Brussels holds memorial service for Mandela

Some 400 diplomats and politicians attended a memorial service yesterday for Nelson Mandela in Brussels’ Sint-Michiels and Sint-Goedele Cathedral. Federal interior minister Joëlle Milquet spoke during the service, describing Mandela (pictured) as “a wise and courageous man” who was able to achieve the impossible. “I would like to thank him for opening the way for us, so that we can continue with the struggle,” she said.

The South African ambassador to Belgium, Mxolisi Nkosi, said that Belgium and South Africa have a strong relationship and that “South Africa can always count on Belgium to support positive developments in the country.” In a Tweet, he said: “We are heartened by the outpouring of sympathy and extraordinary messages of solidarity from Belgians.” 

Flanders’ minister-president Kris Peeters, meanwhile, returned from Johannesburg yesterday, where he had attended Tuesday’s memorial service there for Mandela, along with Wallonia’s minister-president Rudy Demotte, prime minister Elio Di Rupo and King Filip.

Flanders has been developing close ties with South Africa since the collapse of Apartheid in the early 1990s. The region has sent aid to tackle poverty and built up contacts with South African companies and universities, as well as developing cultural ties.

“With the death of Nelson Mandela, humanity has lost one of its greatest leaders,” Peeters said in a statement. “Courage, idealism, leadership, forgiveness and equality formed the backbone of everything he said and did… He reminded us that every one of us has a duty to leave the world a better place than we found it. Mandela showed that one man can change the world and that a single idea can be more powerful than 1,000 armies.” He concluded his tribute by quoting Mandela’s own words: “We must use time wisely and forever realise that the time is always ripe to do what’s right.”

Peeters travelled to South Africa in 2011, where he met Desmond Tutu and visited Robben Island, where Mandela was held for 17 years. “South Africa is a combination of history, hope and endurance,” he tweeted earlier in the week.