Bill Gates talks about ‘Living Together’
A philanthropist and entrepreneur, Mr Bill Gates, will use the platform of the 14th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture to lay out his vision of how to create a better world for all when he addresses the issue of "Living Together", the theme of this year's Lecture.
Advertisement
The lecture is hosted in association with the University of Pretoria at their Mamelodi campus. It is dedicated to the Mamelodi families who lost loved ones during the apartheid years. It also honours their contribution to the struggle for democracy.
In a pre-recorded video message, Mr Gates said he was honoured to have been invited to contribute to the conversation on how to create a better world. He highlights the need for a new social pact across the globe to end protracted conflict, overcome intolerance and prejudice, improve access to health care and education, and reduce poverty and inequality.
The Lecture
The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture is the Foundation's flagship programme to honour its founder, Nelson Mandela, and to raise topical issues affecting South Africa, Africa and the rest of the world. It encourages both local and international dialogue - often about difficult subjects - as a means to address the multiple and complex challenges that face the world today. The lectures are addressed by speakers who have made a significant contribution in their field of expertise.
Mr Gates said the founding President of a democratic South Africa would be "remembered for generations to come for his courage, his vision and his relentless pursuit of equality and justice".
He said Mandela's legacy "lives on as a reminder that it's possible to solve big challenges".
"Previous speakers in the lecture series have shared thought-provoking insights into how we can create a better world envisioned by Nelson Mandela. I'm privileged to add my voice to the conversation this year. For hundreds of millions of people, life is better today than it was a generation ago, but there is so much more we can, and must do, to make that a reality for people everywhere," he said.
Explaining the choice of Mr Gates, a Nelson Mandela Foundation board member, Nikiwe Bikitsha, said, "Gates has a significant impact on the issues facing the poor and marginalised. I look forward to engaging with Gates on his views on how we continue to work collaboratively to improve the lives of all people through the extraordinary efforts of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."
The Director of the Africa Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dr Ayo Ajayi, said, "Bill coming for the Mandela lecture and the AIDS conference is an indication of how important both South Africa and Africa is to the foundation. The Mandela lecture will show Bill's thinking about the role Africa can and is already playing in its own development. We hope the lecture will stimulate more debate about philanthropy in Africa and Bill's approach to development."
The Advisor to the Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Pretoria, Professor Tinyiko Maluleke, said, "Partnering the Nelson Mandela Foundation in hosting the 2016 Lecture is a special honour for the University of Pretoria. We are especially delighted that this event will take place at our Mamelodi Campus, located in Mamelodi, a township with impeccable struggle credentials. In hosting this lecture, the university hopes to make its own contribution in keeping alive the memory of the greatest statesman in South Africa and one of the greatest in the world."
Live broadcast
The lecture begins at 5 p.m. on Sunday, 17 July. It will be broadcast live on SABC 2 on Channel 404 on DSTV as well as webcast on nelsonmandela.org; up.ac.za; gatesfoundation.org.
The lecture will be broadcast live through Facebook, on the Nelson Mandela Foundation's Facebook page. (www.facebook.com/Nelsonmandelacentreofmemory). With Facebook Live you can use your phone to share a moment instantly with the people you care about. This means your friends, family or fans can be there with you, and you can respond to their comments and see their reactions.
Past speakers
The list of Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture speakers include former US President Bill Clinton in 2003; Archbishop Desmond Tutu in 2004; Nobel laureate Wangari Maathai in 2005 and former President Thabo Mbeki in 2006.
The rest are former Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan in 2007; Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in 2008; Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner and founder of the Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus, in 2009 and the Chilean-American author, activist and professor of Literature and Latin-American Studies, Ariel Dorfman.
The rest are the Director of the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, Ismail Serageldin in 2011; the Former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, in 2012; the Founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Mo Ibrahim, in 2013; President Michelle Bachelet of Chile in 2014 and Economist Thomas Piketty in 2015.
Courtesy: Africa Media Agency (AMA)