Staff Writer
JOHANNESBURG: Honouring Nelson Mandela’s memory means a moral responsibility to work for change.
That was the message from Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa last night when he gave the memorial lecture in honour of Madiba at the Nelson Mandela Founda- tion on the eve of the Day of Reconciliation.
“We should seek to pursue at all times that which is right and true and just, no matter how inconvenient, how unpopular or how difficult,” he said.
He called for the principles that Madiba had stood for to be implemented by all sectors, and said that his morality was not theoretical but practical, and thus the means of changing the world.
Ramaphosa spoke out against the waste, misuse and theft of public resources and the “culture of entitlement” in government.
He called for morality not only in public representatives and public servants, but also in business and “all social formations and sectors”, encouraging a moral responsibility to confront poverty, unemployment and inequality.
“The principles that Madiba embodied find meaning both at the lofty heights of global affairs and in our day-to-day interactions with each other.” It was in respecting the equal rights and dignity of all people that Madiba made his greatest contribution to our sense of worth and purpose, said Ramaphosa.
“It must therefore be a matter of grave concern that we live in a society where respect for the rights and integrity of another is so frequently and shamelessly violated.”
Ramaphosa spoke out specifically over the violence against women and children.
“South Africans have demonstrated a tremendous capacity to overcome even the most intractable of problems.
“We have it within us to treat each other with respect, and to place the needs of others above our own. We have it within us to heal the divisions of the past and eradicate the inequalities of the present. By working together, by drawing inspiration from his life, we will be able to… complete the long walk that he began,” said Ramaphosa.
The foundation partnered with the ANC to commemorate the first anniversary of Mandela being laid to rest.
“The foundation has organised and participated in numerous events, gatherings and projects to mark the first anniversary of the passing of our beloved founder, Madiba. It has been extremely moving to see demonstrated once again Madiba’s power to unite people on a global scale.
“People the world over joined South Africans in remembering a historic icon as the first democratically elected president of South Africa,” said the foundation’s communications and outreach director, Danielle Melville.
She said Mandela had intended to write a sequel to his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, and in 1998 he started the manuscript of a work he provisionally titled The Presidential Years.
“The foundation’s archive has versions of 10 chapters. It has embarked on a project to see the completion of The Presidential Years as an authorised account of Mr Mandela’s presidency.”