The United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres says inequality is an obstacle to development, it ferments social unrest and is a threat to peace and security.
Guterres will share this message when he delivers the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture virtually from New York on Saturday.
Speaking exclusively with SABC News ahead of that speech, he emphasised the need for a new generation of social safety nets that protect people, a dearth laid bare by the coronavirus pandemic.
Under the theme “tackling the inequality pandemic, a new social contract for a new era”, the word solidarity is likely to come up in Saturday’s lecture.
The UN Chief views inequality as pervasive, inequalities between countries, demographics and races; in relation to minorities and indigenous peoples; between men and women, often exacerbated in the same home rooted, he believes, in colonialism and patriarchy.
Guterres wants political leaders to realise the fundamental nature of the decisions that need to be taken to achieve an inclusive and sustainable world.
Below is SABC New’s Sherwin Bryce-Pease’s full report on this:
Democracy a needed antidote
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Judge Navi Pillay, says on Mandela Day, democracy is the vaccine needed to address the consequences relating to COVID-19.
Judge Pillay says Mandela’s ideals of social security are crucial in a time of COVID-19.
“On Mandela Day, we should all tell ourselves it is democracy that is a vaccine that is needed to address the COVID-19 consequences. We have it all there in the Constitution, which is that you put people first and I can believe that putting his principals and the constitutional principals into effect that President Mandela would have seen that social services are provided free of charge to all those who cannot afford it,” she says.
Food drive
In this year’s Mandela Day, the German Embassy will partner with soccer legends Delron Buckley and Sibusiso Zuma to honour Madiba’s legacy.
The Embassy has decided to support a food drive in Ndwedwe and Hammersdale in KwaZulu-Natal.
Together with the former Bafana Bafana stars, a small team from the Embassy will distribute over 1 000 food parcels and 2 000 cloth masks to community members in need in the two townships.
The Embassy’s full statement is below:
