Mr. Ndaba Mandela in the city of lights
After a leadership retreat on Necker Island, BVI, with Sir Richard Branson, Mr. Ndaba Mandela, the grandson of the former South African president, made a short visit to Paris.
Ndaba Mandela and I usually meet in New York, the city that never sleeps, or South Africa, but this time and for the first time we caught up Paris.
Ndaba Mandela’s short visit here delighted many by his very welcomed surprise-visits to two events that were taking place around the French capital.
The first was that of Mr. Mandela's attendance to “Madiba-The-Musical” where he warmly and gratefully congratulated the impressive performers. They and the producers were very touched, glad, and exceedingly grateful that a member of the Mandela's had finally come and see their show. So touched and inspired by this production was Ndaba, that he stated that “It was the second musical he had seen in honoring the legacy of his beloved grand-father." He added, "but let me tell you hands down, this is the best musical I that I have ever seen, and it deserves to be played in South Africa.”
During this amicable interaction and warm exchange, Mr. Mandela took the chance to acquaint the performers of this goal, mission and vision as the leader of the organization "Africa Rising" and gave word of the announcement that he would run for the African National Congress office in the 2023 election in South African; and announcement that he had earlier officially made during an interview with the French press.
Secondly and to commemorate Woman’s International Day, Mr Ndaba Mandela and I made another visit to the restaurant "La Creole" in the city's 14th Arrondissement, or district, to show our support and admiration for the extraordinary work achieved by the dynamic members of the "Supa Women Entrepreneur Networking Event" which was engineered and directed by TV anchor/producer and fashion designer, Ayden, who hails from Martinique and Guadeloupe.
While in attendance at this event, the audience was honored by the presence of the legendary filmmaker, Ms. Euzhan Palcy, who had came to meet the women and Mr Mandela as well.
Ms. Palcy took the occasion to acquaint Mr. Mandela with the fact that she shared a close friendship with his legendary and iconic grandfather, and how the statesman, after having viewed the film "A Dry White Season" have invited her to a South African visit, and that due to the popularity of said film, a collaboration was made possible with Marlon Brandon, Donald Sutherland, and Susan Sarandon.
Monday 21st of March will mark the 56th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre and it was important to make this encounter possible while Mr Mandela was in France.
Before departing for Johannesbourg, Mr. Mandela also took time to stress his committment to fight HIV/AIDS and to promote PROTEST HIV, an initiative of UNAIDS.
Artists such as Nico & Vinz, Zendaya also joined the Protest HIV movement and we hope more will join.
By Bah-Pna Dahane
bpd@weinaltd.com
@bahpnad
