- 34 minutes ago
South African Minister Roland Lamola denounces inequality and war crimes while reaffirming the country's commitment to fight against racism and xenophobia.
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00:00Now we are going live to the United Nations because the President of South Africa, Cyril Rama Fousa, is offering
00:05statements.
00:07...significance in South Africa. We call it Heritage Day.
00:11It is a day upon which we recommit to not just a united, but also a diverse nation.
00:20A day where we reassert that diversity is not a cause for division, but for celebration.
00:27Our strength is in our diversity.
00:31In that spirit, allow me, Mr. President, to congratulate you in my mother tongue.
00:39...
00:52On behalf of the Republic of South Africa,
00:55I congratulate you on your elections to preside over the 81st General Assembly.
01:00I assure you of our full support as we discharge your important responsibilities.
01:07At the same time, Mr. President, with this being the valedictory UN General Assembly, session for the Secretary-General Antonio
01:17Guterres,
01:18permit me to salute him for his numerous accomplishments at a time of his unprecedented global challenges.
01:2860 years ago, in the chamber of this assembly, the United Nations adopted a resolution condemning apartheid as a crime
01:36against humanity.
01:37The demise of apartheid freed the people of South Africa from racial segregation and slaughter, domination and deprivation, humiliation and
01:48exploitation.
01:49But it was not only the people of South Africa who were unchanged when apartheid collapsed.
01:53The end of apartheid also marked the end of a system that exported violence and instability across Southern Africa.
02:02Indeed, the fall of apartheid is a glorious story that attests to what multilateralism can deliver.
02:10Since democratic South Africa took its place in this assembly, we have pursued a foreign policy anchored in Ubuntu and
02:18international law, dialogue and multilateralism,
02:21and in the understanding that our fate is tied to the fortunes of our region and the continent as a
02:28whole.
02:30Millions more South Africans have access to education, electricity, water and sanitation, housing and social protection than they did at
02:40the dawn of our democracy or under apartheid.
02:44We have built a united nations of diverse people, stilled in their determination to never let history repeat itself.
02:52We have built a vibrant democracy capable of self-correcting and stepping back from the brink, a democracy strong enough
03:02to withstand and resist attempts at external supervision and tutelage.
03:08After the 2024 elections, political parties put national stability above narrow interest and formed a government of national unity within
03:19two weeks of the announcement of the results.
03:23And since the dawn of our democracy, we have held no fewer than seven free and fair national elections.
03:29As we speak, South Africans are preparing once again to exercise their democratic right, this time in the local government
03:38elections on the 4th of November, 2026.
03:43Again, the will of the people will prevail.
03:47The promise of democracy and international cooperation wanes when we cannot demonstrate that they can address inequality and insecurity.
03:58Compelled by our inevitable position as the world's most unequal society, South Africa made inequality a key focus of our
04:07G20 presidency in 2025.
04:10Today, the top 10 percent own roughly 75 percent of global wealth, while the bottom 50 percent own only 2
04:20percent.
04:20This extreme concentration of wealth at the top and poverty at the bottom is neither inevitable nor insurmountable.
04:30Together with Brazil, Norway, Spain, South Africa calls on this assembly to throw its weight behind the establishment of an
04:38international panel on inequality.
04:41We know that inequality is at the heart of the rising appeal of politics founded on hate and exclusion.
04:49Across the world, citizens who have seen little improvement in their economic fortunes are tending to ideas diametrically opposed to
04:58the values of the UN Charter.
05:00As we mark the 25th anniversary of the Deben Declaration and the Programme of Action, South Africa reaffirms its commitment
05:09to confronting racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and all forms of intolerance.
05:15Through our constitution, our laws and institutions, dealing with the root causes and challenges of irregular migration, it's a shared
05:32responsibility of all countries of the world.
05:34We approach our leadership of a regional bloc that is home to a quarter of Africa's population, the South African
05:44Development Community, the Southern African Development Community, with a firm resolve to champion greater regional integration, industrialization, and trade.
05:56We want to increase trade amongst our countries so that our citizens can share in the prosperity of our region,
06:04and our economies are better prepared to absorb the shocks of unilateralism.
06:09If multilateralism works at a regional level, then citizens have greater reasons to believe it can work globally.
06:18Our governments face a difficult choice whether to meet the needs of their citizens or certify the expectations of creditors.
06:29In the last year alone, African countries spent roughly the same amount on servicing debt as it needed to close
06:37our infrastructure financing gap.
06:40This grim reality inspired South Africa's G20 Presidency to focus on debt sustainability.
06:46The Africa Expect Panel Report calls for an end to incrementalism.
06:54It supports multilateralist efforts to establish a borrower's lab, to counterbalance the power of creditors, and calls for greater debt
07:02transparency, and greater scrutiny of credit rating agencies.
07:06To us, Mr. President, unsustainable debt betrays the promise of development and destroys the prospects for democracy.
07:17With only 36% of the sustainable development goals showing sufficient progress, we are running out of time.
07:25Africa and much of the Global South need multilateral actions to free resources absorbed by debt services and redirect them
07:33towards development.
07:34We must close the financing gap for the 2030 Agenda and meaningful advanced implementation of the Africa's Union Agenda 2063.
07:44In November 2025, South Africa classified gender-based violence and femicide as a national disaster, recognizing that dealing with this
07:55couch demands exceptional measures from our population,
08:02and we require international partners to continue to fight this through technology and other means that must support our measures
08:11to fight gender-based violence in our country.
08:15Climate disasters and extreme weather patterns threatens our people, our prosperity, and our hard-won development gains.
