SOUTH AFRICA: Although retired from politics, Nelson Mandela never stops agitating for change. And yesterday, as he received yet another award for his campaigning, the former Robben Island inmate addressed what he called the "forgotten prisoners of poverty".
"Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is people who have made poverty and tolerated poverty, and it is people who will overcome it." The former South African president (88) was speaking at his offices in Johannesburg where he was named Amnesty International's ambassador of conscience for 2006.
The prize, which has previously gone to U2, Mary Robinson and Vaclav Havel, is the brainchild of the human rights organisation's Irish section.
Seamus Heaney, whose recent illness prevented him from attending, sent a message of congratulations. A reading of the poet's "Chorus" from The Cure at Troy, which was inspired by Mr Mandela's release from prison in 1990, was specially recorded for the event by U2's Bono.
South African novelist and Nobel literature laureate Nadine Gordimer, who presented the award, paid tribute to Mr Mandela's legacy, as well as his unwillingness to assume "the mantle of saint".
She said: "His loyalty to the South Africa, whose freedom he sacrificed so much to gain, does not mean . . . that he sees it obligatory to be politically correct where conscience decrees otherwise. He speaks out on the present government's shortfall, failure in meeting the needs of the alarming proportion of our population infected with HIV and dying of Aids."
Among those who were also in attendance was Kader Asmal, former chairman of the Irish Anti-Apartheid Movement, who had made representations to Mr Mandela's office on behalf of Amnesty about the prize. Prof Asmal said he had once had "problems" with the human rights organisation because it had refused to adopt Mr Mandela as a prisoner of conscience on the grounds that the African National Congress was engaged in a liberation struggle. He stressed, however, that he was glad Mr Mandela had agreed to accept yesterday's invitation from the "hundreds of requests a week" for his appearance.
Walking with the aid of a stick, Mr Mandela praised Amnesty for adopting a new focus on economic rights. "While poverty persists, there is no true freedom," he said.
Mandela also raised concerns about violence against women, saying it was women "who bear the most significant burden of HIV and Aids.
"As daughters, mothers, sisters and grandmothers, every day they experience and live out the reality of this pandemic."