Obama: The more things change, the more they stay the same
Former US President Barack Obama believes there are some striking similarities between South Africa and his home country.
Obama delivered the annual Nelson Mandela Lecture at the Wanderers Stadium on Tuesday.
The former president received a hero's welcome from the 15 000-strong crowd.
“It is a plain fact that racial discrimination still exists in both the USA and South Africa,” Obama said.
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“Women and girls around the world continue to be blocked from positions of power and authority and they continue to be prevented from getting a decent education. Their disproportionally victimised by violence and abuse, they are still paid less than men for doing the same work, that is still happening.
“Economic opportunity, for all the magnificence of the global economy, all the shining sky scrapers that have transformed the landscape around the world, entire neighbourhoods, entire cities entire regions entire nations, have been bypassed.
“In other words, for far too many people, the more things have changed, the more they have stayed the same,” he said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and Madiba’s widow Graca Machel also paid tribute to the late statesman a day before what would have been his 100th birthday.