“I am fundamentally an optimist. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.”
NELSON MANDELA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA
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“I would like to thank the African leaders and those from across the world for embracing me and wishing Basotho the best of economic growth and harmony. My government is willing to learn to serve Lesotho and Africa for the better.”
SAM MATEKANE, LESOTHO’S NEWLY INSTALLED PM
“I understand that history has chosen me at this time when the Zulus are facing several issues. The challenges are poverty, unemployment, a trust traditional leadership, climate change and food insecurity.”
KING MISUZULU, DURING HIS RECENT CORONATION AS THE NEW KING OF THE ZULUS
“People expected so much from us. And maybe, after seven years, we haven’t done to their expectation. Only God knows what is in somebody’s mind...”
“I am not going to be president of an organisation that four years from now has not made practical and tangible progress. It is not over the next few years African football will improve, become globally competitive and selfsustaining.”
DR PATRICE MOTSEPE, SOUTH AFRICAN MINING BILLIONAIRE AND CAF’S NEW PRESIDENT
“The pessimism often thrust on Africa denies its youth a chance to dream, when even a space-age future is possible.”
MOMO BERTRAND, CAMEROONIAN EDUCATION SPECIALIST, WORLD BANK
“Our role as citizens is being changed into a role that is not an active citizen, but a subject, and we are not a monarchy. As citizens we have rights, and that is what is being contested right now in Zimbabwe.”
“By their decision, the Smithsonian has allowed us to ask other museums that acquired looted Benin artifacts under the same circumstances whether they would continue to shield themselves with the dirty cloak of law, or with ethically sound institutional ideals.”
CHIKA OKEKE-AGULU, NIGERIAN ARTIST, ART HISTORIAN AND PROFESSOR AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
“Instead of picking up a gun, music was the only tool we had. It was a weapon to use against authority, against colonisation and corrupt African governments”.
FEMI KUTI, LATE NIGERIAN MUSICIAN AND ACTIVIST
“Rather than being a transparent partner and improving security, Wagner exploits client states who pay for their heavy-handed security services in gold, diamonds, timber and other natural resources – this is part of the Wagner Group’s business model. We know these ill-gotten gains are used to fund Moscow’s war machine in Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine.”
LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, US AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS
