Honourable Premier Phumulo Masualle,

The Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa,

MEC’s present,

Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela and the abaThembu royal family,

Kings and traditional leaders present

Mphakathi waseMvezo,
 
We meet here today, on this very important day particularly for us as South Africans, a day declared to be International Mandela day.

As we meet here today celebrating the life and times of the founding father of our democracy President Nelson Mandela, the whole country and the world over are abuzz celebrating with us.

The theme we declared for this year’s celebrations is Operation Clean Up for Madiba. As we are here now, South Africans across the lengths and breadths of our country are dedicating at least 67 minutes of their time to engage in a major cleaning up exercises of their cities, towns, villages, schools to make this South Africa that Madiba sacrificed for clean and habitable for us all.

The cleanup campaign is also designed to encourage cooperation and working together to build our country. It is meant to enhance nation building and cohesion, while also promoting environmental awareness and pride in our surroundings no matter how humble they may be.

The activities we engage in on this special day are informed by the wise words of Tata when he said “The world remains beset by so much human suffering, poverty and deprivation. It is in your hands to make of our world a better one for all, especially the poor, vulnerable and marginalized”.

These words are poignant and remain relevant to us today. Tata Nelson Mandela remains a symbol of hope for us. He gave us hope in the oasis of hopelessness. He indeed belongs to the generation of our forebears which will remain irreplaceable.

Tata represented everything good and noble about us. He was among us, but above us.

He was an epitome of unity, selfness, courage and nobility all together. He may have gone, but he will never be forgotten. The thought of his memory inspires us to be better human beings. This earth has only seen one Madiba, and indeed, there can only be one.

When we omit doing good, it is at that very moment that we betray the memory of Madiba.

We learn through his life that we can never wait for the right time to do good. Whatever good we can do, no matter how small, we must do it. Today what’s left of him is the impact he made through his exemplary life. As we emulate his life, let’s remember that he did all he could do, it is now in our hands.

Today as we unveil this life size statue of our President we want to say his memory indeed lives on. This statue is but part of the series of projects we are engaged in as government to try write our own history and make bold to imprint the legacy of people that stand tall in their contribution to the democracy we enjoy today.

Let us make every day, a Mandela Day in his memory by doing good deeds at all times, and by working together to move South Africa forward.

I thank you.