South Africa Shows Joy and Sadness As Nelson Mandela's Party Turns 100 (538 hits)
The Associated Press
BLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (January 10, 2012) -- Tens of thousands of chanting and dancing revelers waved the green and gold colors of the African National Congress as Africa’s oldest liberation movement celebrated its 100th anniversary Sunday, though many South Africans say the party hasn’t delivered on its promises since taking power in 1994. A dozen African leaders and more former heads of state along with African kings and chieftains attended a midnight ceremony where President Jacob Zuma lit a flame, expected to stay alight the entire year, at the red brick, tin-roofed Wesleyan church where black intellectuals and activists founded the party in 1912.
Absent because of his frailty was Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president who is just six years younger than his movement. The world icon was jailed for 27 years by the racist white government and his organization was formerly declared a terrorist group by the United States. Joy at the ANC’s leading role in ending white minority rule in 1994 was tinged with sadness over its failure to bring a better life to most South Africans, and corruption scandals that have embroiled its members in recent years. “It means a lot to be alive when the ANC is celebrating 100 years of its existence,” Mayor Tulani Sebego of Bergville told Associated Press Television News. He said the party had gained strength along with challenges, “but it has managed to come through it to today, it is here, 100 years and I want to believe it will reach 200 years.”
