[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
[March 29, 1998]
[Pages 469-470]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks at a Church Service in Soweto, South Africa
March 29, 1998

    Thank you, Father, 
Bishop, Mrs. Mathlata; to all of my friends in the American delegation, our 
Ambassador, the South African 
Ambassador; to the AME bishops getting a 
little instruction in Roman Catholicism today. Reverend 
Jackson, thank you for your prayer. Ladies and 
gentlemen, thank you for making Hillary and me and our entire group from 
America feel so very welcome.
    And especially, I want to thank the children. Now, we're about to 
leave South Africa, and we're going to the airport. And maybe we'll be 
like the birds; we can fly. [Laughter] It takes a little more to get me 
in the air. [Laughter] But we're going to practice that.
    I am profoundly honored to be in this great house of God, which is 
also a great shrine of freedom, for it was here that you and people 
before you gathered to stand for the freedom of the people of South 
Africa when it was denied you. I came to South Africa, first, to thank 
God you have your freedom now, to thank God for the life and work of 
President Mandela and so many others, known 
and unknown, who walked the long road for so many years so that the 
people of this great nation might be free. But also I came here resolved 
to work with the people of South Africa as a friend and a partner, to 
help you make the most of your freedom. It is one thing to be free, and 
another thing to do the right thing with your freedom.
    Yesterday evening we dedicated a commerce center here to try to help 
bring American investment here, to create jobs for the people of South 
Africa, and to have more trade between our two countries. The center was 
named after

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our former Secretary of Commerce, the late Ron Brown. He wanted to help 
South Africa make the most of its freedom.
    And when I looked at the children singing today and I saw the 
children throughout this beautiful church, I was reminded that I think 
the lasting image I will take away from all my stops in Africa are the 
faces of the children, the light in their eyes, the spring in their 
step, the intelligence of their questions to me, the beauty of their 
voices. More than anything else, it is important that we help them make 
the most of your freedom, with better schools and better health care and 
more housing and safer streets and a brighter future.
    A couple of years ago the United States had the honor of hosting the 
Olympics. And on the last day of the Olympics, the first black South 
African ever to win a gold medal won a gold medal--Josia 
Thugwane. Now, it is so fitting that your 
first gold medal came in what event? The marathon. Your fight for 
freedom was a marathon, not a sprint. People who train for the marathon 
say when you get almost to the end, about 80 percent of the way, the 
pain is so great many people quit, and you have to keep working to go 
through to the end. It takes a long time to run a marathon.
    The fight to make the most of your freedom, to do the right things 
with your freedom, to give your children the right future with your 
freedom, that, too, will be a marathon. But we want to run that race 
with you.
    And so, as I leave South Africa, I would leave you with one verse of 
Scripture that has throughout my working life been one of the very most 
important to me. When you are discouraged, when you are frustrated, when 
you are angry, when you wonder whether you can make the most of your 
freedom for these children, remember what St. Paul said to the 
Galatians: ``Let us not grow weary in doing good. For in due season, we 
shall reap if we do not lose heart.''
    God bless you. Keep your heart.

Note: The President spoke at 10:37 a.m. at Regina Mundi Catholic Church. 
In his remarks, he referred to Father Mohlomi Remigius Makobane, pastor 
of the church; retired Bishop Gerard Ndlovu; Beatrice Mathlata, chair, 
parish council; U.S. Ambassador to South Africa James A. Joseph; and 
South African Ambassador to the U.S. Franklin Sonn.