Geingob speaks at Nelson Mandela Peace Summit

WINDHOEK, 25 SEP – Nelson Mandela’s effect on humanity was so profound that the impact of his life will resonate for centuries, President Hage Geingob said on Monday.
He was speaking in his capacity as Southern Africa Development Community Chairperson at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit, held at the start of the general debate of the 73rd Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York.
The focus of the peace summit is global peace in honour of the centenary of the birth of Mandela, South Africa’s first black president from 1994 to 1999.
It offers the opportunity for world leaders to renew their commitment to global peace, conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peacebuilding, promotion and protection of human rights and long-term development initiatives as called for by the UN Secretary-General.
In his speech made available after delivery, Geingob listed five traits of extraordinary people as contained in an article by psychiatrist and mental health expert, Dr David Sack on the Psychology Today website.
These are a focus on things that matter, kindness, a willingness to be seen as imperfect, an ability to connect and joyfulness.
“The extraordinary personality we are commemorating today, a man we know affectionately as Madiba, is someone who exhibited these unique character traits during his life,” said Geingob.
He praised Mandela’s kindness, which he described as genuine and said he transferred it to South Africans and the rest of the world through the concept of the ‘Rainbow Nation’.
“As the UN family, let us honour this extraordinary man by not just seeing freedom as the casting off of the chains of oppression, but by living in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of every human being on our planet,” he said.
Mandela was seen as a symbol of global peacemaking and won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. He passed away in December 2013.
(NAMPA)