Cape Town, South Africa (PANA) – South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, has launched an anti-racism campaign, dubbed “Black Friday”, in solidarity with millions of people around the world who are marching under the banner of “Black Lives Matter”, following the killing of George Floyd in the United States.
He urged everyone who identified with the cause to wear black every Friday, saying that the Floyd tragedy has opened deep wounds for the rest of the world.
Commemorating the 95th birthday of Andrew Mlangeni, the last survivor of the 1964 Rivonia Treason Trial which featured Nelson Mandela and other liberation heroes, Ramaphosa said Mlangeni dedicated his life to fighting against indignity, and the effrontery of having his land taken away, and not even being able to move freely because of the apartheid-era pass laws.
"In the United States, our black brothers and sisters have embarked on a massive fight to reclaim their dignity," he said.
Ramaphosa said South Africans stand in solidarity with “our African-American brothers and sisters, and express our wish that the American people can reconcile, as we did, and close once and for all the doors of racial injustice”.
-0- PANA CU/VAO 7June2020
