The home affairs department issued a smart ID card for former president Nelson Mandela as the ailing statesman celebrated his 95th birthday on Thursday.
On his father’s behalf, Mandela’s daughter Zindzi Mandela-Motlhajwa was handed a replica of the card by former president Thabo Mbeki at the Union Buildings, in Pretoria.
Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor said the transformation from the ID book to the high tech ID card was symbolic of South Africa’s expedition in the democratic dispensation.
“Today we reach another milestone in the process of restoring dignity to South African citizens. Today we begin the process of replacing the ID books with the smart ID cards, which are symbolic of our liberation,” she said.
Pandor said the first smart cards would be issued to eminent people including President Jacob Zuma, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Graca Machel, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, and Mbeki.
Other recipients of the first batch of cards would be Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, former president FW de Klerk, and struggle veterans Sophie de Bruyn, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada and Dennis Goldberg.
Pandor said other recipients include aged South Africans, some of whom were 100-years-old.
“The ID smart card is a way of affirming citizenship and using digital technology to protect the integrity of our identity as South Africans. It was here at the Union Building on May 10 in 1994 that [former] president Mandela became the first president of a democratic South Africa.
“We wish our founding president an extremely happy birthday,” she said.
Mandela has spent the past 41 days in a Pretoria hospital.
On Thursday, the presidency said his health was “steadily improving”.
“Madiba remains in hospital in Pretoria, but his doctors have confirmed that his health is steadily improving,” spokesman Mac Maharaj said in a statement.
Until now, his condition has been described as critical but stable.
“On behalf of government and all the people of South Africa, we wish Madiba a joyous 95th birthday,” Zuma said.
“We are proud to call this international icon our own as South Africans and wish him good health.”
In 2009, July 18 was declared Mandela Day to honour the former statesman, with people encouraged to dedicate 67 minutes of their time to nation-building and charity in recognition of his service towards securing democracy and restoring human dignity.
“We thank all our people for supporting Madiba throughout the hospitalisation with undying love and compassion,” said Zuma.
“We also thank all for responding to the call to give Madiba the biggest birthday celebration ever this year.”
Meanwhile, let’s take time off to understand Nelson Mandela (Madiba) through his words that came from the heart.
Here are awesome 67-minutes quotes from the world’s greatest pensioner:
- “We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free.
- “Few things make the life of a parent more rewarding and sweet as successful children.” – Nelson Mandela
- “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela
- South Africans have no concept of time and this is also why we can’t solve poverty and social problems… It’s now 10 years since the fall of the Apartheid government and we cannot blame Apartheid for being tardy. – Nelson Mandela, 22 August 2003.
- No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens but its lowest ones.
- “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” – Nelson Mandela
- “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” – Nelson Mandela
- I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands. – First day of his release, Cape Town (11 February 1990)
- I hate race discrimination most intensely and in all its manifestations. I have fought it all during my life; I fight it now, and will do so until the end of my days. Even although I now happen to be tried by one whose opinion I hold in high esteem, I detest most violently the set-up that surrounds me here. It makes me feel that I am a black man in a white man’s court. This should not be – First court statement, 1962
- Our children are our greatest treasure. They are our future. Those who abuse them tear at the fabric of our society and weaken our nation. – National Men`s March, 1997
- “There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find ways in which you yourself have altered.” – A Long Walk To Freedom, 1994.
- “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” – 90th birthday celebration of Walter Sisulu, Walter Sisulu Hall, Johannesburg,18 May 2002
- “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – Long Walk to Freedom
- “Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.” – Nelson Mandela
- Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world – Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Address, Pretoria 9 May 1994.
- “I HAVE fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realised. But my Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”- Defence statement during the Rivonia Trial, 1964
- “Lead from the back – and let others believe they are in front.” – Nelson Mandela
- “You sharpen your ideas by reducing yourself to the level of the people you are with and a sense of humour and a complete relaxation, even when you’re discussing serious things, does help to mobilise friends around you. And I love that.” – From an interview with Tim Couzens, Verne Harris and Mac Maharaj for Mandela: The Authorised Portrait , 2006, 13 August 2005
- “I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the very people who said I was one.” – Larry King Live, 16 May 2000
- “The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.” – Long Walk to Freedom
- “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – University of the Witwatersrand South Africa, 2003
- “No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” – Long Walk to Freedom.
