Pretoria - Reconciliation, unity and peace are what Former President Nelson Mandela will be remembered for - values which need to be pursued, President Jacob Zuma said on Wednesday.
“Reconciliation, unity, peace, equality and forgiveness among others…This is what we’ll remember Madiba for,” said Zuma.
The President was speaking at a lunch for VIPs held at OR Tambo building in Pretoria.
Mandela, who as of today is lying in state at the Union Buildings, was described as a reconciler.
“He had this capacity to persuade, to argue his case. I used to say during the negotiations [that] I don’t envy [FW] de Klerk because you have Mandela on the opposite side,” said the President, remembering the times prior to South Africa becoming a democratic country.
De Klerk was the last President of the Apartheid era.
Zuma said he gave South Africans leadership and articulated the values and ideals from the Rivonia trial. “It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die,” one of Madiba’s quotes.
Zuma said he created policies and the kind of government that today makes many citizens sleep in peace.
Today is the first of the three-days in which Mandela will lie in state at the Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre at the Union Buildings. Earlier, Zuma led the first batch of mourners, including the Mandela family, to pay homage to Madiba.
The group included an emotional Graca Machel, Madiba's wife, as well as former wife Winnie Madikezela Mandela, the elder statesman’s children and grandchildren as well as several government ministers and former President Thabo Mbeki.
The second batch to file past the body and pay their last respects was leaders from continents across the world.
Zuma thanked the VIPs for their presence.
“We really feel we have brothers and sisters in the world and we have friends who care about South Africa knowing where it comes from…We feel comforted,” said the President.
The viewing of Mandela’s remains at the Union Buildings which opened to the public shortly after midday will continue on Thursday and Friday.
The 95-year-old will be buried in Qunu, Eastern Cape, on Sunday. - SAnews.gov.za
