‘We are all Saddened by the Passing Away Of Mandela’- SA High Commissioner

(NewsWatch Cameroon)-In a eulogy to the departed freedom fighter, the South African High Commissioner to Cameroon, Her Excellency Zanele Makina described Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela as a gift not just to South Africa but to the African continent and the world as a whole. The South African diplomat said Mandela’s soul would only rest in peace if the living allow his spirit to live in them.

The South African High Commissioner to Cameroon was speaking at the Yaounde conference centre on Wednesday December 11, 2013 during a memorial service organized by the High Commission for the deceased first black president of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

The South African Diplomat said what distinguished Mandela is the fact that he had forgiven those who caused him to suffer unjustly for close to three decades in prison.  “We are all saddened by the passing away of Mandela, our icon”, she said.

The Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea who read the Pope’s message to the South African President before delivering a homily prayed that God should grant Madiba eternal rest.

The memorial service was attended by senior state officials, members of government, and members of the diplomatic corps amongst others.

Nelson Mandela died on December 5, 2013 in his residence at the age of 95. Leaders from across the world were present in South Africa to pay their last tributes to the great man although President Paul Biya of Cameroon was conspicuously absent.

By Ndi Eugene Ndi in Yaounde