As the world says farewell to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the former South African Leader who passed away on December 4, at the age of 95, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who is performing the duties of president, underscored that the most significant message that the late icon brought to the fore was that reconciliation was possible despite challenges.
At a Night of Reflection at the Umana Yana to honour Mandela’s life and legacy, hosted by the governing People’s Progressive Party, the Prime Minister said with Mandela’s message, “reconciliation is possible even with the most horrible history behind us. So we need to find reconciliation and not be moved to continue fighting each other,” he said. The Prime Minister also expressed hope that in Mandela’s death and the recognition being given to him that further changes would be made for the improvement of blacks and South Africans as a whole.
Mandela who emerged from 27 years of imprisonment to become South Africa’s first black President, is known worldwide for his compassionate, but yet determined efforts at dismantling the country’s legacy of apartheid.
Home Affairs Minister and General Secretary of the PPP Clement Rohee, read snippets of Mandela’s autobiography at the event, and noted the close resemblance between the boyhood days of the former South African leader, and those of the former Guyanese President Cheddi Jagan.
“If you were to read the West on Trial, where Dr Jagan speaks of his early boyhood days, and you were to read what Mandela himself speaks about his boyhood days, you would see a very striking resemblance to these two men’s upbringing, notwithstanding the fact that they live on two separate continents very, very far apart, wagering two struggles which were aimed at precisely the same objective, the national and social liberation of their respective peoples,” he noted.
Mandela personified all the ideals that the United Nations was founded on, United Nations Development Programme Country Representative in Guyana Khadija Musa said. Those ideals are ‘equality, justice, and peace.’
She noted too that Mandela joined a small group of beings such as Mahatma Ghandi and Martin Luther King who, by the force of their character, conviction, courage, compassion, words and deeds made the idea of peace, forgiveness, non-violence and reconciliation heroic.
Central Committee Member of the PPP Gail Teixeira urged that all try to be like Mandela, “sacrificing all to ensure our country progress.”
Drumming, dances and a pictorial exhibition formed part of the night’s event.
Born in 1918 in the village of Mveso in Transkei, South Africa, Mandela died following complications from a recurring lung infection. The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate was a beloved figure around the world, a symbol of reconciliation from a country with a brutal history of racism. He was released from prison in 1990 after nearly 30 years for plotting to overthrow South Africa’s apartheid government.
In 1994, in a historic election, he became the nation’s first black president of South Africa, where he brought about a peaceful transition from the white-dominated government to a multi-racial democracy. He worked with South African President F.W. de Klerk to end apartheid, for which the two leaders share the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Mandela, who was Leader of the African National Congress (ANC) stepped down in 1999 after a single term and retired from political and public life.
The former freedom fighter was highly loved and respected the world over and his memory will forever be cherished.
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