Cyril Ramaphosa’s Inauguration Speech As President Of South Africa

May 28, 2019

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Read The Full Text Of Cyril Ramaphosa’s Inauguration Speech As President Of The Republic Of South Africa Delivered On May 25, 2019.

Your Majesties, Kings and Queens,

Your Excellencies, Heads of State and Government,

Chairperson of SADC and President of Namibia, Dr Hage Geingob,

Former President Thabo Mbeki and Mrs Mbeki,

Former President Kgalema Motlanthe and Mrs Motlanthe,

Former President FW De Klerk and Mrs De Klerk,

All former Heads of State and Government,

Chairpersons of the African Union and African Union Commission,

Distinguished representatives of respective countries and of international organisations,

Speaker of the National Assembly,

Chairperson of the National Council of Provinces,

The Chief Justice of the Republic,

Premiers, MECs and Mayors,

Members of Parliament,

Leaders of political parties,

Religious and traditional leaders,

Ambassadors and High Commissioners,

Veterans of our struggle,

Distinguished Guests,

Fellow South Africans,

I stand before you having just taken the oath to be President of our beautiful country South Africa.

I am humbled by the trust you have bestowed upon me, aware of the challenges our country faces, but also alive to the fact that our people are filled with hope for a better tomorrow.

We gather here on the day that the people of our continent celebrate the unity of Africa.

It is a day of friendship, solidarity and cooperation.

It is a day on which we reaffirm our common commitment to an Africa that is at peace, that is prosperous and that promises a better existence for its people.

As South Africa, we are honoured and deeply humbled by the presence here of leaders from across the African continent.

Your Excellencies,

We are profoundly grateful to you for choosing to celebrate Africa Day among us, giving further poignancy to South Africa’s transformation from a pariah state to a full and valued member of the family of African nations.

We also recognise with appreciation those countries from other continents who have joined us today.

We remain eternally grateful to all nations represented here for the sacrifices and tireless contributions by your people and governments to the liberation of our land.

Today, we reaffirm our determination to work with our sisters and brothers across the continent to realise the African Union’s vision of Agenda 2063.

To build the Africa that we all Africans want.

To forge a free trade area that stretches from Cape Town to Cairo, bringing growth and opportunity all African countries.

To silence the guns and let peace and harmony reign.

Today, we declare that our progress as South Africa depends on – and cannot be separated from – the onward march of our beloved continent Africa.

Esteemed Guests,

Fellow South Africans,

Twenty-five years have passed since that glorious morning on which Nelson Rolihahla Mandela was sworn in as the first President of a democratic South Africa.

In the passage of that time, our land has known both seasons of plenty and times of scarcity.

Our people have felt the warm embrace of liberty.

They have rejoiced at the affirmation of their essential and equal humanity.

They have found shelter and sustenance.

They have found opportunity and purpose.

As the shackles of oppression have fallen away, they have felt their horizons widen and their lives improve in a myriad ways.

But they have also known moments of doubt.

They have felt the cold shadow of a past so cruel and iniquitous that it has at times threatened to eclipse the very achievement of their hard-won freedom.

Despite our most earnest efforts, many South Africans still go to bed hungry, many succumb to diseases that can be treated, many live lives of intolerable deprivation. Too many of our people do not work especially the youth.

In recent times, our people have watched as some of those in whom they had invested their trust have surrendered to the temptation of power and riches.

They have seen some of the very institutions of our democracy eroded and resources squandered.

The challenges that we face are real.

But they are not insurmountable.

They can be solved. And we are going to solve them.

In the face of all these challenges our people have remained resolute, resilient, unwavering in their desire for a better South Africa.

Through the irrefutable power of the ballot on 8 May, South Africans declared the dawn of a new era.

They have chosen hope over hopelessness, they have opted for unity over conflict and divisions.

As we give effect to their mandate, we draw comfort from the knowledge that that which unites us is far, far more powerful and enduring than that which divides us.

Despite our differences, despite a past of conflict and division and bitterness, despite the fierce political contestation among 48 political parties in recent months, we share the same hopes and fears, the same anxieties and aspirations.

We all want our children to have lives that are better than our own, to have work that is dignified and rewarding.

We are bound together by our determination that never again shall the adversities of our past be visited on the people of this land.

This is a defining moment for our young nation.

Today is the choice of history.

It is a time for us to make the future we yearn for.

It is through our actions now that we will determine our destiny.

South Africans want action and not just words and promises.

And there will be action.

It is through our actions now that we will give form to the society for which so many have fought and sacrificed and for which all of us yearn.

All South Africans yearn for a society defined by equality, by solidarity, by a shared humanity.

They yearn for a society in which our worth is determined by how we value others.

It is a society guided by the fundamental human principle that says: Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu. Motho ke motho ka batho.

Muthu ndi muthu nga vhangwe vhathu.

Munhu yi munhu yi vanhu.

Our Constitution – the basic law of our land – continues to guide our way even at the darkest hour.

As a nation we therefore can no longer abide the grave disparities of wealth and opportunity that have defined our past and which threaten to imperil our future.

It is our shared will – and our shared responsibility – to build a society that knows neither privilege nor disadvantage.

It is a society where those who have much are willing to share with those who have little.

It is a society where every person, regardless of race or sex or circumstance, may experience the fundamental necessities of a decent, dignified life.

Today, let us declare before the esteemed witnesses gathered here that such a South Africa is possible.

Let us declare our shared determination that we shall end poverty in South Africa within a generation.

Let us declare that when we gather to celebrate the 50th year of our freedom there shall no longer be any person in this land who is unable to meet their basic needs.

That there should be no child who goes hungry.

Every school child will be able to read, and every person who wants to work will have a reasonable opportunity to find employment.

As we make this bold declaration, we are aware of the depth of the challenges we must confront.

We are aware of the debilitating legacy of our past, nor the many difficulties of the present.

To achieve the South Africa we want will demand an extraordinary feat of human endeavour.

The road ahead will be difficult.

We will have to use our courage, wisdom and perseverance to achieve the South Africa we want.

It will require an ambition that is rare.

Like our forebears who gathered so many years ago on a piece of veld in Kliptown to declare that the people shall govern, let us aspire to a future beyond the probable.

Let our reach extend beyond our grasp.

Let our gaze stretch beyond the horizon.

Let us – as we embark on this new era – mobilise our every resource and summon our every capability to realise the vision of our founding mothers and fathers.

Let us forge a compact – not merely as business and labour, not as those who govern and those who are governed – but as citizens and patriots of this great nation, free and equal and resolute.