TEHRAN Streets leading to Hotel Azadi were unprecedentedly crowded on Monday evening, such that Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi was forced to abandon his car somewhere near and then walked to reach the sprawling saloon where multinational guests were present at a dinner hosted by South African Ambassador Musa Moolla. The occasion was the National day of South Africa, a yearly affair to celebrate the country's burying of the apartheid system and the aceeptance of all colors.

The out-going century witnessed the demise of a number of colonial practices in all four continents, including South Africa, where India's Mahatma Gandhi started a movement against racism and colonialism. It was Mahatma Gandhi's movement that brought independence to the Indian Sub-Continent. A worshiper of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi commands great respect among the people of South Africa. Like Mahatma Gandhi, South Africa's Nelson Mandela also fought racism and in 1994 succeeded in setting up a government of all colors in South Africa. President Mandela, an internationally respected figure known for his struggle against apartheid, spent 27 years of his life in prison for this cause.

President Mandela, a statesman who has earned the respect of many world figures, snubbed U.S. President Bill Clinton when he declared that not the United States but South Africa has to decide with whom we have to have our relations.' Guests at the dinner party included a number of members of the foreign diplomatic corps and government officials, headed by Foreign Minister Kharrazi. The Foreign Ministry's Chief Protocol Officer, Behman Hussein-Pour, and several Iranian diplomats, journalists and university teachers were also in the gathering.