Across the Public Service, hundreds of thousands of
officials of all ranks and backgrounds will leave their
day-jobs for 67 minutes on July 18 as a living tribute to
former President Mandela.
Declared Nelson Mandela Day by President Jacob Zuma
in 2009 and Nelson Mandela International Day by the
United Nations in 2010, Madiba’s birthday serves as a
call to action to people around the country and world to
do good in their communities and help inspire long-term
change.
In 2013, July 18 is particularly poignant in view of
Madiba’s extended hospitalisation and the outpouring of
love and support by South Africans and citizens of the
world alike.
The former President’s illness has inspired a broad range
of reflections on his life and legacy and provoked the
challenge of how to sustain the legacy of justice, human
rights, equality, peace, compassion and care for fellow
human beings that President Mandela championed
throughout the nearly a century of his life.
Since the advent of democracy, successive administrations
have worked with great dedication and continuity
to ensure that the South Africa envisioned during the
liberation struggle and by the first democratic administration
of President Mandela would be realised over time.
The current administration has every reason to be proud
of its own contribution to this legacy; a legacy that brings
Madiba’s humanitarian values and leadership to life in
the improved social and material conditions of all South
Africans