Good evening ladies and Gentlemen, Congressmen and Congresswomen alike, Congressman Payne, The SAWIP board members present here today, Ambassador Perry from the CCA, Mr. and Mrs. Greene, and all my friends from both SAWIP and WIP

Perhaps I should commence by reflecting on a brief history of myself.

I come from a small and welcoming town of Aliwal North. A town of ethnic, tribal and linguistic difference. However, this warmth of my hometown is but an oasis in a larger pool of conservatism, which is the province of the Free State.

This is a province highly tainted by racial intolerance. A province where individual worth is still secondary to one’s racial grouping.

In the same vein however, this is a province rich in its cultural diversity. A farming community, where hard work and perseverance have become our most treasured virtues. It is amidst these contradictions, ladies and gentlemen, that I now reflect on what has been my past.

Still, I remain a proud citizen of South Africa, a country that is, again, racially, culturally, religiously, politically and even philosophically divided … a country where wealth and destitute exist as brethren and socio-economic disparities are a norm.

It is not a secret that I come from a country with a painful and inhumane political history … a country where an entire people were subjected to the most degrading and humiliating atrocities by a system of government premised solely on the basis of absolute racial elitism.

Often, I think that the remembrance of South Africa’s history is a whimsical and lonely exercise, filled with too much self-loathing and entitlement. It is on this premise that at times I have sought to erase this painful history from my memory.

However, I look across the ocean and I see an exemplary nation that walks the same path as we do. A nation similar to ours in that it also shares a history of legalized segregation and systematic discrimination.

I look at this nation. And I stand in awe.

I stand in awe of America, for its acknowledgment of its past as a premise for devising a path for its future. For the atmosphere in this nation that is pregnant with hope again. An atmosphere that is filled with an optimistic desire for a better tomorrow.

But most significantly, I am in awe of a nation that has galvanized itself around its leadership in a unified cry for change. And, in President Obama’s own words, I stand in awe of the American people’s hunger for the message of unity, of change and of hope.

It is in this context, ladies and gentlemen, that I’m reminded of the fact that we as South Africans also once shared this profound feeling of optimism and hope. I’m reminded of a day in 1994, when the triumphant Nelson Mandela paraded through the streets of Soweto, Hillbrow, El Darado park and Sandton. This was a parade in celebration of our then new found democracy.

It is on this understanding and reminiscence that I realize I can never erase the history of our nation from memory, however prevalent the contradiction in it are.

All I can do is move on.

Move on to face the new challenges that now face us. The new challenges that we as young South Africans are anxious about in considering our future. Ladies and gentlemen, what I have in mind here is Leadership.

Here I imagine a transformative leadership. A leadership premised on sustainable democratic principles. But most importantly, a leadership that understands that preserving the integrity of our institutions is greater, much greater, than any individual’s pursuit of self-gratification.

The words of President Obama again resonate in my mind where he said that what we need is not strongmen, but strong institution.

Repeatedly, our leaders have fallen short in articulating a coherent vision. A vision that embodies and encapsulates the ideals of those they seek to lead. A vision aimed at empowering the collective, promoting individual liberties and meeting expectations.

This manifest lacuna in the quality of our leadership, ladies and gentlemen, is the reason I stand here in front of you today.

I stand here today as an example of our two country’s attempt at bridging this shortfall in leadership quality through programs like SAWIP.

President Mandela once posed the following question: What have been the fruits of my moderation?

I believe the answer to that question lies in programs that seek to build leaders. Building leaders with a global perspective and who seek to serve others with humility and integrity.

It is gentlemen like Congressman Payne and the likes that have taken the initiative in helping us meet these challenges. And I hope that others in future might want to emulate your example and assist in taking these initiatives further.

Our challenge, as young South African, is to unify a fragmented society. I believe that this can be achieved through the improvement of the quality of leaders we produce.

To close off, I would like to quote for an idiom shared by the Xhosa people in my town. It goes as follows: Ubuntu sisi dima se ndoda: (translated - humility is the only true measures of any leader’s dignity …)

Thank you

Written by Lebusa Meson and Gibson Greene