Jubilleum Ground, Mayfair, Johannesburg, 12 April 2009

Sheikh Chopdat,
Moulana Aslam Sulaiman,
Moulana Abdul Wahab Wookay, Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,

In the Name of Almighty Allah,
Most Gracious, Most Merciful,

I greet you all.

I am honoured and privileged to celebrate the Sultan Bahu Fete with you this year. The fete support noble causes that we should support, such as raising funds for an orphanage, to give vulnerable children a chance in life.

It is also an honour to be associated with this occasion as we know the important role that many Muslims organisations play to support the underprivileged and people in distress.

The Holy Quran, Chapter 2, Verse 215, underscores the role of community work; "They ask you, O Muhammad, what they should spend in charity. Say: 'Whatever you spend with a good heart, give it to parents, relatives, orphans, the helpless, and travellers in need. Whatever good you do, God is aware of it.'"

South Africa is a secular state where all citizens enjoy the right of worship and freedom of religion. We developed a Constitution together as South Africans, which recognised our diversity, and guarantees equality of all religions and culture.

That is the beauty of our diversity. On one weekend, Easter, we have several religious festivals and celebrations marking key moments in various faiths.

Compatriots, the Muslim community has always been part of the struggles to build our country to be a better society, free of racism and apartheid. This was a logical development as many Muslims came to South Africa as slaves and experienced racism first hand.

Many Muslims were brought to the Cape as political exiles or slaves, starting with Shaykh Yusuf, a freedom fighter and leader from the Indonesian island.

Many other Muslims were brought to our Eastern shores as indentured labour from India and Zanzibar to work on the sugar cane fields of KwaZulu-Natal.

As Nelson Mandela reflected during the celebration of Eid in 1998; "Our country can proudly claim Muslims as brothers and sisters, compatriots, freedom fighters and leaders, revered by our nation. They have written their names on the roll of honour with blood, sweat and tears".

We underline the fact that during the apartheid years, Muslims, like many other cultural groups in our country, rose to the call to unite in struggle against oppression and racism.

In many parts of the country, Muslim communities stood side by side with Africans to oppose and fight the Group Areas Act and many other racist laws.

Our struggle has also produced many outstanding and courageous leaders from the Muslim community who contributed meaningfully and sacrificed their lives so that our people could be free.

Among the stalwarts of our struggle who were Muslims are heroes such as Dr. Yusuf Dadoo a close companion of Oliver Tambo and leader of the SACP for many years, Ahmed Kathrada who was imprisoned with Mandela during the Rivonia Trial, Ahmed Timol killed by the apartheid regime in prison.

Other prominent Muslim leaders included Ismael Cachalia, Dr. Mohammed "Chota" Motala, Ebrahim Ismail Ebrahim, Fatima Meer, Dullar Omar and many others who contributed to make South Africa what it is today. We revere and honour these outstanding leaders of our people.

They have equal claim to the successes that we have scored since 1994, when our country moved into an era of peace, freedom and democracy.

Since 27 April 1994, we have built a new nation, one that all South Africans can call home, and in which the old conflicts have been consigned to history. We have worked together, black and white, women and men, to improve the lives of all our people.

In 15 years we have shown what can be done when people come together in a common effort.

We have made significant progress in tackling the apartheid legacy, building our economy and sustaining economic growth. While carefully managing public finances, we have invested significant resources into tackling poverty, meeting people's basic needs, and expanding access to education and health care.

We have built democratic institutions that serve to safeguard the rights of all South Africans. Our judiciary, law enforcement agencies and other institutions continue to be a bulwark against lawlessness and the abuse of power.

Generally we are doing well as a nation.

Our country will hold elections in a few days' time. We are confident that we have gone a long way to improve the lives of ordinary South Africans. While our government has scored many victories in many areas, we are also aware that much more still needs to be done.

As the ruling party, we have identified five priority areas for the next five years. They are the:

• Creation of decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
• The improvement of educational infrastructure and services.
• The improvement of health infrastructure and services.
• Rural development, food security and land reform.
• The fight against crime and corruption.

We are determined to deliver efficiently on all these priorities through improving the way government and public service operates. We have mentioned our intentions of ensuring a more efficient and caring public service, and ensuring the accountability of public representatives.

An area we feel we must continue to focus on and strengthen is that of promoting unity and nation building. We must also work to develop a strong common national identity. We need to develop a common understanding of what image we want to project of our country.

We must work hard to market our country and send out positive messages about South Africa to the world and to our own people, to be able to achieve the economic growth we desire, and create decent jobs. Every South African must be an ambassador of this country, regardless of colour, race or creed.

We need to cover ground lost in the last few years, and undo the negativity that was becoming entrenched. We need to begin to change mindsets about South Africa inside the country and in the world. We have a good product to sell.

We moved from one of the most inhumane systems of rule to a non-racial successful democracy. We have worked hard together to improve service delivery and have made our country a much better place.

After the elections, we will need to engage Opposition parties represented in Parliament to promote unity and patriotism. There must be issues on which we all agree, which are in the national interest.

It should be possible to have issues on which we can project a united positive voice to the world, and on which we can all put South Africa first.

The role of the Opposition should not be to shoot down everything the ruling party or government does. If it pigeon-holes itself in that role, it will become irrelevant in the important task of building our country.

A project such as the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup requires the participation of every sector of our society.

It is an example of a national task that should unite us all, in pursuit of glory and success for our country and our continent.

As it happened in 1994, South Africa will and must be associated with achievements and progress. Working together we can achieve that goal.

Thank you once again for inviting us. We trust that we will be able to continue interacting even beyond the elections. Working together, we can do more to build a better life for all, by voting ANC!

I thank you.

Issued by:
African National Congress