As the country and the world at large commemorate President Nelson Mandela’s birthday, President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on everyone to promote peace across the globe.
In his weekly newsletter to the nation, President Ramaphosa said everyone is called upon to acquire involved in peacemaking and peacebuilding processes, which is the fruit of Nelson Mandela’s legacy.
The President highlighted that last month marked six months since the signing of the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities Agreement between the government of Ethiopia and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front in Pretoria on the 2nd of November 2022.
“This peace agreement that South Africa played a role in brokering under the auspices of the African Union, continues to hold. President Mandela said that ‘the heroes are those who manufacture peace and build.’
“We will continue to follow in his footsteps by calling for political solutions to conflicts. We are fortified by the towering moral courage of worthy leaders like President Mandela. That is why on this Nelson Mandela Day, I call on every one of us to promote peace everywhere,” the President said.
President Ramaphosa said President Mandela’s legacy is acclaimed around the world, with its international observance having been declared by the United Nations in 2009.
“This is in testament to his role as a revered statesman, unifier and above all, as a peacemaker. Striving for peace in the world, for an conclude to conflicts everywhere, and for a right international fellowship of humankind are the ideals that Nelson Mandela stood for.
“They were relevant when he was a statesman on the world stage, and they are even more relevant today with many parts of our continent and the world embroiled in conflict.
“As South Africa, we hold rapid to the ideal that a better world can be achieved through engendering peace. This derives from negotiation and compromise over violence, the use of force and resorting to war,” the President said.
President Ramaphosa said that South Africa’s contribution to world peace is through supporting societies in conflict, and this is largely as a result of the Nelson Mandela legacy.
He said the country’s experience with negotiating an finish to apartheid and with building a multiparty democracy is regularly sought out by parties seeking to bring conflict to an finish.
Since democracy, South Africa has played such a role in Northern Ireland, Palestine, Zimbabwe, South Sudan, Eswatini, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Ethiopia, and most recently, in Sudan.
Last week, President Ramaphosa met with the Deputy President of the Transitional Sovereign Council of Sudan, where they discussed the support South Africa can lend to the convening of an inclusive dialogue process towards a permanent peace.
Earlier this month, the President was in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where South Africa is playing a key role in facilitating dialogue, conflict resolution and providing technical assistance under the 2013 Peace and Security Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Remarkable Lakes. – SAnews.gov.za
Ladybird
Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?
Hairpin
Is SA\’s former President, Jacob Zuma still a free man?