Presiding Officers of Parliament welcome UN’s Madiba Statue unveiled at the UN today

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 24, 2018/ — The Parliament of South Africa takes pride in its rich heritage represented by among others, the dynamic and exponentially growing legacy of the first democratically elected President Nelson Mandela.

The Presiding Officers of Parliament, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and National Council of Provinces’ Chairperson Thandi Modise say: “the unveiling of the Statue of Tat’uMandela at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on the heritage day, is one of the greatest symbolic actions by the nations of the world to affirm our great living heritage. The deep seated passion and appreciation of the value added by Madiba and his contemporaries such as Mrs Albertina Nontsikelelo Sisulu gets unparalleled revival that inspires us to multiply our efforts to advance world peace, security, human rights and development.” This too is a fitting tribute to these two leaders who would have been 100 years old this year.

The world today experiences growing numbers of people facing poverty, as well as ravages of underdevelopment and inequality and our collective recommitment to fight these trends and bring real prosperity to all, should be boosted by these developments. Development will not be delivered through great slogans and policies, but through an integrated and pragmatic approach which MaDiba and MaSisulu applied at great cost to themselves.

On behalf of the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa composed of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, the whole of the Legislative Sector and millions of democracy loving South Africans, the Presiding Officers welcomed the special unprecedented honour bestowed on Madiba by the United Nations. The Mandela statue at the UN headquarters in New York, will be a constant reminder and an inspiration that the uncharted waters sailed by Madiba in order to deserve this unprecedented honour by 193 nations of the world, is still possible for today’s and future leaders.

The installation of Madiba’s statue at the United Nations headquarters is an unprecedented honour bestowed on a leader.

The unveiling was followed by the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit, a high-level plenary meeting convened by President of General Assembly Ms Maria Espinosa, in honour of the centenary birthday of democratic South Africa’s founding president. Speaker Mbete, who is currently attending various meetings at the UN General Assembly in New York, is also attending the crucial Summit on behalf of Parliament.