{"id":246468,"date":"2022-12-30T10:21:59","date_gmt":"2022-12-30T08:21:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/press\/president-cyril-ramaphosa-hails-pele-as-global-inspiration-and-champion-of-peace?lang=en"},"modified":"2022-12-30T10:21:59","modified_gmt":"2022-12-30T08:21:59","slug":"president-cyril-ramaphosa-hails-pele-as-global-inspiration-and-champion-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/president-cyril-ramaphosa-hails-pele-as-global-inspiration-and-champion-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"President Cyril Ramaphosa hails Pele as global inspiration and champion of peace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/912c4d03d14212b\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/large\/912c4d03d14212b\" alt=\"South African Government\" style=\"max-width:500px\" \/><\/a><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/files\/download\/912c4d03d14212b\">Download logo<\/a><br \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/africarc\/loganalytics?press_id=232140&amp;press_source=South African Government\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his sadness at the passing of global football icon and social activist, Pel&eacute;.<\/p>\n<p>Edson Arantes do Nascimento has passed away at the age of 82 after an extended illness.<\/p>\n<p>President Ramaphosa offers his deepest sympathy to Pel&eacute;&rsquo;s family and friends and to the government and people of Brazil.<\/p>\n<p>The President has expressed his condolences in letters to President Jair Bolsonaro as well as incoming President Luis In&aacute;cio Lula da Silva.<\/p>\n<p>The only 3 time FIFA World Cup champion, Pel&eacute; dazzled both fans and competitors alike with a skillful and entertaining style of play that made him a global star and icon of excellence in football.<\/p>\n<p>He was a campaigner for improved social conditions in his home country and internationally, and served as Minister of Sport in Brazil from January 1995 to April 1998.<\/p>\n<p>Pel&eacute; visited South Africa in 1995 and met President Nelson Mandela. The two global figures expressed profound admiration for one another based on their common social and political causes.<\/p>\n<p>President Ramaphosa said: &ldquo;During the eight decades of his life, Pel&eacute; not only filled football stadiums with exhilaration but he filled hearts and homes with hope and the knowledge that adversity was surmountable.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;He was a global inspiration who embodied the best that sport has to offer as an exhibition of physical endeavour and as a means to transform individuals and entire societies from within.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;His endurance and impact on the field of play inspired the resilience with which Pel&eacute; worked for peace and justice globally.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Pel&eacute; will be missed by multiple generations of people worldwide who were touched by his life even if they never set foot in a stadium.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><i>Distributed by APO Group on behalf of South African Government.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-newsroom.com\/\">Source: Africa Newsroom &#8211; APO<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Download logo President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his sadness at the passing of global football icon and social activist, Pel&eacute;. Edson Arantes do Nascimento has passed away at the age of 82 after an extended illness. President Ramaphosa offers his deepest sympathy to Pel&eacute;&rsquo;s family and friends and to the government and people of Brazil. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":246469,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4584],"tags":[4585],"class_list":{"0":"post-246468","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-africa-news-2","8":"tag-apo","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/president-cyril-ramaphosa-hails-pele-as-global-inspiration-and-champion-of-peace.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}