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A shower of flowers for Mandela
People flock to South African Embassy in Abu Dhabi to pay tribute to the anti-apartheid leader.
Well-wishers have been leaving flowers at the gate of the South African Embassy in Abu Dhabi to commemorate the passing of former President Nelson Mandela, while a “stream” of people have been signing a Book of Condolence.
The embassy is holding a memorial service on Wednesday at 6pm at the Evangelical Christian Church Building opposite British International School Al Khubairat (BISAK).
Mandela, who became South Africa’s first black president in 1994, passed away on Thursday night at the age of 95. He was imprisoned for 27 years for his fight against apartheid.
South African Ambassador to the UAE, Mpetjane Kgaogelo Lekgoro, said he expected up to 500 people to attend the memorial service, which will last one hour.
Fresh flowers had been appearing at the embassy’s gate since Friday morning, he said.
“They are still bringing fresh flowers till now.”
Since the opening of the Book of Condolence on Sunday, Lekgoro said people who turned up to sign their names are “streaming in numbers”, including some ambassadors from other countries. When the signing concludes on Thursday, the Book will be sent to the South African government in Pretoria where it will be kept in the national archive.
Lekgoro, who was in the leadership of the Youth Organisation of the African National Congress (ANC) — the party Mandela led — recalled his impression of Madiba — as Mandela was widely known — as a young man.
“I always remember him as the one who stood tall. I had the privilege of working in the headquarters of ANC where he was working from (and) I had the privilege of attending a few meetings he chaired. I remember him as a towering individual in those meetings with a vision on what should be done in order to achieve our democracy,” he said.
As a government official of his country’s ruling party, ANC, Lekgoro said Mandela’s daily teaching of unity and cooperation is something that rubbed off on him.
“One of his greatest attributes is believing in people, that in the end if they work together they will be able to achieve what they set to achieve. You alone cannot achieve the total goal. If you are united you can achieve what you set yourself to achieve. “On your own you may not achieve them. This is the daily teaching and what I learned from him,” he said.
In honour of Mandela’s death, several memorial services were held at different provinces in South Africa. His body will be flown to his ancestral hometown of Qunu for a state funeral and burial on Sunday. In a prayer service at a Methodist Church in Johannesburg on Sunday, President Jacob Zuma made an impassioned plea for South Africans to embrace Mandela’s values of unity, freedom and justice.
The Book of Condolence is open for the public to sign between 9am to 12pm till Thursday.
olivia@khaleejtimes.com
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