Here, slightly abridged, we reprint the text of the victory speech of South African president-elect Nelson Mandela, delivered in Johannesburg on May 2.
Fellow South Africans, this is indeed a joyous night. We are delighted by the overwhelming support for the African National Congress.
Within the last few hours I have received telephone calls from State President de Klerk, General Constand Viljoen, Dr Zach de Beer [Democratic Party], and Mr Johnson Mlambo, first deputy president of the PAC, who pledged their full cooperation and offered their sincere congratulations ...
I would like to congratulate President de Klerk for the strong showing the National Party has displayed in this election. I want to congratulate him for the four years that we have worked together, quarrelled, addressed the sensitive problems and at the end of our interchanges were able to shake hands and to drink coffee together ...
I look forward to having discussions with the leaders of the liberation movements who have not been able to make the threshold [to enter the cabinet of the government of national unity] ... They have suffered together with us. I was in jail with many of them. We suffered together in the battlefield. It hurts me a great deal that they have not been able to make the threshold.
To all those in the African National Congress and the democratic movement who worked so hard these last few days and through these many decades, I thank you and honour you.
To the people of South Africa and the world ... this a joyous night for the human spirit. This is your victory too. You helped end apartheid, you stood with us through the transition.
I watched, along with all of you, as the tens of thousands of our people stood patiently in long queues for many hours. Some sleeping on the open ground overnight waiting to cast this momentous vote. South Africa's heroes are legend across the generations. But it is you, the people, who are our true heroes.
This is one of the most important moments in the life of our country. I stand here before you filled with deep pride and joy: pride in the ordinary, humble people of this country — you have shown such a calm, patient determination to reclaim this country as your own — and joy that we can loudly proclaim from the rooftops, Free at last!
I am your servant. I do not come to you as a leader, one above others. We are a great team. Leaders come and go, but the collective leadership that has looked after the fortunes and reverses of this organisation will always he there. The ideas I express are not the ideas invented in my own mind. They stem from our fundamental policy document, the Freedom Charter, from the resolutions of the [ANC] national conference and the decisions of the National Executive Committee. That is the nature of our organisation ...
I stand before you humbled by your courage, with a heart full of love for all of you. I regard it as the highest honour to lead the ANC at this moment in our history, and that we have been chosen to lead our country into the new century. I pledge to use all my strength and ability to live up to your expectations of me as well as of the ANC.
I am personally indebted and pay tribute to some of South Africa's greatest leaders including John Dube, Josiah Gumede, G.M. Naicker, Dr Abdurahman, Chief Luthuli, Lilian Ngoyi, Bram Fischer, Helen Joseph, Yusuf Dadoo, Moses Kotane, Chris Hani and Oliver Tambo. They should have been here to celebrate with us, for this is their achievement too.
Tomorrow, the entire ANC leadership and I will be back at our desks. We are rolling up our sleeves to begin tackling the problems our country faces. We ask you all to join us ... Let's get South Africa working.
For we must, together and without delay, begin to build a better life for all South Africans. This means creating jobs, building houses, providing education and bringing peace and security for all.
This is going to be the acid test of the government of national unity. We have emerged as the majority party on the basis of the Reconstruction and Development Program. There we have outlined the steps we are going to take to ensure a better life for all South Africans. Almost all the organisations that are going to take part in the government of national unity have undertaken in the course of the campaign to contribute to a better life for our people.
That is going to be the cornerstone, the foundation, on which the government of national unity is going to be based. I appeal to all the leaders who are going to serve in this government to honour that program and to go there determined to contribute towards its immediate implementation.
If there are attempts on the part of anybody to undermine that program, there will be serious tensions in the government of national unity. We are here to honour our promises. If we fail to implement this program, that will be a betrayal of the trust which the people of South Africa have vested in us. It is a program that was developed by the masses of the people themselves in People's Forums ... Nobody will be entitled to participate in that government of national unity to oppose that plan.
We are not going to make the government of national unity an empty shell. We want every political organisation that participates in that government to feel that they are part and parcel of the government machine which has the habit of accommodating their views within the context of the RDP. We do not want to reduce them into mere rubber stamps to rubber stamp the decision of any organisation, except to say that that program has to be carried out without reservation.
The calm and tolerant atmosphere that prevailed during the elections depicts the type of South Africa we can build. It set the tone for the future. We might have our differences, but we are one people with a common destiny in our rich variety of culture, race and tradition.
We also commend the security forces for the sterling work done. This has laid a solid foundation for a truly professional security force, committed to the service of the people and loyalty to the new constitution.
People have voted for the party of their choice and we respect that. This is democracy. I hold out a hand of friendship to the leaders of all parties and their members, and ask all of them to join us in working together to tackle the problems we face as a nation. An ANC government will serve all the people of South Africa, not just ANC members.
We are looking forward to working together ... We have a clear mandate for action to implement a plan to create jobs, promote peace and reconciliation and guarantee freedom for all South Africans.
Now is the time for celebration, for South Africans to join together to celebrate the birth of democracy. Let our celebrations be in keeping with the mood set in the elections: peaceful, respectful and disciplined, showing we are a people ready to assume the responsibilities of government.
I promise that I will do my best to be worthy of the faith and confidence you have placed in me and my organisation, the African National Congress. Let us build the future together, and toast a better life for all South Africans.
Lastly, I just want say, that in some areas we may not have done as well as we had hoped, but that is how democracy functions. There should be no tensions in any region in which we have not emerged as the majority party. Let us stretch out our hands to those who have bitterness and say to them: 'We are all South Africans. We have a good fight, but now is the time to heal old wounds and to build a new South Africa.'"