Tribute to Mandela

Mandela, Drakenstein ©Solange Hando

Mandela has passed away but hope must live on, for he left the world a better place than many of us ever imagined. As I looked up at this statue at the gate of the Victor Verster prison  (now the Drakenstein Centre), I certainly felt a shiver down my spine. On the 11th of February 1990, this is where he walked to freedom, a man everyone had heard about but nobody had seen his face until that moment.

This marked the end of 27 years in prison which began on Robben Island. From the top of Table Mountain, I looked out towards the island, a distant shadow which seemed to float, almost unreal, between heaven and earth. For South Africa and the world,  this is a place where history was made.

Cape Town, Looking to Robben Island from Table Mountain ©Solange Hando

Tributes are pouring in and many in Cape Town will gather on the square honouring the country's Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, de Klerk and of course Nelson Mandela, a man of immense courage and endurance who believed in justice, peace and reconciliation.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureates ©Solange Hando