Zimbabwe Democracy Now and all its fellow democracy movements join together today, February 11, 2010 to salute.........Nelson Mandela on the 20th anniversary of his triumphant walk to freedom after a 27-year ordeal as a political prisoner on Robben Island.
In his first speech to the emotional crowds outside the city hall in Cape Town, Mandela’s first words were, “I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all.”
He waved to the cheering mass of 50 000 South Africans, media corps, diplomats and visitors and said, “We call on our people to seize this moment so that the process towards democracy is rapid and uninterrupted. We have waited too long for our freedom.”
Robert Mugabe sent his formal congratulations to Nelson Mandela on that day, too. In 1990 Mugabe had already been in power for ten years; he had an horrific genocide on his record and was routinely imprisoning and torturing many of his political opponents. But that didn’t stop him from claiming liberation-hero kinship with South Africa’s revered icon and president-to-be.
Years later, at a banquet to celebrate his 90th birthday, a retired Mandela voiced his disappointment that ‘peace, democracy and freedom for all’ had not yet been achieved in Africa. He said, “Nearer to home we had seen the outbreak of violence against fellow Africans in our own country and the tragic failure of leadership in our neighbouring Zimbabwe.”
Madiba knows that Zimbabwe has been independent for 30 years, but it is still waiting for its freedom.
Zimbabweans have always shared kinship with South Africans; traditionally we consider South Africa to be our ally. Many of us have taken refuge there, fleeing our beloved homeland where Mugabe’s brutal regime has robbed us of the means to earn a living. As Zimbabweans cheer for Nelson Mandela on this milestone anniversary, so we also weep for our broken country and our scattered families. As we salute the greatest son of Africa, so we urge our own leaders to embrace Mandela’s humanitarian values.
Zimbabweans wholeheartedly share Nelson Mandela’s proud vision for Africa: Peace, democracy and freedom for all. May this at last be the year that it becomes reality in Zimbabwe.
We salute Africa’s greatest statesman and, in unison with our South African brothers and sisters, we pray for his continued health and happiness on this day and for many years to come.
Post published in: News