Mandela points the way to a Future Free from Hunger

Click to read the full text of addresses by President Mandela, President Clinton and Joan Holmes.

Nelson Mandela, the most respected leader in the world today, was awarded The Hunger Project's Africa Prize for Leadership for the Sustainable End of Hunger at a gala ceremony in Washington, D.C., on 5 October 1994. President Mandela received the award not only for his tremendous contribution to ending hunger represented by the peaceful end of apartheid, but also for pointing the way to meeting Africa's next great challenge, its second liberation. As Joan Holmes stated in her remarks, "At his inauguration, the president made clear that his new nation now faces its biggest challenge -- to bolster the new political freedom with a program to eliminate want, hunger and deprivation."

U.S. President Bill Clinton and more than 1,300 diplomats, dignitaries and Hunger Project supporters from around the world expressed their partnership and solidarity with the people and leadership of Africa in meeting this next great challenge.

'The Africa Prize for Leadership was created to empower and support a new African leader to emerge -- a freedom fighter for the end of want, hunger and deprivation. Nelson Mandela stands out as the shining example of this new breed of leadership.'  -- Joan Holmes

 

Making an Impact in Washington

The gala ceremony was the culmination of a yearlong strategy by The Hunger Project to galvanize greater support in the capital of the world's one super-power, the United States.

For the first time, the president of a major industrialized nation participated in a Hunger Project event. "By his presence," stated Joan Holmes, "President Clinton demonstrates what he has recently asserted --- Africa matters to America. President Clinton, at a White House conference on Africa, called for the creation of an American constituency for Africa --- so that American people of every race, region and background understand why Africa matters to all of us and to our common future. Mr. President, the constituency of The Hunger Project stands ready to participate with you in this vital initiative."

The master of ceremonies was U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ronald H. Brown. In addition to Secretary Brown's leadership of U.S. international trade, he is a visionary leader for America's partnership with Africa.

The prize was presented by Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, former U.N. Secretary-General and chair of the international jury. Also seated at the dais were Hunger Project Global Board member Queen Noor of Jordan; Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Chief Emeka Anyaoku; and former foreign minister of Japan and member of the Africa Prize international jury, Koji Kakizawa, the leader who worked with The Hunger Project to create the new Japanese parliamentary Caucus for the End of World Hunger.

In the audience were distinguished civil rights leaders active in the struggle against apartheid, including Coretta Scott King, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Julian Bond and Donald McHenry. Among the many members of Congress in attendance were Senator Paul Simon and the leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus. Diplomats from 103 countries were present, including the foreign ministers of South Africa and Burkina Faso. Charlayne Hunter-Gault, mistress of ceremonies of the Africa Prize announcement teleconference for five consecutive years, also attended.

The event was widely covered by the media, including CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post and the NBC Today Show.

'We are convinced that, as elsewhere in Africa, it is well within our means and capabilities to eliminate scourges such as poverty, lack of housing and hunger. We are determined to do so.'  -- President Nelson Mandela

Agenda for the End of Hunger

President Mandela stated that night, "We in South Africa know too well that our newly won freedom would amount to naught if it did not entail fundamental socioeconomic changes to address and remove the legacy of poverty and deprivation bequeathed by apartheid. The broad goals of reconstruction and development are at the center of a national consensus which informs our government of national unity. We will be pursuing those goals with the same commitment which inspired us during the years of struggle against apartheid."

Speakers praised President Mandela's program for the future. Joan Holmes stated, "The Africa Prize for Leadership was created to empower and support a new African leader to emerge -- a freedom fighter for the end of want, hunger and deprivation. Nelson Mandela stands out as the shining example of this new breed of leadership. His agenda for action includes:

• universal access to primary health and education
• new income-earning opportunities
• empowerment of women
• upliftment of the rural areas

This is an agenda to ensure that every child, woman and man has the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life. This is an agenda for the end of hunger."

