A Service of Thanksgiving to mark the 30th year of South Africa’s democracy was held in Westminster Abbey on Tuesday 16th July 2024.
The service was conducted by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr David Hoyle, who said in his Bidding:
‘We meet under God and in good company to give thanks for thirty years of democracy in South Africa. In 1994 South Africans held their first non-racial, democratic elections. After voting in those elections, Nelson Mandela spoke of ‘a new era of hope, reconciliation and nation building’. Thirty years down the long road to justice and righteousness we now honour those who have carried that flame and worked so tirelessly in that cause. Giving thanks for their courage and their witness, we recommit ourselves to the vision of a nation free from dominion of any kind. We pledge ourselves to effort and to hope. Here we will pray for ourselves and for South Africa and the welfare of all her people.’
About the service
Lord Boateng, a former British High Commissioner to South Africa, gave the Address.
The service included performances by South African tenor Innocent Masuku who sang Todd Matshikiza’s Uxolo (Peace), composed to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of Johannesburg; David Motsamai, written by Mohau Mogale as a tribute to Nelson Mandela; and Shosholoza, a traditional gold miner’s song in a mix of Zulu and Ndebele.
Reflections were given by Christina McAnea, 4th General Secretary of UNISON; and by the Honourable Ronald Lamola MP, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, representing the government of South Africa.
Mr Bassim Haidar, Honorary Consul of South Africa to the United Kingdom, on behalf of all Honorary Consuls, affirmed the call to unity given by President Nelson Mandela.
Lord Collins, Deputy Leader of the House of Lords read Revelation 21: 1–4.
The Right Reverend Rosemarie Mallett, Area Bishop of Croydon, led the Penitence.
Prayers were led by the Reverend Mark Birch, Minor Canon and Precentor of Westminster. At the end of the service, faith leaders representing the Hindu, Jewish and Muslim communities, offered words of blessing for South Africa and its peoples. The Right Reverend and Right Honourable Dame Sarah Mullally DBE, Bishop of London, pronounced the final Blessing before the national anthems of South Africa and the United Kingdom were sung.
The service was sung by the Special Service Choir of Westminster Abbey, directed by Andrew Nethsingha, Organist and Master of the Choristers. The organ was played by Peter Holder, Sub-Organist. Music before the service was played by Matthew Jorysz, Assistant Organist.
Guests of honour among the 2,000 strong congregation included HM Queen Nompumelelo Zulu; the Lord Mayor of Westminster, Councillor Robert Rigby; and the High Sheriff of Greater London, Millicent Grant.
Honouring President Mandela
Nelson Mandela visited Westminster Abbey in 1996 as South Africa’s first democratically-elected President, writing in the Distinguished Visitors’ Book that ‘visiting the Abbey was an unforgettable experience’.
Following his death in 2013 at the age of 95, a service of thanksgiving for his life and work was in held in the Abbey, at which Archbishop Desmond Tutu preached.
On 18th July 2018, the centenary of President Mandela’s birth, he became the first South African to be honoured with a memorial in the Abbey. A black marble ledger stone, inscribed with the words ‘Forgiveness’ and ‘Reconciliation’ was dedicated in the nave.
