Cape Town was a hive of activity yesterday, as President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, as well as their daughters, visited Cape Town for the day on their three African nation tour.  It also was the opening of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition, an emotionally moving event.  The day was focused on the contribution which former President Mandela has made to Cape Town in particular, but also to South Africa and the rest of the world.

President Obama flew into Cape Town International, and was then flown to the Cape Town Stadium area by helicopter, and then to Robben Island, where fellow Mandela inmate Ahmed Kathrada showed the USA First Family around.  President Obama wrote in the guest book at the World Heritage site: ‘On behalf of our family we’re deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit’, reported the Washington Post.  A meeting with former Archbishop Tutu, and a visit to a charity project in a township of Cape Town followed, and then the family paid a visit to the famous penguins of Boulders Beach, creating traffic problems for the locals in Simonstown.  President Obama addressed a packed hall of local dignitaries at the University of Cape Town, praising the contribution made by Mr Mandela, reflecting that he and the American nation have ‘drawn strength from the example of this extraordinary leader, and the nation that he changed‘.  He advised individuals to make choices based on hope, and not based on fear. He said that he had taken his first steps into political life because of our country, getting involved with the divestment campaign, to stop American investment in our country.  ‘You’ve shown us how a prisoner can become a President’, he said.  He laughingly referred to Freshlyground, Nando’s, and vuvuzelas as icons of our country. He announced  a new Power Africa initiative to double access to power in Africa, with a $16  billion American private and public investment .  He extended the ‘hand of a friend in the United States of America’ to our nation in concluding his speech. President Obama and his family stayed over at the Table Bay Hotel last night.

The media was allowed to attend the Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition, and it was an event that I will remember as the highlight of 2013.   The Concourse level of the Civic Centre was unrecognisable, photographs of Mr Mandela displayed in an L-shape, representing Mr Mandela as a leader of the nation greeting children and ordinary South Africans.  It also showed him in his role as statesman, meeting VIP visitors in Cape Town, such as the Dalai Lama, Bill and Hilary Clinton,  Princess Diana, President Fidel Castro from Cuba, Queen Elizabeth II, Muhammad Ali, Bill Cosby, UK Prime Minister John Major, and the late Michael Jackson.  The multi-media exhibition also includes videos (including the famous speech on the balcony of the City Hall on the day of his release from Victor Verster on 11 February 1990), lightboxes and banners representing Mr Mandela, and was curated by Ayesha Ismail, a Southern African France24 correspondent who won the tender for the exhibition organisation.  The timing of the exhibition has been criticised as being opportunistic given Mr Mandela’s illness, but the date for the opening had been set early this year already, Ayesha explained.  The event was also meant to have been the platform for handing over the Freedom of the City to President Barack and Mrs Michelle Obama, but this became a political issue, and the scroll was received on their behalf by Acting USA Ambassador Ms Virginia Palmer on 7 June. The Freedom of the City is the highest honour that the City can bestow, and past recipients are Mr Mandela, the former Archbishop Tutu, and Richard van der Ross.  The goal of the City’s ‘Cape Town honours Nelson Mandela’ program is to commemorate Mr Mandela’s 95th birthday this month and to pay tribute to our country’s icon.  Cape Town is the first city in the country to pay tribute to Mr Mandela.  The focus of the exhibition is on school children in particular, and it is planned that 25000 are to view it in the next ten months.

The Opening began with a children’s choir singing Nkosi Sikelele, and then former Anglican Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndugane spoke a prayer for the improved health of Mr Mandela, both goosebump moments.  Former Archbishop Desmond Tutu began his speech with a characteristic joke, sharing that he had advised Mr Mandela to take better care with his dress sense, to which Mr Mandela replied that it was rich coming from a man wearing a dress!  He praised Mr Mandela for the most significant events which brought our nation together, being the first democratic election, winning the Rugby World Cup (in 1995), unveiling the inclusive Constitution, and the winning and hosting of the 2010 soccer World Cup. He concluded: ‘Now, after a lifetime of service, of giving – even stricken as he is in hospital – Madiba is uniting the nation again, this time, in prayer. Although our hearts are heavy, may we have the strength to recognise this moment for what it is: an opportunity to reflect once again on our promise, to harness our collective energy…… to achieve our dreams’.

Patricia de Lille was described by Mr Mandela as being likable, no matter which party she represented, MC Shadow Twala said when she introduced the Mayor. She said there is a lot of speculation about Mr Mandela’s medical condition, but that he had surprised the nation with previous illnesses, showing him to be a man of ‘strength and resilience‘.  Our nation was in Mr Mandela’s hands when he took over the country as our President, being uncertain about our future initially, but we were in good hands as he sacrificed so much for us in freeing our nation, she said.  Cape Town has played a significant role in Mr Mandela’s life, having spent so many years on Robben Island, and Capetonians being the first to welcome Mr Mandela as a free man.

Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel touched on various character traits of Mr Mandela, making him such a special person: he cares about everyone, he visited Mrs Betsie Verwoerd in Orania, he was anti-racial and anti-sexism, he was focused on nation building, he described himself as ‘I stand before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people‘ when he addressed the nation from the City Hall balcony on the day of his release, he is a man of integrity, he was not afraid to lead, and he refused to sell out.  Mr Manuel said we can all learn from him, and live by his values. Chris Nissen, former leader of the ANC in the Western Cape, described Cape Town as ‘the city of reconciliation’. Moving was when he, Mr Manuel, and the former Archbishop Ndugane sang ‘Show us the way to freedom, freedom is in your hands’ from the stage, joined by the audience.  One of the banners in the exhibition focused on the role of Cape Town in our country’s history, as expressed by Mr Mandela: ‘Perhaps it was history that ordained that it be here, at the Cape of Good Hope that we should lay the foundation stone of our new nation‘.   Freshlyground sang a song ‘Mandela‘. Catering was done by Knights Catering from Stellenbosch, offering a mix of sushi, sandwiches, salmon treats, and very pink cupcakes and petits fours.

In a booklet commemorating the opening of the Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition, the City of Cape Town makes a pledge to copy and model its administration ‘on the extraordinary values  and principles embodied in the leadership of the Father of the Nation, uTata Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’.  This includes magnanimity, humility, morality, unity, inclusivity, equality, reconciliation, accountability, humanity, listening and hearing, pro-youth, and a bias in favour of the poor.  It must have been this new pledge that led Councillor Grant Pascoe, Mayoral Committee member of Tourism, Events, and Marketing, to greet me and shake hands at the function, our first meeting!

The opening function was a reflection of how far South Africa has come under the leadership of Mr Mandela.  There were no party politics, and no party claimed  priority over the other in the speeches, demonstrating the unity of our nation.  Yesterday (30 June 2013) was a very special day for Cape Town, being the focus of the local and the world media, with the visit of President Obama to the most perfect weather, and the icon exhibition in honour of Mr Mandela, which is now open to the public to share in the display of the greatness of our former leader.  As a ratepayer in Cape Town I felt proud that some of our City’s monies have been put to such excellent use!

Nelson Mandela Legacy Exhibition, Concourse Level, Civic Centre, 12 Hertzog Boulevard, Cape Town. Daily, 10h00 – 18h00, until April 2014. Free entrance.

Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com  Twitter: @WhaleCottage