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University of Cape Town Graduation Ceremony

Date: 11 Dec 2006
Speaker: Secretary-General Don McKinnon
Location: Cape Town, South Africa

University of Cape Town Graduation Ceremony, Speech by Don McKinnon

Chancellor, Vice-Chancellor, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s an extraordinary privilege to share in your graduation celebrations today, and I do thank you for this invitation. 

UCT is a remarkable institution, and the reputation of its Faculty of Health Sciences is second to none. Just as for millions of others, I suppose, this place first came into my consciousness with Christian Barnard’s first heart transplant operations some 40 years ago. But you didn’t stop there…  I’m conscious of how you have transformed the racial mix in this University, and how you have grown the numbers of students doing courses in science, engineering, commerce and medicine: the skills which can transform societies.

So UCT is one of the great names in South African education. 

But my delight in South Africa’s education system goes much further than this fine institution. Tonight I shall open the 16th Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers: 1000 people; 5 conferences rolled into 1, with separate meetings of teachers, civil society organisations, businesses, government officials – not to mention hordes of media. 

I shall make it clear that the achievements in South African education in 12½ years are nothing short of heroic. In 1994 you brought together no less than 19 separate Departments of Education which existed from apartheid times. In 2006, your school leavers are the first to have spent their entire school careers in a free and democratic South Africa. This country used to exclude the vast majority of its learners: now, 98% of its children aged 7-15 are in school, and 70% of its young people aged 16-20 are in higher education or training. Those are exceptional achievements, and I congratulate you on them.

For today’s graduands, this ceremony is the culmination of years of endeavour – no doubt you have had highs and lows – moments of absolute clarity and commitment to what you’re doing, and perhaps moments of confusion and faltering as to the future, as well. Your achievements are exceptional: I am delighted for you, and I’m wishing you all the very best of fortune in the years to come. In the US, these ceremonies are known as Commencements – meaning, of course, that you’re commencing the most important journey of your lives. Your time here at UCT has given you the strongest possible foundation. 

Giving others a strong foundation is part of my ‘reason for being’ as Commonwealth Secretary-General, too. 

I am privileged to be part of this remarkable 53-nation family – that accounts for a third of the world’s population, a quarter of its countries, and a fifth of its trade.  I want you, too – you where the future lies, you who are launching into the world – to feel part of that Commonwealth, and above all to embrace its values.

Those are the values of liberty, democracy, tolerance, justice. They are values which unite nations, faiths and races; values which can inspire and unify.

They are the values to which the Rainbow Nation returned as soon as it possibly could, in June 1994. A Commonwealth spanning Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, the Pacific and Europe – uniting rich and poor, and people of every colour and creed – was the natural home of the new Rainbow Nation. I remember Nelson’s Mandela’s famous words in London: ‘The Commonwealth makes the world safe for diversity’. These are the values which the Rainbow Nation has embraced ever since, operating as it does at the very heart of the Commonwealth’s councils.  

The values manifest themselves in two things – democracy, and development.

Democracy: not just the forms of democracy, like free and fair elections; a parliament, a judiciary and an executive which are apart but work together; responsible armed forces and police; an independent and responsible media; a lively civil society. Even more so, the real culture of democracy … of citizens having a say in how they are governed.

Democracy is ‘work-in-progress’ for each and every Commonwealth member. It isn’t easy …. but it’s simply the best way we know to give individuals freedom, control over their lives, and opportunities to do better. It’s why, when democracy is flagrantly flouted, we take action. In the aftermath of its military coup, Fiji was suspended from the councils of the Commonwealth last week.

And Development.  Development that seeks to wipe out poverty, disease, lack of education, conflict – all things which are linked. Some of the world’s biggest development challenges are in the Commonwealth – like HIV/AIDS, mothers dying in childbirth or children in infancy, boys and girls not even getting to primary school, communities with no access to water and sanitation. 

And we promote development that goes even further – in opening up trade, creating new jobs and new livelihoods. 

And here I pose you new health graduands a question: what can you do – with your newly recognised skills – in the field of health?

I told you before that the Commonwealth is home to 30% of the world’s population. Yet it’s home to a disproportionate 60% of the world’s maternal deaths, and 60% of its cases of HIV/AIDS. Some of the Commonwealth’s 53 members, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, have health indicators which are standing still or even going backwards. It’s no coincidence that these countries also have health systems that are seriously under-resourced and under-staffed – a problem increasingly compounded by a workforce cut down by HIV/AIDS, and by doctors and nurses leaving to seek a better life abroad.

Wherever we are in the world, we can’t have health services without the trained and motivated staff to deliver them. Health is labour-intensive. Yes, you need equipment and medicine. But first you need people. The workforce is the most important but also the least predictable aspect of planning and managing health systems. So I’m asking you: are you called to use your skills to change the world?

Today I’d like to pay tribute to the millions of dedicated health professionals, the women and men who struggle against overwhelming odds to make the right to healthcare a reality. In Mozambique, for example, there is one doctor for every 30,000 people; in the UK, one for every 600. Health professionals everywhere don’t only confront impossible workloads: they also risk their own health. They are the front-line workers in wars and natural disasters. 

Whether you are treating HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB – or heart disease – or just the common cold – you are called to serve. Your skills are invaluable: please, use them in the service of your fellow human beings.

You have come a very long way – many, many congratulations. But the real journey begins here – and I for one wish you the very best of luck.

Thank you.

ENDS

Download the speech: University of Cape Town Graduation Ceremony

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