Prime Minister Mottley expresses regret over remarks that Mandela was a ‘sellout’

The Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley has expressed sadness about statements made, accusing former President Nelson Mandela of being a “sellout”. Mottley delivers the 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture at the Durban International Convention Centre in KwaZulu Natal on Saturday afternoon.

“It hurt me to hear that they are some who believe that Madiba did not do enough and perhaps worse for a few that he might have been a sellout – all because what they believe, justifiably so, should be theirs today, is not yet theirs. If there’s any one single truth, it is that each of us runs our leg of the relay, the baton is all that they can be required of us to carry.”

The 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture is held under the theme: Social Bonding and Decolonisation in the Context of the Climate Crisis: Perspectives from the Global South.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley delivers the 20th Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture:

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley delivering the 20th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Durban #NelsonMandelaLecture #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/VHFVeDG6V1

— MaMthiyane (@skhangiwem) November 12, 2022

Mottley says the injustice and discriminatory treatment in financial systems continue to limit political independence and decolonisation.

“Those who expect more of Madiba, expect more because their own personal financial and economic circumstances have not moved with a pace that they may otherwise have accepted it or expected it. And it is for that reason that I believe that if ever there was a moment in time for the Global South to rally behind a cause, it is now.”

Mottley has been honoured as a Champion of the Earth by the United Nations Environmental Programme for her leadership amid the climate crisis.

Climate Trust

Barbados’ Prime Minister says a Climate Trust is needed to pay for climate change mitigation anywhere across the globe. Mottley has called for the reform of the international financial system that still has vestiges of colonialism that discriminates against countries from the poor Global South.

She has also called on everyone – governments, multinational corporations and philanthropists – to form of global compact to put money in a fund to pay for losses and damages due to climate change.

“We aren’t asking that the money should come to us. We are saying do it wherever. But what must happen is that you must do it and regrettably, what we are still getting is the stand-off. It comestibles because mankind is so consumed with the geopolitics of today’s world that we are forgetting the reality of the planet on which we live. It’s sad because at the end of the day, time waits on no one and the climate equally is not waiting on anyone to minimise its impact on our living, on our way of life.”

Earlier, Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Sello Hatang opened the annual Mandela Lecture with a moment of silence, in memory of the 460 people who died in the floods that hit KwaZulu-Natal earlier this year.

Video – 20th Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture | Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Nomusa Dube-Ncube:

Young climate change activist

An 11-year-old boy’s dream has been realised when he got the opportunity to meet Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley. Romario Valentine who’s written the book ‘Protect Our Planet’ is a climate change activist.

He was the youngest amongst the guests at the Nelson Mandela Lecture on Saturday.

Valentine had hoped for an opportunity to meet the Prime Minister who he calls his climate warrior.

SABC News reporter Jayed Leigh Paulse speaks to the young author Romario Valentine about her message to Prime Minister.

Video – Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture held in Durban: Romario Valentine: 

The Full Livestream here: