SOUTH AFRICA: MANDELA/SABC/18/7/18 SABANews 1
EASTERN CAPE – President CYRIL RAMAPHOSA of SOUTH AFRICA has paid a glowing tribute to the late founding democratic President NELSON MANDELA.
He says MADIBA understood pure militancy was not enough to achieve liberation in SOUTH AFRICA, but good organisation and discipline was also required.
President RAMAPHOSA says the late former Head of State was a true revolutionary who would be highly aggrieved to see racism rearing its ugly head in the SADC country and the world over.
SABC News says he has addressed delegates to the 100TH Anniversary Commemoration of the late MANDELA’s birthday today (WEDNESDAY) at MVEZO, in the EASTERN CAPE.
It quotes President RAMAPHOSA as saying MADIBA, who would have turned 100 today, would be happy to see no AFRICAN child is denied tertiary education due to lack of fees.
Celebrations have been taking place around the country, with the main event at MVEZO where former presidents KGALEMA MOTLANTHE and JACOB ZUMA also sent messages of support.
SABC News also quotes President RAMAPHOSA as saying the late MANDELA further understood the need for introspection and reflection, while acknowledging his own failings.
He says SOUTH AFRICANS should speak against the degeneration of MADIBA’s values of non-racialism and selflessness; because had he lived to see today, the late icon would have been worried at the incidents of racism characterising the country.
President RAMAPHOSA has also strongly condemned people who often call the late former Head of State a sell-out, like in the past when some in the ANC and others including EFF Leader JULIUS MALEMA said MADIBA sold out in the revolution.
Meanwhile, former UNITED STATES President BARACK OBAMA has hosted a youth leadership project as Archbishop DESMOND TUTU led emotional tributes to the late anti-apartheid icon.
The world community celebrates the birthday of the late MANDELA on 18 JULY each year with charitable works, and the NELSON MANDELA Foundation has called for people to take action and inspire change in his name on the centenary year.
SABC News says Former President OBAMA has addressed the 200 young people attending the leadership course he has arranged in the commercial capital, JOHANNESBURG.
Mr OBAMA says the late MANDELA had been a key inspiration in his life; and while most people around the world think of MADIBA as a white-haired old man, they do not recall he started as a very young man trying to liberate his country.
SABC News says the former AMERICAN Leader on TUESDAY addressed a crowd of 15-THOUSAND at a cricket stadium, recalling the wave of hope that washed through hearts worldwide when MADIBA left prison in 1990.
Mr OBAMA says through his sacrifice and unwavering leadership and, perhaps most of all, through his moral example, the late MANDELA came to embody the universal aspirations of dispossessed people.
Retired Archbishop DESMOND TUTU, 86 this year, has also recalled fond memories of his fellow campaigner against white minority rule and fellow NOBEL Peace Prize winner.
He says the most extraordinary thing about MADIBA was his ordinariness, just a particularly fine example of humanity.
SABC News says Retired Archbishop TUTU has sent a video message saying the principles on which the late MANDELA led his life are universal principles of love, fairness, and respect of others – built on the understanding of the weaknesses that all people share.
It says he has recalled MADIBA’s willingness to apologise when wrong, and laughed as he remembered the TWO used to tease each other over MANDELA’s famous colourful shirts and TUTU’s purple clerical robes.
The national broadcaster says the current SOUTH AFRICAN President, a trainee of the late MANDELA who took office this year, has pledged to mark MANDELA 100 by donating HALF his salary to charity, and calls on others to do the same./Sabanews/cam