JOHANNESBURG – The Nelson Mandela Foundation honoured the 10th anniversary of Madiba’s passing on 5 December with the 21st instalment of the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai as the speaker.
The lecture, held at the Joburg Theatre, attracted a diverse audience of local and international dignitaries, who warmly received Yousafzai's thought-provoking address.
Yousafzai, a globally recognised Pakistani activist, has been at the forefront of advocating for the rights of women and children, especially in education. Her activist journey began in the Swat Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in north-west Pakistan, where she challenged the Taliban’s ban on girls’ education.
On 9 October 2012, while still a teenager, Yousafzai was tragically shot in the head by a Taliban gunman as she was returning home from school. This attack garnered international attention and led to widespread condemnation. She survived the shooting, and due to the severity of her injuries and the subsequent threats against her life, she was flown to Birmingham, England, for medical treatment.
This experience did not deter her; rather, it bolstered her resolve, and her brave stance against the oppression of women and girls has since evolved into an influential international movement.
In 2013, Yousafzai co-founded the Malala Fund with her father, to empower girls worldwide through education. The fund’s impact has been profound, aiding millions of girls in accessing education and becoming a leading voice in the advocacy for girls’ education. Her extraordinary efforts were acknowledged in 2014 when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest Nobel laureate at the age of 17.
In her lecture, during her first-ever visit to South Africa, Yousafzai focused on the Taliban’s systemic oppression of women and girls in Afghanistan. Her address, which focused on gender-based oppression in Afghanistan drew parallels with South Africa’s fight against apartheid. She highlighted how “gender apartheid” has resulted in Afghanistan’s prohibition of girls’ education, the exclusion of women from most public roles, and the constant threat to their safety and well-being.
“In Afghanistan, the Taliban says that oppressing women and girls is a matter of religion. So, let me say this as plainly as possible: that is not only an excuse, but it is also not true. Many Muslim scholars, including from Afghanistan, have made clear that Islam does not condone denying girls and women their rights to education and to work,” said Yousafzai.
“The Taliban has made girlhood illegal,” she went on to say.
After delivering her address, Yousafzai was joined on stage by an esteemed panel – including children’s rights activist Graça Machel; international law and human rights expert Karima Bennoune; member of the National Assembly of South Africa Nompendulo Mkhatshwa; and Afghan human rights activist and academic Metra Mehran – for an engaging discussion.
Mehran opened the panel by sharing how the Taliban has a government office that oversees the implementation of 85 decrees that are aimed at limiting and controlling women. This, she explains, is one of the clearest markers of an apartheid state and why gender apartheid should be recognised as a crime against humanity.
She went on to read a WhatsApp message sent to her from a 13-year-old girl in Afghanistan. “I feel annihilated and worthless. I am afraid of wishing because I feel everything in my life is gone,” it read. “We have failed her,” Mehran said.
In her address, Benounne illustrated how many countries have answered the call to recognise gender apartheid as a crime against humanity, including South Africa at the United Nations Human Rights Council in June. UN Secretary-General António Guterres joined the call to recognise that the situation in Afghanistan constitutes gender apartheid and called on the world to take effective steps to end it – akin to those steps taken to help end de jure apartheid in South Africa.
Underscoring the need to codify “gender apartheid” under international law, Bennoune went on to explain that “one of the most powerful aspects of the apartheid framework is that it clarifies the legal obligations of other states to take effective actions to end this illegal situation”.
Responding to Yousafzai’s address, Mam’ Machel stated that her sense of revulsion at the situation is because “it takes me back to those days when, because I am a Black woman – I’ve been told that I do not exist, I don’t count. And now, simply because millions of human beings in Afghanistan happen to be female, they are not recognised as citizens of that country.”
The Foundation’s Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture series is a prestigious event that invites influential figures from around the world to lead discussions on vital social issues, encouraging dialogue and reflection on contemporary global challenges.
Past speakers include former South African President Thabo Mbeki, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and former United States President Barack Obama.
[ENDS]
Media Enquiries
Morongwa Phukubye
Nelson Mandela Foundation
MorongwaP@nelsonmandela.org
+27 72 778 8770