That is why they became social actors as social beings. [Applause.] So, you see, we do appreciate merit. Let me say to you quite clearly that we respect the individual and we appreciate merit. Merit is important and, indeed, merit counts in the ANC. But the social structure counts for more, and this is what you fail to understand. [Interjections.]
The fact of the matter is that these two gentlemen, the President and the Deputy President, arrived in their present positions because of the ANC. Without the ANC, maybe they would not have done that. They are social actors in a social context, and it's the society and the organisation that they belong to, including merit, that brought them to the positions that they hold at the moment. [Applause.]
So, let me tell you that while the individual is important, the social context is more so. Now, does the ANC respect the individual? Yes, but in a democratic sense. The individual is part of a political system in which democratic values are uppermost. This is why your constant harping about individual merit ... You know, when Helen Zille was here, sitting right there, she used to talk about merit, merit, merit. But we said to her that the apartheid system blocked merit, and so there was no opportunity for all.
And so "individuals", to quote you, were not allowed to do things for themselves. Indeed, I respect the liberal values of classical scholarship. I respect them, but you distort them. Classical liberal literature respects the individual, but pays attention to the society.
Let us take a man like Amartya Sen, a great philosopher who, in fact, won the Nobel Prize. What does he say? Just listen carefully. He says: "Individual freedoms" - you're talking about freedom all the time - "can be seen to be a social commitment, and this requires the state to play an active role in advancing the subjective freedom of the people". So, there are two important ideas here: a social commitment, and the role of the state to play an active role.
Some of you may have heard of a gentleman called Plekhanov, a Marxist Russian philosopher. People on this side have read him. [Interjections.] He wrote a book which I have on my desk ... [Interjections.]