Tag: Nelson Mandela

Mandela Prison Drawing Sells For $112,575 In New York

A worker holds a sketch by Nelson Mandela — “The Cell Door, Robben Island” — on April 26, 2019 in New York City. The sketch will be offered at Bonhams Modern and Contemporary African Art sale in New York on May 2, 2019 with an estimate of $60,000-$90,000. PHOTO: Johannes EISELE / AFP

 

A drawing by late South African president Nelson Mandela of the door of his prison cell on Robben Island — where he was held for 18 years — sold on Thursday in New York for $112,575.

“The Cell Door, Robben Island” — completed in 2002 by the Nobel peace laureate — exceeded the top end of the estimated range provided by Bonhams, which put its value at $60,000 to $90,000.

The wax pastel crayon drawing shows a few bars of the cell door and a key in the lock, sketched in purple.

The work is one of the few that Mandela — who was jailed for 27 years in total and inspired the struggle against apartheid — kept until his death in 2013.

Mandela’s daughter Pumla Makaziwe Mandela previously had the work in her possession.

South Africa’s first black president did a total of 20 to 25 drawings, according to Giles Peppiatt, the auction house’s director of modern African art. Some were reproduced as lithographs to raise money for the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Mandela was jailed from 1962 to 1990. He was held at Robben Island off Cape Town from 1964 to 1982. Mandela served as South African president from 1994 to 1999.

Mandela’s drawing was one of six works that surpassed $100,000 at the sale of African art on Thursday.

Another South African artist, Irma Stern (1894-1966), earned the highest price of the auction — $312,575 — for “Malay Girl,” a portrait from 1946.

AFP

Oprah Honours Mandela Ahead Of Global Charity Concert

mandela

 

US television celebrity Oprah Winfrey on Thursday paid emotional tribute to Nelson Mandela as she prepared to host a star-studded concert in Johannesburg to cap celebrations marking 100 years since his birth.

Winfrey will co-host the Global Citizen festival on Sunday, where artists including Beyonce, Jay-Z, Cassper Nyovest, Ed Sheeran, Pharrell Williams and Chris Martin will perform.

The concert is the climax of a year of events celebrating the centennial of Mandela’s birth in 1918, and is part of a campaign to tackle poverty, child malnutrition and boost gender equality.

Winfrey hailed Mandela’s “goodness and integrity”, describing him as her “favourite mentor” as she spoke at a public debate at the Soweto campus of the University of Johannesburg.

“He was a man who could have sought revenge, but he was a man who sought reconciliation,” she said, adding he “knew that when one of us is wounded all of us are bleeding.”

Mandela was jailed under South Africa’s apartheid regime. After being released in 1990, he led the country’s transformation into a multi-racial democracy.

Former US president Barack Obama spoke in Johannesburg in July, delivering the flagship address of the “Mandela 100” celebrations.

Concert tickets were allocated to people who have taken part in the Global Citizen campaign.

AFP

Beyonce To Lead South Africa Anti-Poverty Festival For Mandela

FILE PHOTO: Beyonce Knowles performs onstage during 2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Field. PHOTO: GETTY IMAGES / AFP

 

Beyonce and Jay-Z will lead an A-list lineup to mark 100 years since Nelson Mandela’s birth in a Johannesburg festival by the Global Citizen movement to eradicate poverty.

The December 2 event, which will be internationally broadcast, will celebrate the late anti-apartheid icon and draw a number of leaders in an attempt to throw a spotlight on fledging efforts to eradicate the world’s worst poverty, Global Citizen announced Monday.

Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z will headline the music at the FNB Stadium alongside several other stars: Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran, Pearl Jam singer Eddie Vedder, hit pop producer Pharrell Williams and R&B chart-topper Usher.

The festival will also feature some of the continent’s most popular musicians including South African hip-hop producer Cassper Nyovest and Nigerian artists Wizkid, D’banj and Femi Kuti, who is the son of Afrobeat legend Fela Kuti.

Global Citizen said it hoped that the run-up to the festival would raise commitments of $1 billion to help the world’s poorest, with half of the amount aimed at women and girls.

Global Citizen has held festivals since 2012 in New York’s Central Park on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly to rally support, especially among young people, in the fight against poverty. The group has since branched out overseas with seminars and music in India, Germany and elsewhere.

