{"id":309988,"date":"2010-02-12T01:07:00","date_gmt":"2010-02-12T06:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-8352253407548508068"},"modified":"2010-02-12T01:07:03","modified_gmt":"2010-02-12T06:07:03","slug":"south-africa-salutes-nelson-mandela-on-20th-anniversary-of-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/309988","title":{"rendered":"South Africa Salutes Nelson Mandela on 20th Anniversary of Release"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Madiba President Nelson Mandela at a Foundation gathering on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.<\/a>
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n

South Africa salutes Mandela on anniversary of release<\/p>\n

CAPE TOWN, Thursday<\/p>\n

South Africa heaped praise on Nelson Mandela today as the nation celebrated the 20th anniversary of his release from prison, an earth-shaking event which hastened the demise of apartheid.<\/p>\n

Key figures of the anti-apartheid struggle including Archbishop Desmond Tutu paid tribute to the 91-year-old icon in a ceremony at the former Victor Verster Prison from which Mr Mandela was released after nearly three decades in captivity.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people re-enacted the historic moment when the black leader, hand in hand with his then-wife Winnie, walked proudly out of the prison with his fist raised high as the world watched.<\/p>\n

Neither Mandela nor his former wife was present for the occasion, though they were both expected to attend a special session of parliament later today.<\/p>\n

The walk was part of a full day of ANC celebrations of the historic day and among the most senior in attendance were Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, Cosatu leader Zwelinzima Vavi, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and a host of cabinet ministers and other ANC leaders.<\/p>\n

A crowd of several thousand ANC supporters were disappointed, however, at the non-appearance of the two most senior figures expected – President Zuma and Winnie Madikizela Mandela, who had not arrived by midday.<\/p>\n

The dignitaries arrived from 7am onwards and first enjoyed tea and breakfast in a massive marquee on the prison grounds, before threading their way en masse back out of the gates as Mandela and Madikizela Mandela had on February 11, 1990.<\/p>\n

Cabinet ministers Trevor Manuel and Cyril Ramaphosa spoke outside the gates of their roles as part of Mandela\u2019s \u201creception committee\u201d.<\/p>\n

Nobel peace laureate Tutu exhorted South Africans to use the day to remember the long road the country had travelled since February 11, 1990.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day Nelson Mandela walked free from Victor Verster Prison our collective spirit soared. It was a day that promised the beginning of the end of indignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of people erupted in a triumphant raised-fist chant of \u201cAmandla Awethu\u201d (power to the people) as they passed a giant bronze statue of Mandela outside the prison, recalling the popular liberation-struggle mantra.<\/p>\n

Many braved the scorching sun to sing and dance in the streets, waving ANC and multicoloured national flags.<\/p>\n

Ms Madikizela-Mandela herself cancelled an appearance at the celebration at the last minute.<\/p>\n

Tutu, widely hailed as the nation\u2019s conscience keeper, said that while much had been achieved, there was still more to be done.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we really want to make a difference we must recapture the spirit of that day of Nelson Mandela\u2019s release … We must not forget the past,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mandela spent the final months of his 27-year imprisonment at the prison outside Cape Town, now known as Groot Drakenstein Prison, negotiating his release with apartheid\u2019s last president F.W. de Klerk.<\/p>\n

He had spent the bulk of his time behind bars on the notorious Robben Island, and later at Pollsmoor Prison near Cape Town.<\/p>\n

Increasingly frail<\/p>\n

Mr Mandela, increasingly frail and rarely seen in public, will make his only appearance of the day when he arrives at parliament in Cape Town to hear a special commemorative State of the Nation speech by President Jacob Zuma.<\/p>\n

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a tribute that the anti-apartheid struggle was the \u201cdefining political question of our time\u201d and praised Mandela as \u201cforgiving, playful, utterly gracious and with a generosity of spirit that lifts the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, jointly with de Klerk, and became South Africa\u2019s first black president in a landslide election victory for his African National Congress a year later.<\/p>\n

Some politicians downplayed de Klerk\u2019s role in ordering Mandela\u2019s release, insisting he had only bowed to pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fairness to him, he saw the writing on the wall,\u201d said veteran anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, released four months before Mandela.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he did not take the route that he did take, this country was going to be plunged into an era of violence that we had never seen before,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Ramaphosa recalled that Mr Mandela was serene as he prepared to walk out a free man.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere is a man who\u2019s about to be released out of prison after 27 years. He was as cool as a cucumber and younger people would say he\u2019s a cool cat,\u201d said Mr Ramaphosa, who was part of the team that welcomed Mandela.<\/p>\n

With Mr Mandela sitting nearby, President Zuma is later expected to tap into the optimism of two decades ago, while outlining a roadmap of the way forward in the year South Africa hosts the football World Cup. Mr Zuma campaigned with promises to fight poverty in a nation with the widest gap between rich and poor in the world. (AFP)
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Madiba President Nelson Mandela at a Foundation gathering on Wednesday, March 12, 2008.Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos South Africa salutes Mandela on anniversary of release CAPE TOWN, Thursday South Africa heaped praise on Nelson Mandela today as the nation celebrated the 20th anniversary of his release from prison, an earth-shaking event which […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-309988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=309988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309988\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}