south africa

It has been almost a week since Nelson Mandela's passing. For some South Africans, the reality that their beloved former president is no more finally sank in on Wednesday, when they saw his mortal remains at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Mandela's body lay in state at the newly renamed Nelson Mandela Amphitheatre, where Madiba was inaugurated as South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994, from 8am to 5.30pm on Wednesday, under the watchful eyes of the national ceremonial guard of the SA National Defence Force.

During Tuesday's memorial service for former South African president Nelson Mandela, as tens of thousands gathered in the FNB stadium in Johannesburg and millions more watched on television, an entirely different story emerged: the ten-second interaction between U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban president Raul Castro.

We've all seen selfies taken in questionable places. During a school lockdown. In front of a man attempting suicide. At Auschwitz. Now, some people are adding President Obama to the list of people with poor selfie judgment after the leader of the free world posed with British Prime Minister David Cameron and Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service Tuesday in South Africa.

December 9, 2013

Martin Luther King Jr. once said: “If a man hasn’t discovered something he will die for, he isn’t fit to live.” Nelson Mandela was a man who cherished the ideal of a free society all his life, an ideal that, as he proclaimed at his trial in Pretoria in April 1964, he hoped to live for, but if need be, die for.

Fifty-three heads of state and government have so far confirmed attendance at upcoming memorial events for peace icon Nelson Mandela, South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane said Sunday. The dignitaries will include U.S. President Barack Obama, along with three former American presidents, Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff, French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

In 1999, a white South African, Dennis Dupree, opened a restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn along with his brother and sister-in-law. They named it Madiba, the clan name used by many South Africans to refer affectionately to Nelson Mandela. When people in Brooklyn heard the news of Mandela's death, many quickly gathered at Madiba.

In an Expert’s Brief I published yesterday, I reflected on Nelson Mandela’s achievements as the father of the democratic, non-racial South Africa that replaced the odious and repressive apartheid state. A lawyer himself–one of the first Blacks called to the South African bar–Mandela was devoted to the rule of law. Once in office, his governance was characterized by racial reconciliation, which he shrewdly promoted through the use of symbols. Like President Obama, he sought “teachable moments.”

According to the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory, no fewer than 120 streets, roads, boulevards, avenues, bridges, and highways have been named after the first democratically elected president of South Africa, who turns 95 today. A thorough search turned up more than 140, including 50 in South Africa and 10 in the United States. This map include streets that carry Mandela's birth name, Rolihlahla, and clan name, Madiba.

Pages