Hugh Evans, the founder and CEO of the movement, said he expected the Johannesburg festival to be the biggest Global Citizen festival ever in terms of reach, symbolism and lineup.

“On every way that we measure outcomes — the number of citizens engaged, the number of policy outcomes that are achieved, the number of lives that are affected as a result of those policy outcomes — we believe it has the potential to be the most significant campaign we’ve ever been part of,” Evans told AFP.

Unlike traditional benefit concerts, Global Citizen distributes tickets for free to supporters who pledge to take actions such as writing their governments to support international development assistance.

For the Johannesburg edition, Global Citizen will also hand out tickets to people who are taking direct action for good including community health workers who conduct HIV tests or who instruct mothers on child nutrition as well as teachers and South Africans who recycle plastics.

Mandela as inspiration

Evans said that Mandela offered a model for the Global Citizen movement through his magnanimous efforts at racial reconciliation and democracy as well as through his focus on tackling poverty and global health.

Beyonce previously performed in South Africa in 2003 at a concert hosted by Mandela to raise awareness on HIV and AIDS. Two years later Mandela delivered a landmark speech in London’s Trafalgar Square urging concerted efforts to “make poverty history.”

But Evans said that the world was falling behind on the UN Sustainable Development Goals which include ending hunger and ensuring educational opportunities to all children, regardless of gender, by 2030.

While Britain, Germany and Nordic countries are meeting the UN-backed goal of devoting 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product to international aid, other major countries are lagging behind.

In the United States, President Donald Trump has called for slashing foreign assistance by one-third, although Congress has largely resisted his “America First” push on aid.

“The truth is the world is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals unless there is greater political will,” Evans said.

Global Citizen said that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, as well as the leaders of Norway and Ghana, plan to attend the December 2 festival in honour of Mandela, who was born on July 18, 1918.

AFP

Anti-Apartheid Movement Heroine, Winnie Mandela Dies

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 26, 2016, Africa National Congress stalwart Winnie Madikizela Mandela looks on as she is greeted by Women League supporters gathered in Soweto to celebrate her 80th birthday. MARCO LONGARI / AFP
(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 26, 2016, Africa National Congress stalwart Winnie Madikizela Mandela looks on as she is greeted by Women League supporters gathered in Soweto to celebrate her 80th birthday. MARCO LONGARI / AFP

 

Winnie Mandela, the ex-wife of South African anti-apartheid fighter and former president Nelson Mandela, died on Monday at the age of 81, her spokesman said.

She died in a Johannesburg hospital after a long illness, spokesman Victor Dlamini said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Winnie Mandela: South Africa’s Flawed Heroine

Winnie Mandela, who was married to Nelson Mandela for 38 years, played a key part in the campaign to end white-minority rule but her place in history was also stained by controversy.

“It is with profound sadness that we inform the public that Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela passed away at the Netcare Milpark Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa on Monday,” said a statement issued by Dlamini, a family spokesman.

“She died after a long illness, for which she had been in and out of hospital since the start of the year. She succumbed peacefully in the early hours of Monday afternoon surrounded by her family and loved ones.”

Most of Winnie’s marriage to Nelson was spent apart, with Nelson imprisoned for 27 years, leaving her to raise their two daughters alone and to keep alive his political dream under the repressive white-minority regime.

But her reputation came under damaging scrutiny in the twilight years of apartheid rule.

In 1986, she was widely linked to “necklacing”, when suspected traitors were burnt alive by a petrol-soaked car tyre being put over their head and set alight.

In 1990 the world watched when Nelson Mandela finally walked out of prison — hand in hand with Winnie.

The following year, she was convicted of kidnapping and assault over the killing of Stompie Moeketsi, a 14-year-old boy.

In 1992, the Mandelas separated, and then divorced in 1996, after a legal wrangle that revealed she had had an affair with a young bodyguard.

AFP

Winnie Mandela Discharged From Hospital

MARCO LONGARI / AFP

South African anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was discharged from hospital Tuesday after being treated for a kidney ailment, the family of her ex-husband Nelson Mandela said.

Madikizela-Mandela, 81, was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital 10 days ago.

