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This Saturday, 18 July 2009, the world unites to celebrate our living legend, Tata Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. On this historic, first Nelson Mandela Day - Tata Madiba's 91st birthday - people throughout the world will be encouraged to dedicate 67 minutes of their time to doing something good for humanity.
The 67 minutes symbolises 67 years of uninterrupted and selfless service to the people of South Africa and the world since Mr Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1942.
The annual celebration of a Nelson Mandela Day was initiated this year by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and 46664 Campaign. The day will entrench Mr Mandela's legacy through commemmorating and remembering and living the values and principles epitomised by this extraordinary man, the first democratically elected President of the Republic of South Africa.
Nelson Mandela Day is a national, a continental, a global call to action: Recognise the power within you to make a difference, to change the world around you.
In South Africa, President Jacob Zuma used his annual State of the National Address to appeal to all people to get actively involved in this celebration in their communities. "His (Mandela's) values and his example of dedication to the service of humanity is a shining example in today's troubled world. Let us wholeheartedly support Mandela Day and encourage the world to join us in this wonderful campaign," President Zuma said.
The roots of an icon:
Tata Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in a village near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, to a Thembu royal family. His father was the principal councillor to the Acting Paramount Chief of Thembuland, and it was expected that the young Mandela would follow in his footsteps.
But after hearing stories of his ancestors' valour during the wars of resistance in defence of their land, Tata Madiba shunned the chieftainship in favour of active involvement in the anti-apartheid struggle. He joined the African National Congress in 1942, forming part of a group of young members of the movement that teamed together under the leadership of Anton Lembede to embark on the formidable task of transforming the ANC into a powerful mass movement.
The transformation of the organisation into a gigantic force deriving its strength and motivation from the millions of working people in the towns and countryside, including rural peasants and urban professionals, required fresh impetus. Thus was the ANC Youth League established in 1944.
Good leaders lead:
Nelson Mandela was dedicated, disciplined, and displayed all the characteristics of leadership from an early age. He was elected to numerous positions in the ANC, including those of Secretary of the ANC Youth League in 1948; President of the ANCYL in 1950; President of the ANC Transvaal 1952; Deputy National President in 1952, and ANC President in 1991.
Notable among his many roles in the liberation struggle was the radical Programme of Action he co-authored in 1949 with fellow ANC Youth League leaders, with the objective of intensifying the struggle for the attainment of national freedom. The Programme of Action, later adopted by the ANC, declared in its preamble:
"The fundamental principles of the Programme of Action of the African National Congress are inspired by the desire to achieve national freedom. By national freedom we mean freedom from White domination and the attainment of political independence. This implies the rejection of the conception of segregation, apartheid, trusteeship, or white leadership which are all, in one way or another, motivated by the idea of white domination or domination of the white over the Blacks. Like all other people the African people claim the right of self-determination. With this object in view, in the light of these principles we claim and will continue to fight for the political rights".
Tata Madiba's speech from the dock during the Rivonia trial in 1964 was a reaffirmation of the historical mission of his organisation. He said: "The ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism. When it triumphs it will not change that policy".
"During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. 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 live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Throughout the 97 years of its existence, 67 of them with Mr Mandela on board, the ANC has advanced the struggle for the liberation of all South Africans, black and white, from political, social and economic division.
Working together we can do more!

Mr Mandela's emphasis on the need for a continuous nurturing and development of our freedoms, in essence concurs with the ANC's 2009 election submission that while a lot has been achieved since the democratic breakthrough, much remains to be done. He wrote in his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom: "The oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity. When I walked out of prison, that was my mission, to liberate the oppressed and the oppressor both. Some say that has now been achieved. But I know that that is not the case.."
"The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed." - Long Walk to Freedom
The call to action on Nelson Mandela Day is therefore an affirmation of the ANC's vision, of the necessity for the nation to work together for the continuous development of humanity through the attainment of basic freedoms.
Since joining the organisation in 1942, Tata Madiba has served as a true ambassador of the progressive values and virtues championed by the ANC. His lessons, his example, his leadership - moulded and guided by the Freedom Charter signed at Kliptown in 1955 - reverberate across the world.
