The life of former political prisoner and South African President Nelson Mandela was celebrated in Suva this week with speeches and a panel discussion.

Called Nelson Mandela Day, the event was organised by the High Commission of the Republic of South Africa in Suva and was celebrated at the University of the South Pacific Laucala campus.

2018 marks the 100th year of Mr Mandela’s birth.

The event provided a unique opportunity for people around the world to reflect on his life and times to promote his legacy.

The theme of this year’s Mandela Day was “Be the legacy” which reflected on Mr Mandela’s life and hardships.

Speaking during the celebration, the president of youth organisation Ignite4Change, Broderick Mervyn, said people could make the world a better place by just being the person that the public would like to meet, to talk to, to give hope to and even to achieve accomplishments of those as historic as Mr Mandela.

“And, for those of us who care about the legacy that we honour here today – about equality and dignity and democracy and solidarity and kindness, those of us who remain young at heart, if not in body – we have an obligation to help our youth succeed,” he said.

“There are a lot of young leaders out there today who are doing the hard work of making change in their communities, who reflect Mr Mandela’s values, who are poised to lead the way.

“It was in service of this long walk towards freedom and justice and equal opportunity that Nelson Mandela devoted his life.

“His fight to end apartheid and through his sacrifice and unwavering leadership, through his moral example, Mandela and the movement he led would come to signify something larger,” he said.

A lawyer by profession, Mr Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, then part of South Africa’s Cape Province.

He would spend 27 years in various prisons for being part of the African National Congress, a black majority political party that was against white minority rule and the racial segregation or apartheid system of rule it propagated.

Mr Mandela was released from prison on February 11, 1990.

By May 10, 1994, he had become the first black president of the Republic of South Africa.

Edited by Epineri Vula

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