Mandla Mandela urges South Africans to emulate his grandfather
South Africans and others across the world are celebrating Nelson Mandela International Day on Thursday, with people encouraged to give 67 minutes of their time to uplift communities.
Mandela says it's important for everyone who considered him a hero to be committed to what he stood for.
The former statesman would have celebrated his 101st birthday on Thursday.
"If we loved uTatomkhulu and what he stood for we would go to extraordinary lengths to emulate his strict personal and organizational discipline and demonstrate an unwavering loyalty and commitment to his worldview: his passion for human rights, international solidarity with the oppressed masses of the world and working towards more just and balanced world order," Mandela said in a statement.
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He said his grandfather was adamant that poverty can be eradicated.
"He knew that poverty is so deep-rooted that it may take generations to right the wrongs of centuries of colonialism and decades apartheid. Yet, that did not stop him from believing that poverty can be beaten. His legacy is that he put South Africa on the right course; a policy trajectory that recognizes the nature and complexity of poverty."
Mandela says while others have come out to criticise him and accuse him of being a sell-out history exonerates him in the work that he did.