The great man once noted that the ANC-led struggle against apartheid was one of the foremost moral struggles in the world, which succeeded in mobilising the abhorrence of the entire humanity against the debasement of racism.
Calling for the regeneration of morality among the people, delivering the Steve Biko Memorial Lecture in 2005, Madiba said: "It is at the level of, what we once referred to as the RDP of the soul that we as a nation and people might have crucially fallen behind since the attainment of democracy."
"The values of human solidarity that once drove our quest for a humane society seems to have been replaced, or are being threatened, by a crass materialism and pursuit of social goals of instant gratification. One of the challenges of our time, without being pietistic or moralistic, is to re-instil in the consciousness of our people that sense of human solidarity, of being in the world for one another and because of and through others."
Son, father, grandfather of the ANC:
Mandela's moral vision is derived from his predecessors. Among these leaders are John Langalibalele Dube, Sefako Mapogo Makgatho, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Zacharia Richard Mahabane, Albert Mvumbi Luthuli and Oliver Reginald Tambo.
In his 1912 speech titled, "We are not political children", President Zacharia Mahabane observed that the situation whereby people were deprived of their humanity and the right to decide their future, placed a task on the ANC to strive to restore their humanity as a prerequisite for the restoration of the humanity of all South Africans.
Many decades since the formation of the ANC, the organisation has remained true to its commitment and has continued to advance the values and ethos of Ubuntu, by ensuring that they are integrated in the Constitution of the Republic, and pursued through among others, the Moral Regeneration Campaign. These are the values that Tata Madiba espoused.
Today, Nelson Mandela Day's call to action resonates with the call by the ANC under the leadership of President Jacob Zuma for the people to work together to achieve more for the realisation of a better life for all humanity.
In continuance of that which Seme, Mahabane and Mandela and others stood for, President Zuma remarked recently that the ANC's morality, based on Ubuntu, promotes social cohesion and nation building by transcending our cultural, religious, racial, gender and class differences.
"It requires us to understand and embrace one another and to value our cultural differences rather than be afraid of them. Our morality teaches us that everyone deserves to be treated with respect, from the poorest of the poor to the powerful people in our society. This is because the right to be treated with dignity is not something that you earn, but is basic to all human beings. Our morality says we cannot rest while some of our people live in abject poverty." - President Zuma, ANC Today
President Zuma emphasised during his first State of the Nation address to Parliament, that the humanity of all people must be reclaimed through the provision of quality education, skills development, affordable energy, decent shelter, water - and ensuring secure and vibrant communities.
Our contribution to the commemoration of the Nelson Mandela Day must ensure that the holistic development of humanity is intensified through the values based agenda that is embedded in our progressive elections manifesto. It must also be guided by the renewed vigour with which we will be doing the work of Parliament in line with our commitment to the concept of an activist parliament.
Nelson Mandela Day Objectives:
-Dedicating ourselves to the recovery of the humanity of (ubuntu/botho) of all the people
-Dedicating ourselves to the establishment of cohesive, caring and sustainable communities
-Defending our democracy and democratic institutions;
-Fostering moral regeneration for sustainable development, especially among the youth, and ensuring that we promote the values of uBuntu as espoused by Madiba;
-Ensuring that we help each other to weather the storm created by the economic crunch;
-Fighting for the liberation of others without consideration of the barriers created by class, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, creed or geographic borders;
-Loving one another as humanity, and ensuring that we bring hope to the hopeless and courage to fight against all forms of oppression;
-Working for the realisation of the values enshrined in the Freedom Charter and the Bill of Rights;
-Creating sustainable livelihoods for all of humanity; and
-Intensifying implementation of key Manifesto priorities within communities in honour of Tata Madiba.
-Striving for the realisation of the millennium development goals
We wish to join President Zuma in urgning all South Africans to accept the challenge and be part of this international movement for the advancement of the good of humanity. Nelson Mandela spent 67 years of his life serving humanity - on 18 July let's emulate his exemplary legacy by dedicating at least 67 minutes of our time doing something good within our communities.