- “For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” – Nelson Mandela
- “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” Long Walk to Freedom
- “Death is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace. I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.” – From an interview for the documentary Mandela, 1994
- We live with the hope that as she battles to remake herself, South Africa, will be like a microcosm of the new world that is striving to be born. – Nobel Prize acceptance speech,1993
- I watched, along with all of you, as the tens of thousands of our people stood patiently in long queues for many hours. Some sleeping on the open ground overnight waiting to cast this momentous vote. – Victory Speech, 1994
- If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart. – Nelson Mandela
- This is one of the most important moments in the life of our country. I stand here before you filled with deep pride and joy: — pride in the ordinary, humble people of this country. You have shown such a calm, patient determination to reclaim this country as your own, – and joy that we can loudly proclaim from the rooftops — free at last! – Victory Speech, 1994
- I have always believed that exercise is the key not only to physical health but to peace of mind. – Long Walk to Freedom
- A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. – – Long Walk to Freedom -Long Walk to Freedom
- The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall. – Long Walk to Freedom
- I always knew that someday I would once again feel the grass under my feet and walk in the sunshine as a free man. – Long Walk to Freedom
- There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires. – Long Walk to Freedom
- Any man that tries to rob me of my dignity will lose. -Long Walk to Freedom
- You may succeed in delaying, but never in preventing the transition of South Africa to a democracy. – Long Walk to Freedom
- The authorities liked to say that we received a balanced diet; it was indeed balanced — between the unpalatable and the inedible. -Long Walk to Freedom
- I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended. – Long Walk to Freedom
- I really wanted to retire and rest and spend more time with my children, my grandchildren and of course with my wife. But the problems are such that for anybody with a conscience who can use whatever influence he may have to try to bring about peace, it’s difficult to say no. [Talking to Newsweek about why he continues to be active in social and political issues, 2002]
- In Natal, apartheid is a deadly cancer in our midst, setting house against house, and eating away at the precious ties that bound us together. This strife among ourselves wastes our energy and destroys our unity. My message to those of you involved in this battle of brother against brother is this: take your guns, your knives, and your pangas, and throw them into the sea! Close down the death factories. End this war now! – Rally Speech, Durban, 25 February 1990
- We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
- We are not anti-white, we are against white supremacy … we have condemned racialism no matter by whom it is professed. – Nelson Mandela, defence statement during the Treason Trial, 1961
- We speak here of the challenge of the dichotomies of war and peace, violence and non-violence, racism and human dignity, oppression and repression and liberty and human rights, poverty and freedom from want. – Nelson Mandela – Nobel Lecture 1993
- We are both humbled and elevated by the honor and privilege that you, the people of South Africa, have bestowed on us, as the first President of a united, democratic, non-racial and non-sexist South Africa, to lead our country out of the valley of darkness.
- Today we are entering a new era for our country and its people. Today we celebrate not the victory of a party, but a victory for all the people of South Africa. – Nelson Mandela – Inaugural speech, 1994
- The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.- Nelson Mandela, Long Walk To Freedom, 1994
- We owe it to all the peoples of the sub-continent to ensure that they see in us, not merely good leaders waxing lyrical about development, but as the front commanders in the blast furnaces of labour, productive investments and visible change. – Nelson Mandela, Southern African Development Community (SADC) 15th anniversary summit, Johannesburg 13 September 1995
- I am the product of Africa and her long-cherished view of rebirth that can now be realised so that all of her children may play in the sun. – Nelson Mandela’s final speech as president to the South African parliament, Cape Town 26 March 1999
- South Africans must recall the terrible past so that we can deal with it, forgiving where forgiveness is necessary but never forgetting. – Nelson Mandela, on leaving office as South African president, 15 June 1999
- I must step down while there are one or two people who admire me. – Nelson Mandela, Daily Nation, Kenyan paper, 16 June 1999
- The time is always right to do right. – Nelson Mandela, “The 100 Best Things Ever Said by Men” in South Africa’s Men’s Health magazine, February 2002
- What I am condemning is that one power, with a president [George W. Bush] who has no foresight, who cannot think properly, is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust. – Nelson Mandela – Iraq War speech, 2003
- Man’s goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished. – Nelson Mandela
- A movement without a vision would be a movement without moral foundation
- “I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”
- South Africans must recall the terrible past so that we can deal with it, forgiving where forgiveness is necessary but never forgetting. – Nelson Mandela, on leaving office as South African president, 15 June 1999
- Our march to freedom is irreversible. We must not allow fear to stand in our way. Universal suffrage on a common voters’ roll in a united, democratic and non-racial South Africa is the only way to peace and racial harmony.
- Does anybody really think that they didn’t get what they had because they didn’t have the talent or the strength or the endurance or the commitment?
- The names of those who were incarcerated on Robben Island is a roll call of resistance fighters and democrats spanning over three centuries. If indeed this is a Cape of Good Hope, that hope owes much to the spirit of that legion of fighters and others of their calibre. – Inaugural Speech, 1994
- The people of South Africa have spoken in these elections. They want change! And change is what they will get. Our plan is to create jobs, promote peace and reconciliation, and to guarantee freedom for all South Africans. Inaugural Speech, 1994
- The time for the healing of the wounds has come. The moment to bridge the chasms that divide us has come. The time to build is upon us
- We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians; without the resolution of conflicts in East Timor, the Sudan and other parts of the world
- “I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.”
- “When the water starts boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.”
- When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both
- I am not a saint, unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.
- The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!
God bless Africa!
Sources: www.dnaindia.com, en.wikipediaquotes.com, brainyquotes.com, sahistory.org.za, http://newsone.com/
