NELSPRUIT – The city joins the Mandela family and the entire country in mourning the passing of our father, our struggle and international icon, Dr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

It is with deep grief that we say finally say goodbye. On behalf of the Mbombela Local Municipality Council and all the citizens, I would like to send our deepest condolences to the entire Madiba family. Our thoughts and prayers are with you in this time of pain and great loss. We are saddened at his death because we feel he still had a lot to do, but we understand that it was his time and ours is to celebrate his life and make sure his legacy lives on. He served this country and the world so well, and it’s our time now to take the baton and carry on his legacy and defend our democracy and freedom.

We would like to call on all to continue the legacy of our greatest father and continue making South Africa a better country for all.

Let us remember what he stood for and what he fought for. Let us join hands and celebrate his life, honour his legacy and recapture his spirit. Let us all unite in building a developmental and non-racial South Africa. In his inauguration speech in Pretoria on May 10, 1994, Mandela said, “We understand it still, that there is no easy road to freedom. We know it well that none of us acting alone can achieve success.

“We must therefore act together as a united people, for national reconciliation, for nation building, for the birth of a new world. Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world. Let freedom reign.”

As we all go about our businesses and affairs, let us not forget who made it possible for us to be free and able to live with one another. Let us not forget him and where we come from, for the gods will never forgive us and his efforts would have been in vain.

There are no better or sweeter words we can use to describe him and what he stood for, and the least we can do is make sure that his legacy lives on. Let us ensure that his party, the ANC, which he served so distinctively and with loyalty, lives on.

He lives on and he lives through us, let us do him proud!