and whites in South Africa has been greater 
than in the United States or in any nation. Yet that chasm is now being 
bridged.
  What a great tribute, not only to President Mandela and Vice 
President de Klerk, but to the people of South Africa.
  If in South Africa people can reach across huge barriers to establish 
a better society, can't it also happen in Bosnia, in Northern Ireland, 
in Rwanda, in the Middle East--and even in Chicago, Washington, DC, and 
New York City?
  We should not view the scene in South Africa as something that simply 
happens in a distant nation, but as the inspiration to all of us to do 
better, wherever we live.

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