South Africans pay tributes to Madiba a year after
December 5, 2014, 11:11 am

South Africans on Friday are paying tributes to former president and anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela a year after his death.

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said in a statement on Friday that Mandela taught the world to never give up hope.

“This is as valid in the context of his legacy today as it was in 1963, when he was sentenced to life imprisonment, and in 1994. Our obligation to Madiba is to continue to build the society he envisaged, to follow his example. A society founded on human rights, in which all can share in the rich bounty God bestowed on our country,” said Tutu.

Two decades after the birth of his “Rainbow Nation”, Mandela’s dream and legacy are the central focus of a major ceremony Friday at Freedom Park, Pretoria.

Members the ANC Veteran’s League at the Nelson Mandela National Day of Remembrance at Isivivane, Freedom Park in Pretoria [GCIS]

South Africa, with its legacy of peacefully overturning white-minority rule, is a leader in the continent with rare authority.

South Africans that have inherited Mandela’s legacy say the country has “the best of the so-called first world and the worst of the so-called third-world”.

“Amid the sadness and pain, Mandela’s death might provide a moment of catharsis for South Africa. Somewhere in that blurry field where hagiography meets scholarly memory, South Africa needs Madiba more than ever. If his symbol is allowed to dwindle, there might be little left to corral this nation together to collectively tackle the mammoth task of putting the country back on track,” writes senior journalist and commentator Imran Garda for The BRICS Post.

he Nelson Mandela National Museum, commonly referred as Mandela House, is located in Soweto, southwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, where Nelson Mandela lived from 1946 to 1962 [Xinhua]

He has repeatedly referred to the support from countries like India, Cuba, the former Soviet Union and neighbouring African countries, which were at the forefront of the anti-colonial and anti-apartheid movements.

As a world leader, Mandela had made his aversion for nuclear weapons clear when he began a discussion at the UN General Assembly on “A nuclear weapons-free world” in September 1998.

“We must ask the question, which might sound naïve to those who have elaborated sophisticated arguments to justify their refusal to eliminate these terrible and terrifying weapons of mass destruction — why do they need them anyway?” said President Mandela.

South Africa voluntarily gave up its nuclear arms program from 1989.

Mandela died aged 95 on December 5 last year.