Mayor Patricia de Lille and Minister in the Presidency, Trevor Manuel, officially opened the Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition in the Cape Town Civic Centre on Sunday, 30 June 2013.
The exhibition, on the concourse level of the building, is a multimedia display tracing Mandela’s relationship with Cape Town.
In her speech, the Mayor encouraged Capetonians to apply Mandela’s values in everything they do: strength, resilience, justice, dignity and respect. “I want Capetonians to engage on how we reinforce his values in the pillars upon which this city is governed: the Opportunity City; the Safe City; the Caring City; the Inclusive City; and the Well-Run City.”
The Mayor said her idea to celebrate Mandela’s legacy and his relationship with Cape Town came about last year when the former President was hospitalised. “I wanted to celebrate Madiba during his lifetime. I wanted to let the people come together to celebrate him while he is still with us and draw on his example of leadership to chart our way into the future”.
Mayor De Lille declared 2013 as the year in which the mother city would celebrate Nelson Mandela and she reiterated the necessity of passing on his story about the sacrifices he made for South Africa to be a democracy on to the younger generation.
“We know his history with our great city,” she said. “It was here that he was imprisoned for so many years by the Apartheid regime. It was here that he ushered in a new legal framework of human rights and dignity from the first democratic parliament.
“When Mandela was awarded the Freedom of the City in 1997, he said: “It was the people of Cape Town who welcomed me on my first day of freedom… I am proud to be associated with citizens who are uniting at last to build a better life for all who live in Cape Town.”
“With these images and multimedia displays, we want our residents to come together and absorb Madiba’s legacy and so create the framework for engagement.”
Trevor Manuel, who served as Minister of Finance during Mandela’s administration and is now a Minister in the Presidency, thanked the City for organising the Legacy Exhibition in his speech. “We have the responsibility to ensure that all may know of the qualities and character of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, and this exhibition has to be a part of that obligation,” he said.
