Thousands cheer Barack Obama ahead of his Nelson Mandela lecture
Former US president Barack Obama received a rousing welcome at the Wanderers Stadium where he was due to deliver the 16th Nelson Mandela annual lecture on Tuesday.
Before Nelson Mandela Foundation CEO Sello Hatang could finish introducing Obama the 15,000 people attending the event stood up cheering and clapping.
Obama was joined on stage by President Cyril Ramaphosa who also received a standing ovation and cheers from the crowd, Mandela’s widow Graça Machel and businessman Patrice Motsepe.
Obama will be the second former US president to deliver the Nelson Mandela annual lecture.
The first was former president Bill Clinton who gave the inaugural annual lecture.
Among the high-profile guests attending Tuesday’s event were former president Kgalema Motlanthe, national assembly speaker Baleka Mbete, former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, who delivered the fifth annual lecture, Botswana president Mokgweetsi Masisi, former prime minister of Ireland Mary Robinson and former Liberian president Ellen Sirleaf.
Obama is expected to deliver his lecture on the theme of "Renewing the Mandela legacy and promoting active citizenship in a changing world".
The video could not be loaded.