Spring Break
Nhlapo discusses country's concerns
by Matthew Brock
News | 2/12/08
Posted online at 4:14 AM EST on 2/12/08
/ Last updated at 7:07 PM EST on 2/12/08
South African Ambassador to the United States Welile Nhlapo spoke about what his country's government is doing to improve the situation there during the annual Ruth First Memorial Lecture last Monday evening in the Hassenfeld Conference Center.
The lectures series, sponsored by the African and Afro-American Studies department, focuses on black liberation in South Africa.
First was a white Jew who was born in South Africa to two of the founding members of the country's anti-Apartheid communist party. She fought to create a democratic government in South Africa until she was assassinated in 1982 by a bomb in her mail.
"This was a person who was in many ways singular, but in many ways represented a generation," Prof. Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS) said. "This lecture that we've had for 22 years is for her memory and for the memory of all those who have died in Africa," he said.
Nhlapo began his lecture by paying his respects to First. "An occasion of this nature is a sadness because it reminds us of an assassination, but it is a joyous celebration because you can still draw inspiration from her life and attest to the fact that her sacrifice was not in vain," he said.
He commended First for choosing to reject the privileges that she was offered as a white woman under the racist regime and for becoming an "astounding revolutionary" who is still revered.
When the United Nations refused to aid the people of South Africa, First helped form the Congress of the People, which created South Africa's freedom charter, declaring that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, … and no government shall rule without people's consent," Nhlapo said.
He went on to discuss the history of the liberation movement in South Africa and the 1994 dismantling of the Apartheid. "It was no miracle," Nhlapo said, but the result of decades of hard work on behalf of South African nationalists.
Nhlapo said that bringing South Africa to the point where it is now has been a long and difficult process that is not yet complete. He stressed the importance of improving the legal system to provide a shorter wait before trials as well as a higher rate of conviction in order to reduce South Africa's staggering crime rate.
The lectures series, sponsored by the African and Afro-American Studies department, focuses on black liberation in South Africa.
First was a white Jew who was born in South Africa to two of the founding members of the country's anti-Apartheid communist party. She fought to create a democratic government in South Africa until she was assassinated in 1982 by a bomb in her mail.
"This was a person who was in many ways singular, but in many ways represented a generation," Prof. Ibrahim Sundiata (AAAS) said. "This lecture that we've had for 22 years is for her memory and for the memory of all those who have died in Africa," he said.
Nhlapo began his lecture by paying his respects to First. "An occasion of this nature is a sadness because it reminds us of an assassination, but it is a joyous celebration because you can still draw inspiration from her life and attest to the fact that her sacrifice was not in vain," he said.
He commended First for choosing to reject the privileges that she was offered as a white woman under the racist regime and for becoming an "astounding revolutionary" who is still revered.
When the United Nations refused to aid the people of South Africa, First helped form the Congress of the People, which created South Africa's freedom charter, declaring that "South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, … and no government shall rule without people's consent," Nhlapo said.
He went on to discuss the history of the liberation movement in South Africa and the 1994 dismantling of the Apartheid. "It was no miracle," Nhlapo said, but the result of decades of hard work on behalf of South African nationalists.
Nhlapo said that bringing South Africa to the point where it is now has been a long and difficult process that is not yet complete. He stressed the importance of improving the legal system to provide a shorter wait before trials as well as a higher rate of conviction in order to reduce South Africa's staggering crime rate.
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