By Hassan Isilow
JOHANNESBURG
South African authorities on Tuesday launched the Nelson Mandela Remembrance Walk in commemoration of the late anti-apartheid icon and former president who died last December at 95.
"The purpose of the walk is to celebrate the life and times of Mandela," Gauteng Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation Member of the Executive Council Molebatsi Bopape, said at a launch ceremony.
She said the remembrance walk would be held on December 13, when it would retrace the steps of Mandela's political career.
The event was launched by the Gauteng City Region in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg.
"This reminds me of Mandela's long walk to freedom," said Andrew Malangeni, Mandela's fellow inmate at Robben Island.
Malangeni thanked event organizers for their initiative.
The launch was also attended by Ahmed Khathrada, another veteran of the anti-apartheid struggle, and a number of provincial government officials.
Mandela, who died last December at the age of 95, is revered by South Africans as the father of their nation. He spent 27 years in prison for taking up arms against South Africa's apartheid regime.
Released in 1990, Mandela became South Africa's first post-apartheid president in 1994, remaining in office for five years.
"It's still too early to live with the reality that Madiba [Mandela] is gone," his widow, Graca Machel, said at the event.
Clad in a black suit, she said her heart grew heavier every year at the approach of December – the month in which her late husband died.
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr
