Celebrating an everlasting legacy through the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture.
How do we define an everlasting legacy? Secondly, who is responsible for the upholding of ideologies that have created a positive shift in the world that we live in? Well, if the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture is anything to go by, it is everyone’s collective responsibility to uphold and fight for what is just in and around the world. This is according to the Nobel Peace Laureate, Malala Yousafzai who delivered a keynote address in Johannesburg, South Africa on the 5th of December 2023.
Malala, who just so happens to be the youngest individual to ever ascend onto the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture platform, was given this opportunity to honour the legacy of her fellow Nobel Peace Prize inductee on the 10th anniversary of his passing. Signifying the importance of giving young female leaders an equal opportunity to have a voice on matters of global significance.
Many may ask, who is Malala Yousafzai and why was she given this prestigious opportunity to address the world on a platform that serves as a never-ending commemoration and celebration of Madiba’s legacy? Well, she is the definition of a struggle stalwart who nearly lost her life for championing the rights of women and girls in her home country of Pakistan against an oppressive regime that violates these rights. During her upbringing, the Taliban seized power again and immediately began the systematic oppression of women and girls by banning them from attending school, working and participating in other facets of public life. This was seamless for them to achieve as they had established themselves as the dominant socio-political force throughout much of northwestern Pakistan. Asserting their power over anyone who dared speak against them.
Despite all of this, it was not enough to stop the young Malala’s hunger for education. She began to fight what was their new status quo and got herself a nomination for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2011. Later that same year, her activism earned her Pakistan’s National Youth Peace Prize. As you would imagine, this did not sit well with the Taliban and eventually led to the 15-year-old Malala being shot for her activism on October 9th of 2012. This caught the attention of the European Parliament in 2013 which awarded her with the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. As if that was not enough, Malala went on to be named a Nobel Peace Prize winner at the age of 17 years in 2014, making her the youngest person to receive this prize.
Today at 26 years of age, Malala still maintains her firm posture on the rights of women and girls in her home country. As part of her address, she made a request to all those listening from across the world to rally behind codifying what the Taliban regime is doing as ‘Gender Apartheid’. A violation of human dignity of the highest order. She cited that the bravery that Nelson Mandela showed during South Africa’s struggle is what is needed for us to champion a just world for all. In full agreement with her sentiments, our very own Graca Machel seconded Malala through a panel discussion during the evening. Citing that we cannot sit back and watch as people’s rights are violated through the likes of violence in Sudan, famine in Yemen and the war in Ukraine.
The shared sentiment on the night was of continuing Nelson Mandela’s legacy of peace, love and unity. This reminds us that people before us fought the good fight in order for us to live peacefully and as such, we are not completely free when our brothers and sisters across other parts of the world are subjected to violation. As we commemorate the 10th anniversary of uTata Nelson Mandela’s passing, let us live out his legacy with pride and joy.
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