The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory will, on Wednesday 23 August 2023, receive a donation of original print, video and photographic records of initiatives and projects in which Nelson Mandela had a personal hand or interest.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation invites the media to witness the handover of these archive materials, including a video of Mandela calling for the lifting of United Nations sanctions on South Africa (except for oil and arms). This video was recorded before Mandela made this historic appeal at the UN on 24 September 1993.
Increasing levels of UN sanctions on South Africa were declared from 1963 onwards, with full cultural, educational and sporting sanctions declared in 1968.
Mandela, who was released from jail in February 1990, became South Africa’s first democratically elected president in May 1994.
“We made the video before Mandela made the historic speech at the United Nations on 24 September 1993 and I was entrusted with its safekeeping until he did so,” says James Urdang, founder and CEO of Education Africa.
Urdang is donating his personal records, and those of Education Africa, to the Foundation.
Urdang met Mandela through Walter Sisulu, then deputy president of the African National Congress, in 1992 when he started Education Africa, a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that twins well-resourced schools with poorly resourced schools.
Urdang worked alongside Mandela on a number of occasions and Mandela was patron of Schools Link, an Education Africa project that aimed to create awareness in the United Kingdom of the NGO’s work in South Africa.
The main items featured in the Education Africa James Urdang Collection of archive materials are:
- The No Easy Walk to Freedom video, facilitated by Education Africa. In the recording a coalition of South African leaders led by Mandela call for the lifting of sanctions (except for oil and arms) against South Africa, and invite the world to join in the process of reconstruction and renewal for a united and prosperous South Africa. Plans for the production of this video began at the end of July 1993 and Nelson Mandela’s recording was done at a safe house in Houghton on 15 September that year. The video was only released internationally after Nelson Mandela addressed the UN on 24 September 1993. Urdang was entrusted with its safekeeping until that time – a huge responsibility that earned him a great deal of respect
- The Golden Doves of Peace Awards. Education Africa and the National Peace Secretariat hosted the Golden Doves of Peace Awards ceremony on 7 June 1994 to honour unsung heroes of the peace process. Special awards were presented to Nelson Mandela, Jacqui Mofokeng (Miss South Africa 1994) and Antonie Gildenhuys (National Peace Secretariat chairman). Pre-recorded messages of support from Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the UN secretary-general from 1992 to 1996, and John Mayor, the UK prime minister from 1990 to 1997, were shown at the awards ceremony
- The first and second series of Nelson Mandela Presidential Medallions, launched on 19 September 1995 to commemorate Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as South Africa’s first democratically elected president, and on 27 May 1997 to promote literacy, achievement and education. Proceeds from the sale of both series of medallions went to Education Africa
- The Education Africa Presidential and Premier Education Awards, launched in 1995 and held annually until 1999 with the support of the Education Ministry, the Office of the President and the premiers of each of South Africa’s provinces. These awards acknowledged the invaluable role that organisations and structures outside the government play in education. President Mandela himself was the guest of honour at two of the awards events. Three of the events were held on the presidential estate in Pretoria