A year after revolutionary Nelson Mandela’s death, people in his native South Africa and across the world are paying tribute to him. The politician, who was the first black president in South Africa, died on Dec. 5, 2013. He was 95. Friends and public figures took to social media Friday to commemorate the civil rights trailblazer and President Jacob G. Zuma declared, “Our nation has lost its greatest son.”
Hundreds of South Africans, liberation war veterans, government officials and members of the Mandela family gathered at the government offices at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Friday, at a wreath laying ceremony to commemorate the first anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s death. Mandela’s family, led by his wife Gracha Machel and Mandla Mandela, laid the first wreathes at the foot of Mandela’s massive statue just outside the Union Buildings. This was followed by liberation war veterans and Mandela’s great grand children all wearing white T-shirts.
Barack Obama pays homage to Nelson Mandela:
Remembering Nelson Mandela on his first death anniversary, US President Barack Obama on Friday said that the struggle and sacrifices of the anti-apartheid leader inspire people to stand up for fundamental principles. “On this first anniversary of the passing of Nelson Mandela, Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to the Mandela family and all South Africans,” Obama said.
In a statement, US President Barack Obama said the world lost a leader one year ago “whose struggle and sacrifices inspired us to stand up for our fundamental principles, whose example reminded us of the enduring need for compassion, understanding and reconciliation, and whose vision saw the promise of a better world”.
Legacy Continues:
One of Mandela’s granddaughters, Ndileka, told the BBC on Friday that South Africans were still upholding Mandela’s legacy and honouring his memory by living by his values of peace and reconciliation.
“That’s just the spirit of who granddad was, that even after a year that he’s gone peace still prevails, people still upholding his legacy and what he stood for, because he stood for peace and reconciliation.”
Many South Africans said they were reflecting on whether the nation was following in his footsteps, says the BBC’s Milton Nkosi in Johannesburg.
South Africa marks Mandela Death Anniversary:
Commemorations are taking place across the country, including at Mandela’s birthplace in his ancestral village of Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, where a marquee has been erected outside the Nelson Mandela Museum. The anti-apartheid icon was buried in Qunu 10 days after he died.