HM the King offers condolences to the widow of the late Mandela and to South African president
PERSISMA, Rabat – HM King Mohammed VI sent a message of condolences and compassion to Mrs Graça Machel Mandela, widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela who passed away Thursday night, and to South African president Jacob Zuma.
In the message to Mandela’s widow, the sovereign expresses “deep emotion” for the death of Nelson Mandela, “an emblematic leader of the Anti-apartheid struggle and first president of the first post-segregation south Africa.”
After offering condolences to Mrs. Graça Machel and to all his relatives and friends, HM the King writes “the late Mandela was a man of peace and convictions who tirelessly endeavored for the triumph of the values of peace, dignity and democracy”.
The Royal message also recalls that the late Mandela “had established particular relationship with the Kingdom and had respect for Morocco’s role on the African scene”.
The Sovereign also sent to President Jacob Zuma a condolences and sympathy message in which HM the King offers most heartfelt condolences and sympathy to all the brother South African people and paid tribute to the great moral qualities and political courage of this advocate of peace, stressing that history will bear testimony to his struggle against racism and discrimination and fight for the building of a new South Africa.
HM the King further pays tribute to the memory of a unique statesman, cherished by his people and enjoying unanimous respect worldwide for his tireless fight against the pangs of segregation and social inequalities.
The royal message further recalls how the late Mandela “had established a particular relationship with Morocco which supported him since the first years of his struggle against apartheid, stressing that the late Mandela had also stayed for long periods in Morocco, in the early 60’s, where he received pioneer, political and material support to his action.
After his release, the Royal message goes on, “he visited Morocco in November 1994, to thank the Kingdom for its unfailing solidarity with the brother South African people”.
On this occasion, the Royal message says, the late HM King Hassan II extended him the Kingdom’s highest distinction in recognition of his exceptional struggle for equality and justice.
“These exceptional bonds between the late Mandela and the Moroccan people and their King continued to develop after my accession to the Throne, mainly DURING his last private visit to Rabat in August 2005”, reads the Royal message which also notes that the late President Mandela had succeeded, with wisdom and insight, in promoting the universal values of freedom, justice, peace and tolerance and managed with strength and determination to assert his ideals and his intangible position for the preservation of national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all the sister African states.
“During his mandate, the late Mandela has respected Morocco’s legitimacy over the Sahara and has never accepted to recognize nor support the division or the partition of my country”, the Sovereign noted.
