Editors' Forum in Bellville, Cape Town, South Africa, to convey a message to their readers. Archbishop TuTu said millions and millions of South African people wanted to thank the readers of newspapers abroad. He said South Africans had won a "quite spectacular victory'' in which readers abroad had played a critical part.

As part of an extensive speech on October 9 in the university senate chamber at the University of the Western Cape, which only a few years ago was built as a "Coloured Parliament'', Archbishop TuTu said: "I also want to pay a tribute to you who are visiting our country. During our struggle against apartheid we needed the support of the international community. We were calling for sanctions and all kinds of other non-violent pressures to be exerted on the apartheid government to force them to get to the negotiations table with the authentic representatives of the majority of the people of this land, most of whom were totally disenfranchised.

"The powerful, especially in the western world, were not entirely on our side. They thought they could sup with the perpetrators of the most vicious system since Nazism and we needed to win over public opinion. We needed someone to tell our story and you, friends, did just that.

"You told our story. The people, decent, peace-loving people committed to justice and goodness and righteousness, heard our story and realised that we were not fire-eating, reckless radicals wanting to drive white people into the sea. They realised that ours was a just cause where we wanted to replace an evil un-Christian, immoral system that discriminated against people on the basis of a totally irrelevant and arbitrary biological attribute, skin colour, and we wanted to replace it with a system that was just, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist, and that we were looking for non-violent strategies for doing this.

"We have won a quite spectacular victory over injustice, oppression, exploitation and downright evil. But that victory would have been impossible without the support and the contribution of the international community, its love, prayers and concern and the pressure it brought to bear on governments.

"On behalf of our people, millions and millions of them, thank you. You and your readers are a critical part of that victory. Please tell them of our deep appreciation...

"Our new democracy would be stillborn without a vigorous and free Press. We need a syncophantic kowtowing, lick-spittle media as much as we need a hole in the head. Our democracy would soon become moribund and would disintegrate without a vigilant and free Press. Such is something utterly indispensable.

Democracy and an unfree Press are incompatible.''