The people of South Africa will forever treasure the courage and generosity of the Cuban people

Speech by P.J. Piitso on the occasion of the celebration of South Africa’s fredom day at the National Hotel in Havana on 27 april 2010
Your Excellency Jorge Risquet, member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
Your Excellency Salvador Valdés Mesa, Secretary-General of the Cuban Trade Union
Your Excellency Margarita Marilene González Fernández, Minister of Labour and Social Security
Your Excellency Oscar Martinez, Deputy Director of International Relations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
Your Excellency Marcos Rodriguez Costa, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Senior leaders of the of the Communist Party and Deputy Ministers
Your Excellencies Heads of Missions and the Diplomatic Corps,
Comrades
Ladies and gentlemen
On this important day, the day of celebrating 16 years of our democracy and freedom, we convey our fraternal gratitude from our president Jacob Zuma and the people of our country to the Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro, President Raul and the entire people of the Republic of Cuba. We equally congratulate you for the successful elections held to deepen, advance and consolidate your socialist democracy.
We proudly stand here today in the land of Jose Marti and our Commander-in-Chief to celebrate this momentous achievement after a period of over three centuries of super-exploitation and domination by the forces of imperialism and colonialism.
We celebrate a historical trajectory achieved through relentless struggles waged by our people, led by our national liberation movement the ANC, supported in solidarity by the progressive people of the world, particularly the heroic people of this mighty island on our Mother Earth that occupies a special place in the heart of our people.
The people of South Africa will forever treasure the courage and generosity of the Cuban people. We will always be inspired by those difficult moments of history where hundreds of thousands of your patriots volunteered and perished their souls in the cause of bringing our freedom and our better future. Our historic fraternity will remain indestructible; it will remain to be a solid bedrock born out of our common struggles against colonialism and apartheid.
That is why in rare moments like these, we should always equal the task and pay tribute to this detachment of men and women of all mankind, the soldiers for the freedom of all the people and the warriors in the struggles for a new international order. In their memory, we shall struggle hand in hand so that when we triumph, we shall be reunited with them in our freedom.
Sixteen years of our democracy and freedom is a journey we have traversed with determination to confront challenges posed by centuries old legacy of colonialism of a special type (apartheid). The legacy of confronting challenges of poverty, disease, underdevelopment and all social ills that face the poor of humanity at present.
In this short space of time, the ANC-led government has achieved decisive advances in the sphere of socio-economic development of our people. We are proud to have constructed a new society, a non-racial, non- sexist and a democratic South Africa.
Our Freedom Day celebrations express our pride in the progress we have made towards a better life for our people and a more united society. Our effort of building a new nation is taking shape but more has to be done.
That is why we will forever appreciate the hospitality of the Cuban government in accommodating and training our students in your institutions despite the harsh economic realities that have besieged you. Your qualitative investment in our human capital, especially in the fields of medicine, sports and information technology does us proud.
We appreciate the work of your volunteers, who are scattered in the remote rural hospitals and clinics of our country, assisting in the social backlogs we face and saving human lives. Their selfless contribution continues to give us hope and courage the future generations will never forget.
We are inviting you to see the miracle that Cuito Cuanavale battle has created. We are inviting you to see a free Republic of South Africa and a prosperous Southern African region. The prestigious World Cup event that will be taking place in the next few days is indeed an African event. We are sure that the millions of peace-loving people of the world will enjoy the tranquility, the beautiful escarpments, valleys, rivers and the fauna and flora of the region. From Mozambique to Angola, from Zambia to Namibia, from Swaziland to Zimbabwe, from Botswana to Lesotho, and of course, the diverse culture of the South African society.
The only thing that I can advise to the Ambassador of Ghana is that he must not talk too much, but I can only agree with him that this time the World Cup remains in Africa. I will say that, out of these beautiful African teams we have (Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Cameroon and South Africa) Bafana Bafana will take the lead.
Thank you.