Event Weltmuseum Wien: 30 April 2024 – Nelson Mandela and his legacy Discussion – Book Presentation – Keynote

To mark the thirtieth anniversary of the overcoming of apartheid through the first free elections in April 1994, we are analysing the political, social and cultural changes in South Africa. Has ethnic discrimination been abolished and have basic rights and freedoms been realised? Has a reduction in economic inequality been achieved? How did this development affect the arts? Activists present a new book on the history of the anti-apartheid movement in Austria, and human rights expert Walter Suntinger draws lessons from the transformation of South Africa.

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2 pm

Welcoming address

Jonathan Fine, Director of the Weltmuseum Wien

Birgit Reiter, Member of the Board SADOCC

Short film

Encounter Southern Africa by Andy Mkosi (photographer, Cape Town)

 

14.15 hrs

Panel and audience discussion

South Africa 1994-2024: What has changed?What has not changed? with Nkosinathi Dlamini (University of Vienna), Larissa Houston (University of Graz), Walter Sauer (University of Vienna), Veronika Wittmann (University of Linz) in English

Moderation: Edith Mychalewicz (SADOCC)

 

4 p.m.

In-depth discussion I: Imaginary Futures – Dialogues with South African artists, Marcus Neustetter (Johannesburg – Vienna)

In-depth discussion II: South Africa – Lessons for species conservation, Werner Zips (University of Vienna)

Moderation: Edith Mychalewicz (SADOCC)

 

17.30

Book presentation

Free Nelson Mandela.History of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in Austria with Bernhard Bouzek (editor, SADOCC), Anna Hable-Mayer (former activist), Johannes Dafinger (University of Salzburg), Inge Jäger (former member of the Austrian Parliament and development policy spokesperson of the SPÖ)

 

7 pm

Welcoming address

Jonathan Fine, Director of the Weltmuseum Wien

Rapulane Sydney Molekane, South African Ambassador to Austria

 

Key Note

Human rights lessons from the transformation of South Africa

Walter Suntinger (Vienna Master of Arts in Applied Human Rights, University of Applied Arts Vienna)

8 to 9 p.m.

Reception

Duration: 7 hrs.

Participation: free (a valid museum ticket is required to visit the exhibitions)

Registration online (limited number of participants)

Meeting point: WMW Forum

 

Weltmuseum Wien

Neue Hofburg

Heldenplatz

1010 Vienna

 

 

STATEMENT DELIVERED BY AMBASSADOR RAPULANE MOLEKANE, GOVERNOR/RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA AT THE EXTRAORDINARY SESSION OF THE IAEA BOARD OF GOVERNORS, 11 APRIL 2024, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Chair,

At the outset, South Africa condemns any attacks on any peaceful nuclear installation and considers the reports of drone attacks at or near Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) site as a serious and avoidable grave escalation. While we note with some relief that initial assessments seem to suggest that critical nuclear safety and security systems at the site have not been compromised, these attacks do add to the already highly precarious situation at Europe’s largest peaceful nuclear power plant.

South Africa continues to support with appreciation the tireless efforts of Director General Grossi and the staff of the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhya to secure and maintain nuclear safety, security and safeguards at Ukraine’s Nuclear Power Plants in already extremely challenging circumstances. In our collective response to these recent developments, the personal safety and wellbeing of the Agency’s experts and staff at the ZNPP should remain a priority.

South Africa agrees that the presence of the Agency’s agents provides us with vital, first-hand information on the developments at the ZNPP as envisaged in the Five Principles of the Director General.

However, in our efforts to unpack recent events at the ZNPP, it is worth reminding ourselves that the mandate of the Agency and consequently also of the IZAMS team is technical and limited to a supporting role. It is not realistic to expect nuclear inspectors in the fog of war to become military inspectors. Any expectation of attribution by them would in our view pose a serious threat to the professional and objective work so carefully undertaken since the start of the conflict.

Finally, we welcome the fact that the Director General intends to brief the United Nations Security Council on these developments in the very near future. The Agency’s response to the nuclear-related challenges during the conflict has been excellent but it also remains South Africa’s firm position that this conflict, like others, needs to find resolution in a negotiated settlement based on the principles of the UN Charter and with the relevant international fora, in this case the UNSC, playing their role.