The struggle veteran, who was persecuted by authorities during white rule, was also suffering from exhaustion.

“Mrs Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was today released from the Milpark Hospital,” Mandela’s family said in a statement.

“I’m pleased to be going back home where I’ll be able to rest and fully recuperate,” she added.

She married Mandela in 1956 and they divorced in 1996.

Nelson Mandela was arrested in 1962 and spent 27 years in jail before becoming South Africa’s president in the first post-apartheid elections.

Mandela Foundation Rebukes Zuma, Joins Calls For Leadership Change

zumaThe foundation set up to guard the legacy of the late Nelson Mandela on Tuesday blamed South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma for the “wheels coming off” Africa’s most industrialised nation and urged a change in political leadership.

Since coming to power in 2009, Zuma has survived a string of corruption scandals almost unscathed. But South Africa has had to bear the cost of his antics as investors worry about its political stability, business climate and rule of law.

The non-profit Nelson Mandela Foundation, whose board consists of ten prominent South African academics, politicians and journalists, called on the African National Congress (ANC), the liberation movement once headed by Mandela and now led by Zuma, to change its leadership.

“We call on the governing party to take the steps necessary to ensure that the vehicle of state be protected and placed in safe and capable hands,” it said in a rare statement entitled: “Time to account for crippling the state”.

There has been no comments from Zuma’s spokesman or from the President.

Several ANC members have called for the 74-year-old to quit but the ANC’s top echelons have backed him. In August municipal elections the ANC suffered its worst losses since taking power when apartheid fell in 1994.

Opposition parties and civic groups are planning to march in the capital Pretoria on Wednesday to demand, among other things, that he resign.

In a blow to Zuma and the ANC, Ndileka Mandela, a grandchild of Mandela, backed the foundation’s stance.

“As Grandad always said, if the ANC does what the apartheid government did, you have every right to do what we did to the apartheid government,” she said. “That statement could never be more true than now with what we are seeing happening.”

Winnie Mandela Turns 80

Winnie MandelaSouth Africa’s anti-apartheid struggle icon and former wife of the late Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela turned 80 on Monday.

A series of events have been taking place to honour her.

The Africa National Congress Women’s League organised a party for her on the famous Vilakazi Street in Soweto, where she once lived.

Mr Mandela did not speak at the event but this comes days after she addressed a press conference where she called for a’ fresh layer of leadership’ for the embattled ruling ANC.

She also asked government to find a way to solve the #FeesMustFall crisis which has turned violent across the country.

She also pleaded with the students to refrain from violence and destruction of their school infrastructure.

#FeesMustFall is a student led protest movement that began in mid October 2015 in response to an increase in fees at South African universities.

Protests started at the University of Witwatersrand and spread to the University of Cape Town, the University of Pretoria and Rhodes University before rapidly spreading to other universities across the country.

South Africa Elections: Zuma And ANC Face Test

zumaPresident Jacob Zuma and the ruling African National Congress’s popularity will be put to test as South Africans go to the polls for local elections.

The ANC has dominated the political landscape of South Africa since the first all-race elections in 1994, but Mr Zuma has had to weather scandal, after being ordered to repay taxpayers’ money spent on his private home.

Opinion polls see a close race in the capital Pretoria, economic-hub Johannesburg and other key cities, alongside the symbolic Nelson Mandela Bay municipality named after the anti-apartheid icon.

“I’m voting because I want access to electricity, water and other services. Unemployment is rife and I think voting will help change that,” William Mahlangu, 58, a pensioner, at a polling station in Pretoria told Reuters.

The ANC, at one point the main anti-apartheid party, is under pressure from two parties – the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters, who are competing in their first local elections under firebrand leader, Julius Malema.

Balarabe Musa Urges Buhari To Form Government of National Unity

Balarabe Musa, Immunity ClauseA former Governor of Kaduna State, Balarabe Musa has urged President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari to emulate Nelson Mandela by forming a government of national unity.

He also called on the President to initiate a national reconciliation mechanism that would address all the grievances that are being expressed from different ethnic nationalities.

He made this statement at the third annual memorial Nelson Mandela lecture in Kaduna.

Mr Musa expressed sadness over how Nigerian leaders corruptly enrich themselves at the detriment of socio-economic development of the nation.

