News

Foundation honours the memory of Chris Hani

Remembering the tragic assassination of Martin Thembisile “Chris” Hani

9 April 2008 | Category: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

April 9, 2008 – We at the Nelson Mandela Foundation join the rest of our nation in honouring the memory of the late Martin Thembisile “Chris” Hani who was gunned down outside his home 15 years ago.

Young and energetic, Chris Hani had a bright future in the post-apartheid South Africa he was helping to build. But this future ended on the morning of 10 April 1993 when at the age of 50, he was shot and killed by a right-wing immigrant. Thanks to a quick-thinking neighbour the assailant was soon arrested.

Foundation remembers Martin Luther King Jr

Nelson Mandela has often recalled King’s example

7 April 2008 |

April 7, 2008 – When US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated on 4 April 1968, Nelson Mandela was ending the third year of his life sentence for sabotage.

King’s shooting on the balcony in a hotel in Memphis Tennessee at the age of 39, sent shock waves around the world. To the news deprived political prisoners on Robben Island, the information had to come more slowly, through the network of common law prisoners.

My Way Foundation honours Nelson Mandela

Austrian award recognises his contribution to society

1 April 2008 | Category: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

April 1, 2008 - In the town of Hagenbrunn, Austria, an outdoor artwork a kilometre long is open, 24 hours a day, for people to visit. Its purpose is to encourage them to reflect on their way in life.

In Conversation With Ali Mazrui

The Nelson Mandela Foundation speaks to renowned scholar and author Professor Ali Mazrui

28 March 2008 | Category: Dialogue for Justice

March 30, 2008 – In the second of our “In Conversation With” series to commemorate Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, Ali Mazrui talks with Tara Turkington about racial and religious intolerance, and current-day politics in the United States, Kenya, Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Foundation publishes human rights dialogue booklet

“Dignity and Justice for All” Dialogue booklet published

27 March 2008 | Category: Dialogue for Justice

March 27, 2008 – The Nelson Mandela Foundation has just published a booklet recording the Human Rights Lecture and Roundtable Discussion held in conjunction with the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) on December 10, 2007.

Commemorating Human Rights Day, 2008

Effort required from all in translating words into reality

21 March 2008 | Category: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

March 21, 2008 – “… it is important that the legal system itself be made affordable, accessible and efficient. The most elegantly drafted Human Rights are worth nothing if only the wealthy can enforce them or if remedies are subject to inordinate delays.”
–  Address by President Nelson Mandela to the Workshop for Human Rights Education (Durban, September 1994)

As we mark Human Rights Day on 21 March, 2008, 14 years after our country’s first truly democratic elections, we should indeed celebrate what we have achieved since then. For example, our country’s Constitution is one of the most progressive anywhere in the world.

Perhaps we should also pause to reflect on Nelson Mandela’s words in 1994. South Africa’s freedom did not come to us as a perfect gift, complete and eternal. It was worked at over years, even decades. Now, translating into reality elegant words and noble intentions, a reality that touches and enriches the lives of all South Africans, is going to require an effort from all of us.

Canadian educators visit Foundation

Delegation gains information to take back to Canada

20 March 2008 | Category: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

March 20, 2008 – A delegation of 25 Canadian educators who are passionate about South Africa and helping children realise their dreams visited the Nelson Mandela Foundation this week to learn more about the work of the Foundation’s Memory and Dialogue programmes.

Veteran activists remember apartheid trial

Sweden’s contribution to anti-apartheid struggle highlighted

14 March 2008 | Category: Dialogue for Justice

March 14, 2008 – Three of Nelson Mandela’s co-trialists in the Defiance, Treason and Rivonia Trials in the 1950s and 1960s shared their memories of standing trial in South Africa for fighting against apartheid this afternoon.

Their memories were supplemented by recollections from Swedish activists who supported them morally and financially, in a dialogue at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg entitled “The Sweden and the South African Liberation Struggle ‒ Legal Aid in Perspective”.

A second reunion

Former Treason Trialists meet again at the Old Fort Prison

13 March 2008 | Category: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

Mar 13, 2008 – A group of former Treason Trialists visited the Old Fort Prison at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg today, reliving an extraordinary time when many of the top leaders in the Congress Alliance were held there over 50 years ago.

Legends of liberation struggle gather to honour Sisulus

Exhibition opening a celebration of Walter and Albertina Sisulu

12 March 2008 | Category: Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory

March 12, 2008 – Nelson Mandela, Albertina Sisulu and Archbishop Desmond Tutu gathered at the Nelson Mandela Foundation today to open an exhibition documenting the lives of Walter and Albertina Sisulu.