JOHANNESBURG, July 15, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – South Africa celebrates the 100th
anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s birth this week with a flagship speech by
former US president Barack Obama and an outpouring of memories and tributes
to the late anti-apartheid leader.
Mandela, who died in 2013, remains a global icon for his long fight against
white-minority rule and for his message of peace and reconciliation when he
was released after 27 years in prison.
His birthday on July 18 is marked annually around the world, and the Nelson
Mandela Foundation called this year for people to “take action and inspire
change” in Mandela’s name.
Obama will set the tone for the celebrations with a speech in Johannesburg
on July 17 that aides say will be his most important public address since
leaving the White House in 2017.
“It gives him an opportunity to lift up a message of tolerance, inclusivity
and democracy at a time when there are obviously challenges to Mandela’s
legacy around the world,” his aide Benjamin Rhodes told the New York Times.
Obama will also host a town hall event on July 18 for 200 young leaders
selected from across Africa to attend a five-day training programme.
The former US president met Mandela only briefly in 2005 but gave a eulogy
at his funeral saying Mandela “makes me want to be a better man” and hailing
him as “the last great liberator of the 20th century”.
– A legacy under threat? –
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said he would mark “Mandela
100” by donating half his salary to charity to honour “the great sacrifices
he made and his tireless commitment to improving the lives of the most
vulnerable.”
F.W. de Klerk, the former president who shared the Nobel Peace Prize with
Mandela in 1993, told AFP that the 100th anniversary was a chance to reflect
on South Africa’s current troubles.
“I’m convinced that President Mandela would be deeply concerned, as I am,
about the present state of affairs,” he said.
“His vision of a reconciled South Africa has become almost non-existent
within the ANC (ruling party) at the moment.”
De Klerk, who said he treasured his “deep friendship” with Mandela, added
that he found hope in good race relations among many ordinary people.
A World Bank report this year said South Africa was the most unequal
society on the globe, and many South Africans feel that Mandela’s hopes for
the country have been dashed by his successors.
Others accuse him of “selling out” by allowing white people to retain
control of much of the economy.
“He fought to make us politically free, but we are not economically free,”
19-year-old Soweto resident Mtate Phakela told AFP.
“We can’t access education or wealth. I have mixed feelings. He did his
best, but people who came after could have done better.”
– Year of commemoration –
Among the many events marking the anniversary are a walk in Johannesburg
led by Mandela’s widow Graca Machel, the release of letters that Mandela
wrote from his prison cell and the printing of a commemorative banknote.
Climbers are heading up Mount Kilimanjaro, motorcyclists are undertaking a
charity ride and a programme to build 100 school libraries will be launched,
alongside a series of exhibitions, music festivals and sports events.
The year commemorating Mandela’s birth will finish with a concert in
Johannesburg in December starring Beyonce, Jay-Z, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell
Williams and Cassper Nyovest.
Mandela was imprisoned under white-minority apartheid rule from 1962 and
1990 before he led the African National Congress party to victory in the
first multi-race elections in 1994.
He served one term as president before stepping down in 1999.
The title of Obama’s Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture is “Renewing the Mandela
Legacy and Promoting Active Citizenship in a Changing World.”
Former speakers include Bill Clinton, Thabo Mbeki, Kofi Annan, Bill Gates
and Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
Before arriving in South Africa, Obama will make a brief private visit in
Kenya, his father’s homeland, on Sunday and Monday.