Tributes paid to Nelson Mandela

A GREAT fighter for freedom and a great person who created a wonderful feeling of optimism throughout South Africa.

That's how Nelson Mandela has been described as tributes pour in following the former president's death at the age of 95 on Thursday night.

Gerry White - a member of Rugby Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) - told us: "Always having been active supporters of the anti-apartheid movement, my sister and I went to South Africa to celebrate her 50th birthday and to see for ourselves the changes that Mandela's recent election victory had brought about.

"There was a wonderful feeling of optimism everywhere we went in Cape Town, Jo'burg, Pretoria and the rural Eastern Cape.

"Our most moving moment was when we stood on the very spot at the parliament buildings in Pretoria where Mandela had so recently taken his oath as president.

"We probably will never see his like again, a great fighter for freedom as well as a great person."

TUSC's prospective parliamentary candidate Pete McLaren said the announcement of Mandela's death by the current president Jacob Zuma came as great sadness.

"Members and supporters of Rugby TUSC have been collecting their experiences and memories of Nelson Mandela and the fight against one of the most extreme forms of racism – apartheid in South Africa," he said.

"I set the ball rolling by describing how I watched the film Cry Freedom' with our then nine-year-old daughter Karla, and I think she was moved to tears even more than I was at the death of Steven Biko and the actions of the repressive anti apartheid regime.

"It certainly helped form her political views. I also went to the Wembley concerts in 1988 and 1990, the first organised in support of Mandela's release from prison, the second just after his release when it was so moving to be part of the audience, all 80,000 of whom gave him an 8 minute standing ovation before he spoke."

Julie Weekes, Rugby TUSC's treasurer and a lecturer on trade union studies, added: "The whole labour movement in the 1970s challenged apartheid. We even ran special courses on it for union reps.

"I remember taking part in lots of pickets outside the SA embassy in Trafalgar Square and going to pop concerts too to raise awareness and then later to celebrate his release.

"I was also lucky enough to hear him speak in Birmingham when he visited."

Announcing the death live on TV, Mr Zuma said Mr Mandela was at peace.

"Our nation has lost its greatest son," he added.

"Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss.

"Fellow South Africans, Nelson Mandela brought us together and it is together that we will bid him farewell."

Prime Minister David Cameron said a great light has gone out in the world while US President Barack Obama hailed Mr Mandela for achieving more than could be expected of any man.

Earlier this year, Mr Mandela spent nearly three months in hospital with a recurring lung infection.

He was moved to his home in the Houghton suburb of Johannesburg in September, where he continued to receive intensive care.

The Bishop of Coventry Christopher Cocksworth said: "He remained committed to his principles of ‘a free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities’ and he had learnt that true freedom for all can only be built upon forgiveness by all.

"Mandela knew the only way to build a new and better society was for there to be both truth (so that nothing was denied of the past) and reconciliation (so that an alternative to revenge and reprisal could be found).

"He became an embodiment of the Coventry story and the Coventry prayer of Jesus Christ, ‘Father, forgive’."

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