08:25In the last year, 2 million people in the Southern African development community suffered a combined and debilitating impact of
08:34floods, cyclones, wildfires, and disease outbreaks.
08:38Our responses are severely constrained by a climate finance architecture stacked against developing nations.
08:47Global action on disaster resilience and predictable financing for a just energy transition is essential if international cooperation is to
08:57deliver for all.
09:00Our continent has the worst largest reserves of critical minerals.
09:05These critical minerals can help bridge the gap between wealth and poor nations and overcome the indignities of poverty and
09:14underdevelopment.
09:14We insist, Mr. President, that indeed Africa must have a stake in shaping the rules that govern the development and
09:23the deployment of artificial intelligence.
09:26We have a youthful population ready to play a key role in the beneficiation and source of critical minerals and
09:34research and innovations for artificial intelligence.
09:38Restoring trust in multilateralism demands that we demonstrate as the United Nations that peaceful resolutions of conflicts is still our
09:48mantra.
09:49Unfortunately, much of what we see runs counter to this.
09:52In the last two years, the world spent more on military budgets than on resourcing this important board tasked with
10:00maintaining global peace.
10:02We are reminded that meeting the SDGs by 2030, including ending hunger and expanding access to safe water and sanitation,
10:12will require not more than 5% of the US$2.9 trillion spent on arms.
10:19The results of the choice we are making is an arms race and a world as divided as it is
10:26dangerous.
10:28We see the consequences in Sudan, which is today the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
10:35We see also the consequences in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, in Iran, Ukraine and elsewhere.
10:43Humanitarian workers are caught in the crossfires of today's conflict.
10:47When they are not being obstructed from reaching civilians in need, they are being killed in the line of duty.
10:55To restore respect for international law, we must protect those who deliver humanitarian assistance.
11:02That is why South Africa endorsed the declaration for the protection of humanitarian personnel supported by nearly 120 states from
11:11all regions of the world.
11:13The President, eight years ago, the first resolution of the General Assembly called for the elimination of nuclear weapons.
11:22Later this year, South Africa will preside over the first review conference of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
11:29Weapons.
11:30As the only country in the world to have voluntarily dismantled its nuclear weapons program, South Africa stands ready to
11:39share this experience as a demonstration that, with political will, credible and verifiable nuclear disarmament is achievable.
11:48In our view, restoring trust in multilateralism will not happen without meaningful reform of global governance, principally the UN Security
11:58Council.
11:59African citizens are growing weary of their continents being consigned to the periphery of global governance.
12:08Africa is home to nearly one-fifth of the world's population, and African countries together account for more than a
12:15quarter of the UN member states.
12:17Yet over the past decade, 70% of UN Security Council resolutions have consigned conflicts on the African continent.
12:28If the future belongs to the young, then surely a continent that will be home to one in four of
12:34the world's youth by 2030 deserve a bigger seat at the table.
12:39South Africa therefore reaffirms its support for the Azuluni consensus in its call to end Africa's relegation to the margin
12:47of global decision-making.
12:50A permanent seat for Africa in the Security Council, with all the prerogatives of the permanent memberships, is long overdue.
12:58Nowhere is the need to uphold our shared humanity more urgent than in Palestine.
13:04The rights and dignity and humanity of the Palestinians cannot be treated as conditional.
13:11The State of Israel's continued violation of international and humanitarian law constitute genocide.
13:17And we remain steadfast in our view that the international community must act decisively to end this impunity.
13:24In our support of a just and lasting peace and a two-state solution, in accordance with the UN resolution,
13:32South Africa is unwavering.
13:33We are steadfast in our long-standing solidarity with the people of Western Sahara.
13:38We reaffirmed their ineligible right to self-determination and support a just, lasting, and mutual acceptable political solution consistent with
13:49international law and the principles of the UN Charter.
13:53We are also deeply concerned by the wielding of economic weapons to coerce countries into abandoning their chosen developmental trajectories.
14:03The suffering of the Cuban people should command our deepest solidarity.
14:09We reiterate our call for an end to the blockade on the Cuban people.
14:14The designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism is similarly unfounded and should be removed from that list.
14:22Unilateral cohesive measures have negative spillover effects that seriously undermine third countries.
14:31Similarly, we also call for the urgent removal of sanctions against Zimbabwe.
14:35Our current reality demands that we act collectively to protect existing international institutions of justice from sanctions and intimidations, such
14:48as the International Criminal Court.
14:50These institutions fulfill important mandates for the benefit of all humanity.
14:56South Africa leaves this podium with an important refrain.
14:59The South African nation is the creation of the heritage of the international community.
15:05South Africa today stands tall in the family of nations because the United Nations delivered on the promise of its
15:12Charter,
15:13who are a living example and legacy of the Charter of the United Nations.
15:18As member states, we must continue to support this organization, our organization.
15:25Because, as former President Nelson Mandela said in his inaugural address to the United Nations General Assembly on the 3rd
15:33of October 1994,
15:35and I quote,
15:37The millions across our globe who stand expected at the gates of hope look to these organizations to bring them
15:44peace,
15:44to bring them life, to bring them a life worth living.
15:49Close quote.
15:50I thank you very much.
15:58We are listening at this hour to statements from Ronald Otzi, Minister for International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa
16:07in the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly.
16:11He was addressing his support and the support of South Africa to the people of Palestine in the face of
16:18the genocide that has been imposed on them by the Israeli regime.
16:22He also defended as well the people of Cuba and demanded the lifting of unilateral sanctions that are being imposed
16:29as a geopolitical tool.
16:31Also made a call for strengthening multilateralism as the only path towards development for the people of Africa and also
16:38for the peoples of the Global South.