Statement of the Office of former President Thabo Mbeki on the passing away of Maya Angelou Former President Thabo Mbeki wishes to extend his condolences to the family of African-American teacher, activist and artist, Maya Angelou, who passed away at her home in the United States yesterday. He said: “Maya Angelou is one of the world’s activists for an as yet-to-be-achieved fair and just world between and within nations. Her departure should serve as a moment of reflection on whether what each one of us does each day takes us closer to the kind of world Maya Angelou visualised. “In doing so, we are challenged to summon the optimism that was Maya Angelou’s character which in turn defined her life. She possessed a character of steel which everyone who knew her and who read her work easily noticed,” former President Mbeki said. The former President who is currently in Algeria as a guest of honour of the Algerian government at the 17th Ministerial Conference of the Non-Aligned Movement said whereas Maya Angelou was a citizen of the developed world, her resolute spirit was relevant to the developing world as it navigates through challenges of under-development and the creation of a fair and just world. Referring to “Still I Rise,” one of Maya Angelou’s poems, former President Mbeki said it contains vital elements of the totality of the outlook that should inspire today’s activists as they strive to change society for the better. He cited, in particular, the following stanza of the poem: “Out of the huts of history’s shame I rise Up from a past that’s rooted in pain I rise I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave. I rise I rise I rise Former President Mbeki called on the youth to study Maya Angelou’s life and work together with others of her generation of activists, the better to understand the interconnection between the struggles in Africa and the Diaspora and to help to answer the question: “What shall we do to forge the necessary links between Africa and its Diaspora to achieve the African Renaissance and a fair and just world order?” Issued by the Office of former President Thabo Mbeki May 29, 2014 Johannesburg
Posted on: Thu, 29 May 2014 12:22:03 +0000
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