The Prime Minister of Barbados, the Honourable Mia Mottley, delivered a dynamic and historic 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture on 12 November 2022, at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban.
It was the first annual lecture to be hosted in KwaZulu-Natal, done so in a demonstration of solidarity with the communities in the province that were devastated by floods earlier this year.
The Prime Minister has been a vibrant and inspiring advocate for climate justice around the world, and has promoted a robust decolonisation discourse. Recently she was given the 2022 United Nations Champion of the Earth award, the United Nation's highest environmental honour.
Her lecture addressed the theme, “Social Bonding and Decolonisation in the Context of the Climate Crisis: Perspectives from the Global South” and was received with thunderous applause by a large and appreciative audience, which gave her several standing ovations during the afternoon. Her powerful call for a solidarity of the Global South in addressing multiple intersecting world crises was inspiring.
Earlier in the day Prime Minister Mottley had been met on arrival in KwaZulu-Natal by the province’s premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube. The Nelson Mandela Foundation is grateful to Premier Dube-Ncube and the provincial government for hosting the event. It is also indebted to headline sponsor Old Mutual, and the many other institutional partners that contributed to making the event a success.
It is the Foundation’s singular responsibility to ensure that Prime Minister Mottley’s lecture resonates on a continuing basis in the organisation’s social justice work.