He specifically maintained that Nelson Mandela’s selfless service to his people stands in sharp contrast to the leadership style of the Buhari-led administration, who he accused of making lopsided appointments and unequal distribution of resources and developments in the country.

He also urged the president to dialogue with the Niger Delta Avengers and other militant groups in the Niger Delta region, and at the same time initiate a reconciliatory mechanism to unite all warring ethnic nationalities.

Meanwhile, former Vice-President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, Issa Aremu, commended the federal government’s anti-corruption fight, which he said has led to the recovery of mind boggling amount of money from corrupt politicians.

He, however, noted that the fight should be all encompassing without bias for it to gain the confidence of the citizens, while at the same time asking President Buhari to be proactive in addressing emerging conflicts across the country.

Participants at the lecture opined that Nigeria could still have its place high in the comity of nations if political leaders would emulate the qualities of the former anti-apartheid leader.

Nelson Mandela led a team of other South Africans to earn the country its independence.

He died on December 5, 2013 at the age of 95, 23 years after his release from prison in 1990.

Angélique Kidjo Wins Human Rights Award

angelique kijoAmnesty International has given its top 2016 human rights award to Grammy Award-winning musician Angélique Kidjo and to three African youth activist movements for their work standing up to injustice, the organisation announced on Wednesday.

Benin-born Kidjo and groups Y’en a marre from Senegal, le Balai Citoyen from Burkina Faso and Lutte pour le Changement (LUCHA) from the Democratic Republic of Congo have shown “exceptional courage,” Amnesty said.

“(They) have all proved themselves to be bold advocates for human rights, using their talents to inspire others,” Salil Shetty, Amnesty’s Secretary General, said in a statement.

Previous winners of the Ambassador of Conscience Award include the late South African leader Nelson Mandela, Myanmar politician Aung San Suu Kyi, the rock band U2, Chinese artist Ai Weiwei and American singer-songwriter Joan Baez.

Kidjo fled her homeland in the 1980s after being pressured to perform for the country’s repressive regime.

In a 30-year career spawning 12 albums, she has been a prominent campaigner for freedom of expression and against female genital mutilation.

Y’en a marre (Fed Up) is a group of Senegalese rappers and journalists who joined forces in 2011 to encourage young people to register to vote in the country’s election and exercise their right to freedom of expression.

Y’en a marre has remained active since the election, hosting meetings and urging the new government to implement promised changes such as land reform, a key issue affecting Senegal’s rural poor.

Le Balai Citoyen (The Citizen’s Broom) is a political grassroots movement committed to peaceful protest. It was founded in 2013 by two musicians, reggae artist Sams’K Le Jah and rapper Smockey (Serge Bambara).

Le Balai Citoyen has voiced concerns about a range of issues from corruption and land grabs to power cuts, and it has mobilized people to claim their rights and fight impunity.

LUCHA is another community-based youth movement committed to peaceful protest. It was created in Goma, eastern DRC, in 2012.

Its activism focuses on social issues, human rights and the protection of civilians from armed groups. LUCHA advocates for social justice and democratic governance through non-partisan and non-violent actions.

Kidjo and her fellow awardees will be honored at a ceremony in Dakar, Senegal, on May 28.

African Leaders Urged To Imitate Mandela

mandelaAfrican political leaders have been asked to emulate the leadership qualities of the late Nelson Mandela of South Africa.



This was the message at the second annual memorial lecture of Nelson Mandela after his demise in December 5, 2013.

The Tanzanian High Commissioner to Nigeria, Daniel Njoolai, and his counterparts, who spoke at the memorial lecture in Abuja, decried the selfish and sit-tight syndrome of most African leaders.

According to them, Nelson Mandela’s selfless service to his people stands in sharp contrast to corruption and reluctance to relinquish power which has characterized some African leaders.

Daniel Njoolai commended former President Jonathan for conceding defeat in the last elections in Nigeria, urging African politicians to emulate this act.

The Deputy South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Kenneth Pedro, also used the occasion to remember Nigeria’s contributions to the country’s independence.

Nelson Mandela led a team of other South Africans to earn the country its independence. He died on December 5, 2013 at the age of 95, 23 years after his release from prison in 1990.