Excerpts: President Mandela

The Reconstruction and Development Program involves a total transformation of our society. For that reason it needs a partnership of all sectors of the community and joint strategies for dynamic and sustained economic growth. We are committed to fiscal stability and careful use of our national resources. We are convinced that, as elsewhere in Africa, it is well within our means and capabilities to eliminate scourges such as poverty, lack of housing and hunger. We are determined to do so.

Conservative estimates indicate that some 18 million South Africans are presently living below the bread line. This cannot be allowed to continue. Our Reconstruction and Development Program sets a time frame of three years within which to meet the challenge of providing every South African with basic daily nutritional requirements. Great as this challenge is, we are confident that we will succeed. I am pleased to report that we have already begun a program catering to the basic food needs of millions of children undergoing primary education. The contribution of this scheme to children's development and to the culture of learning cannot be overemphasized.

I would like to conclude by referring to the challenge facing Africa in relieving hunger. We in Africa know that we have it in our power to better our own lives. I am positive and confident about the new spirit abroad on our continent to face these issues squarely and to tackle them honestly. Then Africans will be able to walk tall, not as beggars with begging bowl in hand, but as free and prosperous nations.

I wish The Hunger Project every success in the challenges you face and sincerely hope that you continue to make an even greater practical impact in your efforts.

I love each and every one of you. You are my brothers and sisters. You are my children, my grandchildren. I sincerely wish I was carrying big pockets with me that I could put all of you in my pocket and take you back to South Africa. You are citizens of the most powerful state in the world. You have a dynamic and highly competent president. You are poised to play a decisive role in world affairs, and in helping the developing countries. I have no doubt that you will live up to expectations. May God bless you and your future endeavors.

 

Excerpts: President Clinton

I am honored to be here with you tonight because of this award you have given so deservingly to the president. Clearly, as South Africans go forward they face many, many challenges: the legacy of over three centuries of apartheid, the challenge of illiteracy, the challenge of homelessness, the challenge of joblessness, the challenge to improve the health care system. But one of the most profound challenges, clearly, is the challenge of hunger.

Perhaps America's greatest champion of this cause in recent history was the late Congressman Mickey Leland, who was a great friend of mine. He was once asked what a guy from Texas was doing spending so much time trying to end hunger in Africa. And he said, "I'm as much a citizen of this world as I am of my country."

Clearly that applies with equal force with many of you here tonight. It explains why you are so devoted to this project, and why your work is so important. Your programs have made us more aware of the persistence of starvation in all corners of the globe. Already you are helping people in more than 25 nations to help themselves to end their hunger. And as you say in your prize, "on a sustainable basis." The United States is in your debt for your work.

Now President Mandela, having won the victory of freedom, must see that it bears fruit. And all of us must do what we can to see that he succeeds. In my meetings with President Mandela this week we outlined the steps we would take to increase our strong support for South Africa, including helping to fight the problem of hunger. We will support South Africa's plans for nutrition programs, for school lunch programs, for land reforms, for expansion of clean water and sanitation efforts, for rural development. Peace Corps volunteers will help to provide assistance with agriculture and food production projects.

We know that the people of America must act on the pride and the stirrings that were awakened in us by what has occurred in South Africa. We know that we cannot confine our attention to South Africa alone -- that we have for too long in this nation ignored the vast potential, as well as the solvable problems, of the African continent.

Let me close with this thought. Perhaps Nelson Mandela's most remarkable achievement was that he spent 27 years as a prisoner and came out the freest of all people. This morning I awoke before dawn thinking about the meeting we would have today, and I asked God to free me of all the petty resentments and negative thoughts, all the things that crowd in on all of us who believe from time to time that life is not exactly as it should be and get frustrated when we cannot make it that way. Neither I nor anyone else I have ever known has ever faced the spiritual crisis you must have faced so many times, and with each succeeding week and month and year you reached deeper and deeper and deeper in yourself for the ultimate truth. As you have fed your spirit, let us feed the world.