Dear HC Matabane,

You come from a continent that is the cradle of humanity, the custodian of a wealth of wisdom and culture that allows us to look upon modernity with different eyes. Your country is remembered as the place where humanity won victory over apartheid without bloodshed. South Africa is a respected member of the International community.
When Nelson Mandela walked to freedom about 2 decades ago, that single act started a process of reconciliation and nation building. Your Freedom Day reminds us also the brutal assassination of one of the outstanding heroes of your struggle, Chris Hani, who died during the Easter weekend of 1993 but whose cruel disappearance has not diminished South Africa’s resolve at national integration.
We have an affection for South Africa; we feel tied to it by bonds of fraternity, history, heart and politics. We work with you in AU and SADC. You are our biggest trading partner, our biggest source of tourists and FDI in Africa. Our destinies are inextricably linked and our future is inseparable from yours.
You are a most looked-for partner in the international game. Proposed to be a permanent member of the Security Council as representative of the whole continent, you are solicited in IBSA and BRICS to counter the hegemony of a uni-polar world. A multi-polar world is the cherished dream of the wretched of the Earth.
Your country offers to humanity an admirable lesson in political wisdom, which owes a great deal to your own foresight and vision. The choice of dialogue and forgiveness over violence has won hearts and minds and attracted adherence to the “new patriotism” you have instilled. Through it, a nation has been born, to which forty-six million South Africans, now united regardless of their differences, feel a full sense of belonging.
The “New South Africa” has put its powerful economy and respected influence at the service of the African continent. You have also given Africa a vision of hope and an ambition—the “African Renaissance”. That project is about Africa rejecting fatalism and becoming master of its destiny again. It is about Africa choosing peace and democracy, good governance and economic growth, for the progress of humanity.
Events however, seem to be bent on testing your patience. When you are on course towards improving the health profile of all South Africans you lose a gallant son of the soil – Dr Molefi Sefularo, former Deputy Minister of Health, who passed away on 5 April 2010.
It doesn’t rain, it pours. The recent revenge exacted on Eugene Terreblanche has ignited the divisions of Apartheid, whites singing parts of your national anthem in Afrikaans while the blacks retaliating with the new version containing Zulu. But we know that your Constitution is a beacon of light globally and your leaders, committed to the concept of a rainbow nation, have not lost faith in humankind and in its future and will never be swayed by revenge or resentment and that you will successfully ride over the tide.
Your involvement with seriousness, impartiality and sensitivity to facilitate the implementation of the Global Peace Agreement in Zimbabwe has to be applauded with both hands. Since South Africa has brought about national reconciliation and democratic transition, Zimbabwe, though a hard nut to crack, will succeed too.
In coming June, you will be the destination of about half a million members of the International Football family. We are doing our share as a friend of your country. The MCB Group has offered to become the Official Mauritius Bank of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in association with Visa.
You have already given us a fore taste of what Football fans can expect by treating your first guests at the FIFA Confederations Cup Competition with first class hospitality. The FIFA Confederations Cup, regarded as a dress rehearsal for the FIFA World Cup, was a huge success and the FIFA administration, the Local Organising Committee and the authorities were able to gain a wealth of key insights for the upcoming FIFA World Cup. Everyone involved is now eagerly working on the final adjustments and improvements. It is a to be placed on record that you proved right the trust that FIFA and the football family had placed in South Africa and the Local Organising Committee.
It is flattering that the FIFA World Cup will be a financial success also with income from the FIFA World Cup South Africa reaching an all-time high. As Africans, we feel proud that this income will enable FIFA to promote football development, inspire the world through sport and use the power of football to build a better future.
On the occasion of your National Day, we would like to extend to each South African our warmest wishes for health, happiness and success. You have always overcome the challenges you have been confronted with. Every time you have emerged from them stronger. Your people have the ambition, the fraternity and the will. God Speed.
Long live South Africa! Donkie! Nkosi!
Dawood Auleear.
20 April 2010.