Your Majesties, Your Highnesses, Distinguished Guests, Comrades and friends:
Today, all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our countryand the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty.
Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be borna society of which all humanity will be proud.
Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality thatwill reinforce humanity's belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of thehuman soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all.
All this we owe both to ourselves and to the peoples of the world who are so well representedhere today.
To my compatriots, I have no hesitation in saying that each one of us is as intimately attachedto the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and themimosa trees of the bushveld.
Each time one of us touches the soil of this land, we feel a sense of personal renewal. Thenational mood changes as the seasons change.
We are moved by a sense of joy and exhilaration when the grass turns green and the flowersbloom.
That spiritual and physical oneness we all share with this common homeland explains thedepth of the pain we all carried in our hearts as we saw our country tear itself apart in a terribleconflict, and as we saw it spurned, outlawed and isolated by the peoples of the world,precisely because it has become the universal base of the pernicious ideology and practiceof racism and racial oppression.
We, the people of South Africa, feel fulfilled that humanity has taken us back into its bosom,that we, who were outlaws not so long ago, have today been given the rare privilege to behost to the nations of the world on our own soil.
We thank all our distinguished international guests for having come to take possession withthe people of our country of what is, after all, a common victory for justice, for peace, forhuman dignity.
We trust that you will continue to stand by us as we tackle the challenges of building peace,prosperity, non-sexism, non-racialism and democracy.
We deeply appreciate the role that the masses of our people and their political massdemocratic, religious, women, youth, business, traditional and other leaders have played tobring about this conclusion. Not least among them is my Second Deputy President, theHonourable F.W. de Klerk.
We would also like to pay tribute to our security forces, in all their ranks, for thedistinguished role they have played in securing our first democratic elections and thetransition to democracy, from blood-thirsty forces which still refuse to see the light.
The time for the healing of the wounds has come.
The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come.
The time to build is upon us.
We have, at last, achieved our political emancipation. We pledge ourselves to liberate all ourpeople from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and otherdiscrimination.
We succeeded to take our last steps to freedom in conditions of relative peace. We commitourselves to the construction of a complete, just and lasting peace.
We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people.We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both blackand white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienableright to human dignity--a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
As a token of its commitment to the renewal of our country, the new Interim Government ofNational Unity will, as a matter of urgency, address the issue of amnesty for variouscategories of our people who are currently serving terms of imprisonment.
We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the worldwho sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free.
Their dreams have become reality. Freedom is their reward.
We are both humbled and elevated by the honour and privilege that you, the people of SouthAfrica, have bestowed on us, as the first President of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa, to lead our country out of the valley of darkness.
We understand it still that there is no easy road to freedom.
We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success.
We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nationbuilding, for the birth of a new world.
Let there be justice for all.
Let there be peace for all.
Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.
Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfilthemselves.
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience theoppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.
Let freedom reign.
The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!
God bless Africa!
中文译文：
陛下，殿下，尊贵的嘉宾，同胞们，朋友们：
今天，我们会聚于此，与我国和世界其他地方前来庆贺的人士一起，对新生的自由赋予光辉和希望。
这异常的人类悲剧太过漫长了，这经验孕育出一个令全人类引以自豪的社会。?作为南非的一介平民，我们日常的一举一动，都要为南非创造现实条件，去巩固人类对正义的信念，增强人类对心灵深处高尚品德的信心，以及让所有人保持对美好生活的期望。
对我的同胞，我可以毫不犹疑地说，我们每一个人都跟这美丽祖国的大地亲密地牢不可分，就如红木树之于比勒陀利亚，含羞草之于灌木林。?我们对这共同的家乡在精神上和肉体上有共同的感觉，当目睹国家因可怕的冲突而变得四分五裂，遭全球人民唾弃、孤立，特别是它成为恶毒的意识形态时，我们的内心如此地痛苦。
我们南非人民，对全人类将我们再度纳入怀抱，感到非常高兴。不久之前，我们还遭全世界摒弃，而现在却能在自己的土地上，招待各国的嘉宾。?我们非常感谢我国广大人民，以及各方民主政治、宗教、妇女、青年、商业及其他方面领袖所作的贡献，使我们取得了上述的成就。特别功不可没的，是我的第二副总统——德克勒克先生。
治愈创伤的时候已经来临。消除分隔我们的鸿沟的时刻已经来临。创建的时机就在眼前。
我们终于取得了政治解放。我们承诺，会将依然陷于贫穷、剥削、苦难、受着性别及其他歧视的国人解放出来。
我们已成功地让我们千千万万的国人的心中燃起希望。我们立下誓约，要建立一个让所有南非人，不论是黑人还是白人，都可以昂首阔步的社会。他们心中不再有恐惧，他们可以肯定自己拥有不可剥夺的人类尊严——这是一个在国内及与其他各国之间都保持和平的美好国度。
作为我国致力更新的证明，新的全国统一过渡政府的当务之急是处理目前在狱中服刑囚犯的特赦问题。
我们将今天献给为我们的自由而献出生命和作出牺牲的我国以至世界其他地方的英雄。
他们的理想现已成真，自由就是他们的报酬。
作为一个统一、民主、非种族主义和非性别主义的南非首任总统，负责带领国家脱离黑暗的深谷。我们怀着既谦恭又欣喜的心情接受你们给予我们的这份荣誉与权利。
我们深信，自由之路从来都不易走。我们很清楚，没有任何一个人可以单独取得成功。
因此，为了全国和解，建设国家，为了一个新世界的诞生，我们必须团结成为一个民族，共同行动。
让所有人得享正义。让所有人得享和平。让所有人得享工作、面包、水、盐分。让每个人都明白，每个人的身体、思想和灵魂都获得了解放，从属于自己。?这片美丽的土地永远、永远、永远再不会经历人对人的压迫，以及遭全球唾弃的屈辱。对于如此光辉的成就，太阳永不会停止照耀。
让自由战胜一切。愿上帝保佑南非!
