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Embrace dialogue, change and tolerance
H.E. Mr Sten Rylander, Swedish Ambassador to Zimbabwe
June 06, 2006

Honourable Ministers,
Honourable Members of Parliament,
Dear Colleagues in the International Diplomatic Corp,
Dear Friends and Invited Guests,
Kära svenskar,

I would like to warmly welcome all of you to this National Day reception at the Swedish Residence, the first one since my arrival in Zimbabwe in January this year. I am very happy that I can celebrate it with you all together with my dear wife Berit, who I have missed so much and who came here to stay more definitely just a few days ago. I am always at a loss without my strong partner and best friend for almost 45 years. With her at my side as my "spirit medium" I am sure that I can be better protected against "spin doctors" and other dangers you are sometimes confronted with here in Zimbabwe.

Most of you have been here before in connection with previous National Day celebrations. You will recognize some of the Swedish specialties on the food tables – arranged by our famous cook James and his team. But a new thing that we can really recommend to you this year is smoked Reindeer meat, brought to you straight from Sweden together with one of our few internationally known cheeses from Västerbotten in the North. Please try them. And for the daring ones – please also try our famous hard liquor right below the Swedish flag over there. But beware – it is very strong; after one or two of those your work capacity might be considerably reduced.

Let me extend a special welcome to some guests here today. First on the entertainment side you have been listening to "The Queens" from Bulawayo. I met them in March during a visit to Bulawayo and saw them practising at the Amakhosi Cultural Centre. It was easy to take a decision on the spot to bring them to our National Day reception for all of you to enjoy. Gender is involved here and one of the points they are making is to emphasize that Bulawayo is not only the City of Kings or of Blues. But it is also a city full of fascinating Queens.

A special welcome of course to Ambassador Bhima who is officially representing the Zimbabwean government here today. I had hoped to be able to recognize the presence of one of the Government Ministers who knows us very well: Sydney Sekeremayi, who lived and studied in Sweden for several years in the 1960s and who still speaks good Swedish. He was also very much part of the past between Sweden and Zimbabweans with solidarity, support and interaction during the liberation struggle; a past that we should always remember and not loose sight of. I know Sydney Sekeremayi would have liked to be here today but he informed us this morning that he could not because of an important cabinet meeting.

Other special guests being here with us today today are some of our oldest and best friends in Zimbabwe: Ibbo Mandaza, who keeps on reminding people surrounding him about the blunt realities on the ground, Simba Makoni – one of the toughest and most skilfull negotiators that I have ever come across (during his ten years at the helm of SADC) and Margaret Dongo, who – in spite of everything - is such a good role model for leaders in Zimbabwe with her deep commitment to the nation and to development in the country. – Let me add that I am very happy to see so many representatives from the civil society here today: among them Arnold Tsunga. Once again congratulations for having received, just recently, the very prestigeous and internationally recognized Martin Ennals Award for the work you do to promote democracy and human rights.

6 June is maybe not quite the same as 17 May. Our friends and neighbours in Norway can never stop celebrating their freedom in an over-joyous way; a freedom they attained as late as 1905 when they got rid of the Union with Sweden. But we are also very proud of our national day, which has specific historic roots. Almost 500 years ago we had big problems with our Southern neighbours in Denmark. They had a ruthless King at the time – the Danes call him Christian the Good or the Great; we call him Christian the Tyrant – who invaded Sweden and killed many prominent Swedes in something we refer to as the Stockholm bloodbath. This led to the situation where Gustav Vasa – the Mwalimu of Sweden – mobilized farmers in the province of Darlecarlia. They marched towards Stockholm, arrived there and chased away the Danes. On 6 June 1523 Gustav Vasa was sworn in as the first King of the consolidated Kingdom of Sweden. One other reason for celebrating our National day is that one essential part of our constitution was signed and adopted by Parliament on 6 June 1809.

Dear Friends,

National Day receptions are maybe not the occasion to make political speeches; and I will not attempt to make one today. But I would like to briefly dwell on three words or notions which have been constantly on my mind since I arrived in Zimbabwe a few months ago; words which I think are very relevant to the existing situation in Zimbabwe. These words are: dialogue, change and tolerance.

Few people would deny the acute and urgent need for dialogue both within Zimbabwe and between Zimbabwe and a large part of the international community – given the state of siege which has characterized the last few years with entrenched positions and very little in terms of interaction and dialogue. But the mentality seems to be changing – maybe influenced by the harsh reality on the ground – and some vague attempts to a meaningful dialogue have taken place in recent months. At least we do talk about building bridges, although real construction work has yet to start in earnest. Let us continue with these attempts and with the bridge-building exercise! When listening to the speeches made a few weeks ago at the EU Day I felt that we may somehow be on the right track.

But dialogue should always be conducted for a purpose. And that is where the second notion of change is coming in. Many people seem to be afraid of change for some reasons; or they try to resist change because the process is driven by change agents they cannot fully control. But the message is that change is almost always a positive thing. Remember Charles Darwin: "It is not the strongest species which survive, nor the most intelligent ones. Rather those who are most responsive to change". – The economic and social situation in Zimbabwe is now very critical indeed. And relations between Zimbabwe and the international donor community are still strained. So there is an urgent need for change and we should all try to be "responsive to change". Change on one side can lead to action on the other side; it can be a two-sided thing leading to win-win situations for everybody.

Finally regarding tolerance continued inspiration can be drawn from one of the greatest leaders of our times Nelson Mandela, who made this remarkably insightful comment some 3-4 years ago: "We must welcome differences of opinion. They will always be there. One of the most effective weapons in dealing with different opinions is tolerance – the ability to take criticism and not personalise it … Tolerance is one of the best ways to solve major national issues." There are many of us who have come to love Zimbabwe - in spite of deep divisions both before and after independence: e g between whites and blacks, between Ndebeles and Shonas and between MDC and ZANU-PF - who believe that tolerance in this sense could be used more widely as a strong instrument in solving problems in this society.

In any case, the message I am trying to convey is that we all – through dialogue, change and tolerance – can come a long way to solve problems and promote progress in Zimbabwe

After these many words I now kindly ask you to raise your glasses in a toast to the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe, to all Zimbabeans and to the need and possibility of further improvements in the relationship which exists between Zimbabwe and Sweden…

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