‘It was shocking’: Marcelo recalls his visit to South Africa during apartheid

President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa this Wednesday recalled his visit to South Africa as a young man during the apartheid regime, which he described as “impressive and shocking”.

The head of state spoke to reporters in Johannesburg outside the Apartheid Museum, which he visited this Wednesday with Prime Minister António Costa before meeting Portuguese expatriates and descendants of Portuguese to celebrate Portugal Day.

“This visit particularly impresses me. Firstly, because I represent a country that for centuries had its own country, a colonial empire,” he said.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that he had already spoken in the Assembly of the Republic, in which he took “responsibility for this colonialism”, with “everything that was negative”, and noted: “It is very relevant when visiting a museum that memories are here about the past in South Africa, but which are lessons for the future.”

The President of the Republic then recalled that he had spent time as a young man in Mozambique, then an overseas province of which his father, Baltasar Rebelo de Sousa, was Governor General from 1968 to 1970, and that at that time he visited South Africa, where Since 1948, the apartheid regime of rational segregation has been in effect.

“People have no idea what the apartheid regime really was. It really has no parallel with what was the colonial experience in Mozambique, Angola or other Portuguese colonies of that time, because it was a complete rigid division by race, there was no possibility of circulation in the territories,” he said.

The head of state emphasized that “everything, from public transport, schools, hospital structures, was determined by racial, and not just political participation.”

“It was so shocking even to those who thought they were experiencing the end of the Portuguese empire that the existence of such a regime seemed impossible, implausible,” he added.

Asked if it seemed to him that the wounds left by “apartheid” in South Africa had already healed, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa replied that “South Africa has become a colossus, a force with a global expression that has many regional differences” and that “integration is the process is ongoing, difficult, even because of the huge population and economic crises that have come here too.”

The President of the Republic, who spoke to reporters after the Prime Minister, individually, was finally asked about the current policy of Portugal, in particular about issues related to the parliamentary inquiry into the leadership of TAP and the recent hearings of government officials. and former rulers.

“I didn’t want to talk about it here abroad, and first of all, I reminded you that I said that it’s important to wait until July because we have the State Council and by then we will have a global perspective as well. a process that is in full swing,” he replied.

In his opinion, “since the process is underway, it is better to wait for it to end.”