Dear Fellow South African,
Today we commemorate President Nelson Mandela’s birthday.
Such is his towering legacy that it is a day celebrated around the world, with its international observance having been declared by the United Nations in 2009.
This is in testament to his role as a revered statesman, unifier and above all, as a peacemaker.
Striving for peace in the world, for an end to conflicts everywhere, and for a true international fellowship of humankind are the ideals that Nelson Mandela stood for.
They were relevant when he was a statesman on the world stage, and they are even more relevant today with many parts of our continent and the world embroiled in conflict.
As South Africa we hold fast to the ideal that a better world can be achieved through engendering peace. This derives from negotiation and compromise over violence, the use of force and resorting to war.
South Africa’s contribution to world peace is through supporting societies in conflict, and this is largely as a result of the Nelson Mandela legacy.
Our experience with negotiating an end to apartheid and with building a multiparty democracy is regularly sought out by parties seeking to bring conflict to an end.
Since democracy we have played such a role in Northern Ireland, Palestine, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Ethiopia, and most recently, in Sudan.
Last week I met with the Deputy President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, where we discussed the support South Africa can lend to the convening of an inclusive dialogue process towards a permanent peace.
Earlier this month I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where South Africa is playing a key role in facilitating dialogue, conflict resolution and providing technical assistance under the 2013 Peace and Security Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Great Lakes.
Last month marked six months since the signing of the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities Agreement between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in Pretoria on the 2nd of November 2022.
This peace agreement that South Africa played a role in brokering under the auspices of the African Union, continues to hold.
President Mandela said that ‘the heroes are those who make peace and build.’
We will continue to follow in his footsteps by calling for political solutions to conflicts.
We are fortified by the towering moral courage of great leaders like President Mandela.
That is why on this Nelson Mandela Day I call on all each and every one of us to promote peace everywhere.
The peace-making and peacebuilding processes we are called upon to get involved in are the fruit of Nelson Mandela’s legacy.
