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!
中文譯文：
陛下，殿下，尊貴的嘉賓，同胞們，朋友們：
今天，我們會聚於此，與我國和世界其他地方前來慶賀的人士一起，對新生的自由賦予光輝和希望。
這異常的人類悲劇太過漫長了，這經驗孕育出一個令全人類引以自豪的社會。?作為南非的一介平民，我們日常的一舉一動，都要為南非創造現實條件，去鞏固人類對正義的信念，增強人類對心靈深處高尚品德的信心，以及讓所有人保持對美好生活的期望。
對我的同胞，我可以毫不猶疑地說，我們每一個人都跟這美麗祖國的大地親密地牢不可分，就如紅木樹之於比勒陀利亞，含羞草之於灌木林。?我們對這共同的家鄉在精神上和肉體上有共同的感覺，當目睹國家因可怕的衝突而變得四分五裂，遭全球人民唾棄、孤立，特別是它成為惡毒的意識形態時，我們的內心如此地痛苦。
我們南非人民，對全人類將我們再度納入懷抱，感到非常高興。不久之前，我們還遭全世界摒棄，而現在卻能在自己的土地上，招待各國的嘉賓。?我們非常感謝我國廣大人民，以及各方民主政治、宗教、婦女、青年、商業及其他方面領袖所作的貢獻，使我們取得了上述的成就。特別功不可沒的，是我的第二副總統——德克勒克先生。
治癒創傷的時候已經來臨。消除分隔我們的鴻溝的時刻已經來臨。創建的時機就在眼前。
我們終於取得了政治解放。我們承諾，會將依然陷於貧窮、剝削、苦難、受著性別及其他歧視的國人解放出來。
我們已成功地讓我們千千萬萬的國人的心中燃起希望。我們立下誓約，要建立一個讓所有南非人，不論是黑人還是白人，都可以昂首闊步的社會。他們心中不再有恐懼，他們可以肯定自己擁有不可剝奪的人類尊嚴——這是一個在國內及與其他各國之間都保持和平的美好國度。
作為我國致力更新的證明，新的全國統一過渡政府的當務之急是處理目前在獄中服刑囚犯的特赦問題。
我們將今天獻給為我們的自由而獻出生命和作出犧牲的我國以至世界其他地方的英雄。
他們的理想現已成真，自由就是他們的報酬。
作為一個統一、民主、非種族主義和非性別主義的南非首任總統，負責帶領國家脫離黑暗的深谷。我們懷著既謙恭又欣喜的心情接受你們給予我們的這份榮譽與權利。
我們深信，自由之路從來都不易走。我們很清楚，沒有任何一個人可以單獨取得成功。
因此，為了全國和解，建設國家，為了一個新世界的誕生，我們必須團結成為一個民族，共同行動。
讓所有人得享正義。讓所有人得享和平。讓所有人得享工作、麵包、水、鹽分。讓每個人都明白，每個人的身體、思想和靈魂都獲得了解放，從屬於自己。?這片美麗的土地永遠、永遠、永遠再不會經歷人對人的壓迫，以及遭全球唾棄的屈辱。對於如此光輝的成就，太陽永不會停止照耀。
讓自由戰勝一切。願上帝保佑南非!