Our year in review

Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday was celebrated across the world

Dec 12, 2008 – In what was arguably the biggest world-wide birthday celebration of all time, Nelson Mandela turned 90 this year.

It was an occasion that was celebrated all year round, and across the world, with numerous events hosted by a number of organisations.

From March to July a newspaper series of six interviews to honour Mr Mandela was published on the Foundation’s website.

A new exhibition called Parenting a Nation: Walter & Albertina Sisulu was launched at Mandela House on March 12. Two days later a reunion and dialogue was held with the surviving former trialists from the trials in which Mr Mandela was an accused with others, among them Bertha Gxowa (Treason Trial), Denis Goldberg (Rivonia Trial) and Ahmed Kathrada (Defiance, Treason and Rivonia Trials).

In June, the South African leg of a global “birthday wishes campaign” was launched, giving people all around the world the opportunity to send their personal messages to Mr Mandela.

Later that month, on June 27, the 46664 90th Birthday Concert was held in London to celebrate Mr Mandela’s life and legacy, while the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund held a series of Children’s Parliaments in Southern Africa to celebrate Madiba’s birthday.

Also in June, 46664 and Coutts Inc launched the 46664 precious metals bangles to honour Mr Mandela and raise funds for his charities.

Madiba’s birthday month of July saw the book launch at Constitution Hill of Hunger for Freedom: The Story of Food in the Life of Nelson Mandela by Anna Trapido, while the annual Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund celebration honoured Madiba under the theme “Celebrate a Children’s Champion at 90”. Her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the President of Liberia, delivered the Sixth Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture at the Walter Sisulu Square in Soweto on July 12.

July also saw the release of the Madiba Legacy Series comics published as a book with the title Nelson Mandela: The Authorised Comic Book, as well as the launch of a Mandela Rhodes Foundation young leaders’ facility in the Western Cape.

The Malibongwe Dialogue, on August 22, celebrated the role of women in society, while November brought two exhibitions celebrating Mr Mandela’s life: a major retrospective exhibition of his life and times was opened at the Apartheid Museum on November 8; and later that month, a special exhibition of Madiba’s life as depicted by political cartoonist Zapiro was launched at the Foundation’s buildings.

The exhibition at the Apartheid Museum was developed in partnership between the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Apartheid Museum and the Nelson Mandela Museum in Mthatha, and is made up of photographs, videos and artifacts, which include the car that Mercedes-Benz workers made for Mandela while he was President of South Africa.

At the Zapiro exhibition, cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (Zapiro) displayed examples of the cartoons published about Madiba, and discussed the need for cartoonists, and society in general, to engage with figures of authority in a critical fashion.

Mr Mandela says farewell to friends

Dr Nthato Motlana, a Nelson Mandela Foundation trustee, close friend and physician, passed away on December 1 after a long battle with cancer

While this year was cause for joy as Nelson Mandela turned 90, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and its Founder have been saddened by the deaths of many close friends and comrades.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation would like to take this opportunity to once again extend its deepest condolences to the families, friends and comrades of those who have passed away this year.

Anti-apartheid stalwart Mike Terry, who passed away after a heart attack in London on Wednesday, December 3; Dr Nthato Motlana, a Nelson Mandela Foundation trustee, close friend and physician who passed away on December 1 after a long battle with cancer; singer Miriam Makeba , who died after a concert in Italy in November; veteran anti-apartheid activist and former political prisoner Billy Nair, who passed away on October 23 at St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban; Nzimeni Elliot Mfaxa, who passed away on October 16 at home in Tyutyu Village, outside King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape, after an asthma attack at the age of 83; life-long activist Esther Barsel, who died in Johannesburg on Monday, October 6; journalist, playwright and actor John Matshikiza, who passed away on September 15 in Johannesburg; Brian Bunting, a journalist, author and long-time member of the South African Communist Party and Congress of Democrats, who passed away at the age of 88 on Wednesday June 18; and Alan Brooks, who organised the anti-apartheid organisations in the United Kingdom to participate in a Freedom March to call for his release and died on May 10, will all be remembered by the Nelson Mandela Foundation for their contribution.

Hamba kahle.

The struggle continues

Her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Nelson Mandela

The Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Centre of Memory and Dialogue seeks to contribute to a just society by promoting the vision and work of its Founder and convening dialogue around critical social issues.

This year, the Foundation hosted a number of dialogues:

The Nelson Mandela Foundation welcomed Her Excellency Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the President of Liberia, who delivered the Sixth Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture at the Walter Sisulu Square in Kliptown, Soweto on July 12.

At the lecture President Johnson-Sirleaf stressed the importance of transparent, accountable government and the need to fight corruption in Africa, while Nelson Mandela thanked her for coming to Kliptown and stressed the need for human solidarity.

The Centre for Memory and Dialogue also hosted the second Malibongwe Dialogue, which looks at women’s role and challenges in the new South Africa.

Organised by the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Dialogue Programme, the national Department of Arts and Culture and the National Youth Commission, this year’s Malibongwe Dialogue was aimed at finding ways of overcoming the challenges women in business face in South Africa and looked at how women should learn from each other as well as how the struggle against apartheid should inform the way forward.

The Foundation also held an education dialogue to discuss the challenges facing South African schools.

Next year, the Foundation will be hosting the Promise of Leadership dialogue, whose purpose is to reinvigorate dialogue around critical issues affecting our continent.

The Promise of Leadership will be a series of dialogue sessions over a period of two days. These sessions will bring together leading figures from business, civil society, government and other formations to debate and conjure new thinking around the challenge of governance and leadership in our times.

This historical event will be held in March next year in Johannesburg, South Africa.