Cuba celebrates Mandela’s centenary

CUBA, a close ally of South Africa, has joined in worldwide celebrations this month of the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela by hosting various activities in this country honouring the icon’s legacy.

The first of these, being organised by the Cuban Embassy in Pretoria, is a concert by the Cuban women’s choir, Ensemble Vocal Luna, on Sunday July 15 at 3pm at St George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.

Entrance is free for that and the other celebratory activities.

Subsequent Cuban celebrations in South Africa will include the screening of North American director Estela Bravo’s documentary Mandela and Fidel on Monday July 16 at 4pm at the Centre for Latin America and the Caribbean Studies Institute for Global Dialogue at Unisa in Pretoria.

On Tuesday July 17 there will be a mini-concert from the Ensemble Vocal Luna, along with the SABC choir, at 2pm in the SABC’s M1 studio in Joburg.

The Ensemble Vocal Luna will also participate in the World Choir Games in Pretoria this month.

In remembrance of what Soweto meant in the Struggle, the Cuban choir will perform Imilonji KaNtu with the Soweto Choir at 2pm on Saturday July 21 at the University of Johannesburg Soweto campus’s conference hall.

Former Cuban president Fidel Castro paid tribute to Mandela, describing him as a symbol of the special bonds that unite Cuba and South Africa, when he learnt of the world icon’s death in 2013: “Nelson Mandela will not go down in history for the 27 consecutive years he spent in prison without ever renouncing his ideas.

“He will be remembered because he was capable of cleaning up his heart and soul from all the venom that such unfair punishment can accumlate; [and] for his generosity andthe wisdom he showed in brilliantly leading his selfless and heroic people when the time of victory could no longer be contained, deeply convinced that South Africa could not be built on hatred and revenge.

‘‘It is a fact that Mandela was an upright man, a profound revolutionary and a radical socialist who endured with great stoicism,” Castro had said.

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