Barack Obama announced as Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture speaker

The Nelson Mandela Foundation announced former American president Barack Obama as the speaker for the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture.

The announcement was made at an event hosted by the foundation at Constitution Hill on 23 April. The event also acted as a kick-off of their centenary celebration of Nelson Mandela.

CEO of the foundation, Sello Hatang said, “We are celebrating a great legacy; it will definitely outlive us.”

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Hatang said that the centenary will be working together with the organisations to promote sustainable and meaningful change, with their primary aims at lowering poverty and fighting against intolerance this year.

He also called on young South Africans to engage with Nelson Mandela’s legacy to create change.

The announcement saw Hatang describe Obama as ‘a Nobel prizewinner, like Mandela, with close ties to Africa’.

In a joint statement, alongside the Obama Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said, “The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture will focus on creating conditions for bridging divides, working across ideological lines and resisting oppression and inequality.”

Obama’s lecture will take place on 17 July at Ellis Park Arena with the theme of the lecture being ‘Renewing the Mandela Legacy and Promoting Active Citizenship in a Changing World’.

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The event, on 23 April, saw performances from Grammy award-winning flautist Wouter Kellerman performing a piece in memory of Mandela, while acapella group Just 6 performing their rendition of Pata Pata

Details: www.nelsonmandela.org