European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso today joined former South African President FW de Klerk and scholar Professor Njabulo Ndebele in a dialogue about the European Union’s role in global affairs, with a focus on Africa.
The discussion at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory was introduced by the Centre’s Memory Programme head, Verne Harris, who said one of the Centre’s aims was to provide “a safe space where all voices can be heard” and where people feel able to “say the unsayable”.
Commenting that in the last 20 years African conflicts had decreased by one-third, Barroso emphasised that the European Union, whose members experienced fascism and other forms of oppression and still achieved democracy, had a responsibility to help others struggling for freedom.
He remarked that when Nelson Mandela stood on the balcony of the Cape Town City Hall after his release from prison on 11 February, 1990, he greeted people “in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all”.
“When people rise and demand their dignity and freedom we must stand by them,” he said. He included the people of Libya, whom he said Europe had to help because of “a moral duty”.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso viewing Nelson Mandela’s private papers.
(Image: Nelson Mandela Foundation)The issue of Libya became a focus of the discussion during question time.
FW de Klerk, who as president of South Africa made the decision to release Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners and to unban the African National Congress and other outlawed political organisations, spoke “as a South African, an African and as a citizen of the world”. He said South Africa remained confronted by the challenges of unemployment, inequality, the failure of the education system and crime.
The future of South Africa, he said “will be determined directly by our ability to abide by the principles and values of our Constitution”. Failure for South Africa was “too catastrophic to contemplate”.
Questioned on the fact that the Dalai Lama had applied for a visa to visit South Africa to attend Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday celebrations next month, De Klerk said: “South Africa must decide on two things – Is it an open society and, secondly, does it really respect religious figures?” He added: “In an open society he should be allowed to come.”
The three big challenges Africa faced, De Klerk said, were the serious threat to the environment; poverty; and the ability to manage diversity.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barosso (centre), in conversation with former South African president FW de Klerk (left) and Prof Njabulo Ndebele.
Joking that he was “the only one of the speakers who has not had the opportunity of running a country”, Ndebele said that as well as the decline in conflict in Africa, there was also a marked spend in the growth of market economies and the spread of elected governments. He stressed the importance of civil society having a strong voice in countries.
Ndebele focused on the triumphalism of British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on their recent visit to Tripoli. “The two presidents should have thought more before they rushed to Libya to celebrate their role” in Gaddafi’s downfall. He warned that “a thing like that can have very very lasting impressions on people in Libya”.
To download President Barroso’s speech please click here.