Speech by the City’s Executive Mayor, Patricia de Lille, at
the renaming of FW de Klerk Boulevard
Former president FW De Klerk,
Minister Ivan Meyer,
Members of the mayoral committee,
Councillors,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
A few days ago, we marked the 25th anniversary of Mr. de Klerk’s speech in
Parliament.
The anniversary of Mr. de Klerk’s historic speech is an important date for our
country.
It was from that date that the process of change and transformation began.
Transformation, the process of change, is difficult.
Given that we like to cling to certainties, we are sometimes fiercely opposed
to change because we fear that which we do not know.
This is especially difficult for a country like South Africa that is in transition,
transition from one state of being to another, transition from the architecture
of prejudice to a constitutional state of equality and freedom.
During the negotiations, there were certain principles that the liberation
movements agreed on.
The first was that the rule of law and a constitutional state was paramount.
The second was that we would have to accept in the transition that you do
not dismantle the institutions of society in order to transform it.
Rather, you change them from within and position them for a different social
purpose.
That social purpose would be redress and reconciliation, missions for which
our institutions would require the very strongest foundations.
Our entire history as a country- as a republic, as colonies, as the lands before
the colonies- had been one of division.
For a time, it seemed that history compounded itself, the prejudices of one
generation being added to the ones before it, a cycle of entrenched
animosities.
The logic of our shared experience said that it might always be so: our
positions were too entrenched; our destinies too different.
But sometimes received wisdom needs just one contradiction to be swept
away, allowing the space for new wisdoms, new realities, to be created.
25 years ago, the framework of separation was removed and the swell of
new hope, new possibilities and uncharted futures swept so much away.
Since that time, we have confronted many challenges.
We have faced the realities of our old prejudices and tried to make
something new- for ourselves and our children.
And that transformation would require every institution in society: from the
courts: to parliament; to our religious institutions; to civil society; and the world
of business.
It would require a meaningful effort to make a new future by everyone
working towards redress and reconciliation for a more lasting impact.
We have achieved the unachievable in this country.
We should remember that legacy and celebrate the principles of redress and
reconciliation.
In conclusion, after an open and transparent nomination process, the
Council has seen fit to approve the renaming of Table Bay Boulevard after
FW De Klerk.
We honour that decision today by officially marking the decision made by
Council.
Cape Town is part of a society that is still experiencing a difficult process of
historical transition.
We commit to being a city that builds a future for everyone based on the
actions of reconciliation we make in the present.
Today, we mark the next step in our journey.
Thank you, baie dankie, enkosi.