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Mr. President;
Deputy-President Senators;
Ladies and Gentlemen.
I stand before you fully conscious of the historic significance of this moment. South Africa has reached a watershed in the democratisation of our society.
In a matter of weeks, we expect the final constitution to be certified. And this may therefore be the last time that I personally have the honour of standing before this august body to account.
This naturally invokes sadness. But the dark sentiment is overwhelmed by the sense of joy that we are proceeding as a nation to higher forms of political relations and representation. The dissolution of the Senate is not the falling off of an appendage. It is the rebirth of a body better empowered and better constituted to take our democracy to new heights.
The adoption of the constitution and events since then have thrown up many and varied challenges. Some of them compel us to come back again and again to the question: what is nation-building and what is the New Patriotism abroad in our land! I will return to these questions in my address today because of the special role of the Senate and the future Council of Provinces;because of the implications of references to individual and collective rights in the new constitution;and not least, because of aspects of the recent Western Cape local government elections.
As we address these questions we should remind ourselves that nation-building is not something new. It has been continually forged in the struggle for freedom. Enforced division has engendered in our people a powerful urge towards unity as a condition for freedom and peace. The struggle against apartheid was an act of building unity amongst the oppressed and democratic forces on the basis of a vision of a free South Africa in which, as the Freedom Charter says: "South Africa belongs to all who live in it - black and white".
Not sufficiently recognised, but important to acknowledge as a powerful force for nation-building, is culture.
Our country has given birth to many outstanding artists, musicians, writers and performers who are celebrated for their unique.