Nelson Mandela Lecture
The Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) announced that Pakistani Nobel laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai will deliver the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Verne Harris, the NMF acting Chief Executive, revealed the lecture’s date as December 5, 2023, which coincides with the tenth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s passing. The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture is a flagship program of the foundation, honoring its founder, Nelson Mandela.
Mandela, who passed away in 2013 at the age of 95, served as South Africa’s first black president in 1994 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for his efforts to promote racial reconciliation in the nation.
Harris stated, “Malala embodies the type of leadership we believe the world needs across all levels of society. In the face of current global challenges, which can seem daunting, she stands as an inspiring symbol of hope for a just and equitable future.”
Malala, the world’s youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, will also be the youngest speaker to deliver the Nelson Mandela lecture. The Taliban gunmen shot Malala in the head at point-blank range in October 2012 when she was 15 years old and returning from her school in Swat valley.
She sustained bullet injuries and initially received treatment at a military hospital in Peshawar before being flown to London for further medical care. The shooting garnered widespread international condemnation.
Malala has since become an internationally recognized symbol of resistance to the Taliban’s attempts to deny women education and other rights.
In 2014, she achieved another milestone by receiving the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17, making her the youngest recipient ever, in recognition of her advocacy for children’s rights.
