Bloemfontein - Nelson Mandela’s legacy will live on, Free State premier Ace Magashule said on Friday.
“I am deeply saddened by the passing on of the former president of the first free and democratic South Africa, Tata Nelson Mandela,” he said.
Magashule, who is also the Free State’s ANC leader, said Mandela was more than a comrade to him.
“He touched my life and that of many freedom fighters in the most profound way.”
Magashule said Mandela had taught him and others to be humble and humane in the quest to build a proud South Africa, which had become a significant player in the community of nations.
Mandela also taught them to forgive and cemented instruments of lasting peace, such as restoring a sense of pride and dignity to Africans within a non-racial global society.
“This is the legacy that he lived for us”.
The premier said he had sent condolences to Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, and his family on behalf of the people of the Free State.
“We shall continue to strive for the realisation of all the ideals that he lived and eventually died upholding,” said Magashule.
President Jacob Zuma announced that Mandela died on Thursday night at his Houghton, Johannesburg, home surrounded by family. He was 95.
Sapa