Mandla Mandela, chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council and grandson of former South African president, the late Nelson Mandela, celebrated the Ubuntu Bash, Heritage Day Bazaar in Doha with thousands of South African expatriates. “It gives me a great honour today to be before you in Qatar almost 10,000km away from home only to discover that I am home away from home to see many South Africans gathered here,” he told the huge crowd.
Chief Mandla was the guest of honour at event, which is being celebrated on September 24 every year to recognise the cultural wealth of the South African nation. The South African community in Doha marked the day by staging an array of activities to remember the cultural heritage of the many cultures which make up the population of South Africa.
In his speech, Chief Mandla highlighted the sacrifices and the achievement of his grandfather – a global icon – in fighting to abolish the Apartheid system in South Africa, stressing that “I was privileged to call him my grandfather.”
South African ambassador Faizel Moosa, together with other embassy officials, warmly welcomed Chief Mandla and cited the importance of celebrating Heritage Day. “I see that South Africa has arrived in Doha today. South Africa is in the house,” he said. “Heritage Day is a very important day, people might think that it’s Friday but it is a day that we celebrate because of a great man, Nelson Mandela. He taught us how to be South Africans.”
He announced that on Monday, the United Nations will unveil for the first time in its history a statue of Nelson Mandela. “Once again South Africans are showing the world how to unite, we live in different languages and we are still able to come together in an event like this tonight and be one South Africa,” the envoy stressed.
“We are not saying we don’t have challenges, we do have our challenges but what have we learned from the great Nelson Mandela? To speak to each other, simple dialogue,” he said. “I think the world can learn, the Middle East can learn, that through speaking to your enemies, you are able to find each other, and I think as South Africans we represent that to the world.”
Chief Mandela was also welcomed by Mead al-Emadi, community engagement manager at the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC), who announced the registration of South African volunteers for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
SC recently opened the official registration of its volunteer programme for the prestigious tournament at seeyouin2022.com.