In his presidential inaugural speech, Madiba proclaimed his dream:“Never,
never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.”.
We have no doubt that the
world will honour the historic legacy of Madiba, one of the most influential personalities of our century,
who taught the world the true meaning of forgiveness and reconciliation- and steered South Africans onto the path of building a truly Rainbow Nation.
The six principles that Madiba identified as the fundamentals of the foreign policy of the new South Africa-
equal human rights, democracy, respect for international law, world peace achieved through non-violent means, effective arms control regimes and economic co-operation in an interdependent world, are the same principles that the Founding Fathers of free India had enshrined in our own policy of Panchsheel.