Former US President, Barack Obama, has urged Blacks in South Africa and indeed around the world to work hard towards imbibing the principle of passive resistance as espoused by the late famous anti-apartheid campaigner, Nelson Mandela. Obama made the plea on Tuesday in a speech to a crowd of 15,000 people in South Africa to mark 100 years since Mandela’s birth.
The first African-American President of the US has often credited Nelson Mandela for being one of the great inspirations in his life. He delivered the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at a cricket stadium in Johannesburg where he urged young people to fight to defend democracy, human rights and peace.
Obama described Dr. Mandela, who died in 2013, as a global icon for his long struggle against white-minority apartheid rule and for his message of peace and reconciliation after surviving 27 years in prison. He made reference to his brief meeting with Mandela before he got into the White House in 2005 as well as to the rousing eulogy at his funeral, where he declared that Mandela “makes me want to be a better man” and hailed him as “the last great liberator of the 20th century”.
Dr. Mandela’s birthday is marked around the world every year on July 18. The “Mandela 100” anniversary has triggered memories and tributes to the late anti-apartheid leader, as well as a debate over his legacy and South Africa’s fate since he stepped down in 1999.
South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, attended the event and said he was donating half his salary to charity to honour “the great sacrifices Dr. Mandela made and his tireless commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable.” Hundreds of people filled the Wanderers stadium from early morning partly to catch a glimpse of ex-President Obama, whose profile had continued to rise since vacating the White House in January, 2019.
