UN General Assembly
1978

19. It must be stressed that, however commendable the efforts of the contact group, there would have been no progress had it not been for the constructive flexibility of the South West Africa People's Organization [SWAPO] during the long negotiations. My delegation therefore wishes to congratulate SWAPO on all this and also on its statesmanship in pledging to the world that, given guarantees of and optimum conditions for free and fair elections leading to genuine independence for Namibia, it would halt all hostilities. My country supports free and fair elections for Namibia, for it is not for us to choose a Government for the people of Namibia, but for the people of Namibia to choose their own Government for themselves. We dismiss the South African assertion that the purpose of the elections now is to establish who has the right to speak for the people of Namibia.