MANDELA: The United Nations should be restructured so as to reflect the main forms of civilization in the world. And there should be no monopoly by the Western powers on the permanent seats at the Security Council. That is what is being raised, and I think it is a very fair argument. The developing countries are also saying that we must examine the distribution of resources; it is hunger, poverty and disease that make people rebel. At the same time, we must not dismiss the Western powers’ concerns -they carry the financial burden.
Totally untrue. What made apartheid a crime against humanity is that the racism was entrenched in the Constitution and the laws of the country. That was never the case in the United States. At least the Constitution prohibited, outlawed racism. It’s a vast difference. You do find racism, but that’s a vast difference.
The ANC never had a socialistic policy. In 1956 I wrote an article pointing out that implementation of the Freedom Charter would actually lead to the blossoming of capitalism among blacks for the first timein history. It was based on private enterprise. The only exception was a clause which called for the nationalization of the mines and a ban on monopolies. And we’ve learned from the experience of the rest of the world that nationalization and state ownership of enterprises has its problems.
Well, we have people here who want to take over. They don’t want to wait for five years [laughs]. The ANC’s young people would tear me to pieces; I must give way before I’m humiliated.
Most of our highly capable and experienced leaders were drawn into Parliament, cabinet and provincial structures of government. That decapitated the organization of its leadership. We lost the contact and communication with the masses that has always been our advantage.
In countless meetings before the last election I made a point that we want to better the lives of people by creating jobs and building houses and schools and hospitals, introducing electricity and clean water, building paved roads. But we warned that to carry out this program was going to take some years, even as long as five years. In the last 18 months we have done far more than the National Party did in 45 years of its rule. But the people have forgotten that. They want houses. They want jobs. They want to see. We go to them and remind them of our achievements. And I’ve gone to the private sector, to involve them, and they are helping. Now we’ve finished our planning, and delivery is coming onstream. But it requires a great deal of work on the ground, and that may affect our chances in the coming local elections.
The previous government concentrated not on suppressing crime but on suppressing the liberation movement, and tended to ignore crime. So you could understand why crime in the black areas rocketed. We inherited that situation. We need to increase the police forces. We need also to improve their pay. We came into power with the intent of cutting the police force and also cutting the numbers in the defense force. But we are now changing, because it has become clear that we won’t be able to bring down the level of crime with the present size of the police force.
Well, Mrs. Mandela is a very powerful figure. She is not to be underestimated. She is popular with young people and also with people in the squatter camps. Because of the suffering that she received when I was in jail, and the support that she gave me, she became a national figure. But it is a complete exaggeration to say that she is a threat to the organization. We accept the role that she has played and the high regard which a section of our population has for her. And I don’t think the personal issue is going to have any great effect. But as they say, in this matter silence is golden [laughs].
