Zuma thanks Tata for ‘selfless contribution’

Cabinet ministers showed solidarity and support for the Mandela Day initiative of volunteering 67 minutes to help others. They were all dressed in Mandela Day apparel with a view of showing strong support towards this global initiative during a cabinet meeting held at the Union Buildings. South Africa. 17/07/2012

Cabinet ministers showed solidarity and support for the Mandela Day initiative of volunteering 67 minutes to help others. They were all dressed in Mandela Day apparel with a view of showing strong support towards this global initiative during a cabinet meeting held at the Union Buildings. South Africa. 17/07/2012

Published Jul 18, 2012

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“Happy Birthday, Madiba. The whole nation loves you dearly.” These were the words of President Jacob Zuma on Tuesday as birthday wishes for Nelson Mandela began flowing in from across the political spectrum and around the world.

Well-wishers joined the call on people across the globe to perform 67 minutes of public service on Mandela Day.

Writing in an open letter, Zuma hailed Mandela for his “selfless contribution” to SA and said South Africans must strive more to achieve his dream.

Zuma said Mandela had, from the 1940s until the dawn of freedom, inspired millions to “fight relentlessly to bring about freedom, democracy, peace and stability”.

“Supported by his comrades, he provided leadership during the Defiance Campaign and put enormous pressure on the apartheid state. He led from the front during the establishment of Umkhonto we Sizwe and served as its first commander in chief.

“His court statements remain timeless elucidations of the rationale for our Struggle.”

Zuma said Mandela’s court statement in 1962, “Black man in a white man’s court’’, was “to this day one of the most instructive analyses of the apartheid judiciary and its lack of legitimacy in hearing the cases involving the oppressed”.

“In his statement from the dock in 1964, he made the most selfless declaration ever, when he said: ‘During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this Struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.’”

Zuma said Mandela had remained a “beacon of hope” in prison, fighting for the rights of other prisoners relating to basic necessities.

“When Madiba emerged from Victor Verster Prison on the 11th of February 1990, his fist in the air and with Winnie Mandela at his side, it was the culmination of all these struggles in the country, Africa and abroad. And that was the day that South Africa changed,” Zuma said.

He hailed Mandela for his role in the negotiations leading to a post-apartheid SA and for allowing himself to be used as a symbol of SA’s liberation Struggle.

He said Mandela needed to be understood in a holistic manner.

“The starting point is to appreciate Madiba the freedom fighter, the volunteer-in-chief of the ANC, the Umkhonto we Sizwe commander-in-chief and Madiba the skilful political strategist and revolutionary,” Zuma said. “Madiba went through these phases during our long walk to freedom. It is therefore not surprising that South Africans celebrate Madiba the way they do. He features in all critical moments on our path to freedom.”

Zuma said the UN had bestowed a singular honour on SA by declaring July 18 as Nelson Mandela International Day. “Eighteen years on, we have done very well in taking the transformation project forward and extending services to our people. But we have not achieved in full the dream outlined by Madiba in his first State of the Nation address in 1994,” Zuma said.

In its birthday message, Parliament called on South Africans to donate 67 minutes of their time to make a difference to the lives of others. “Let us exercise our individual power to change the world. Let us make every day a Mandela Day,” Parliament said.

Describing Mandela as a “beacon of hope in the world”, Parliament said it was a privilege to “still have Madiba with us and take this opportunity to wish him well”.

Cope leader Mosiuoa Lekota described Mandela as a role model for millions of people across the world.

“He deserves a recognition that aims to change the lives of the less fortunate, an ideal which he lived for.

“His heroic work and humanity should spread throughout the world and continue to touch young and old souls. Mr Mandela’s story is a living symbol of wisdom and courage,” Lekota said.

The FW de Klerk Foundation hailed Mandela’s “enormous contribution” to national reconciliation and to the birth of the country’s non-racial constitutional democracy.

Pretoria News

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