JOHANNESBURG — At a meeting in Johannesburg yesterday (10th July 2008), business software company, SAP South Africa, handed the Nelson Mandela Foundation a cheque for R1 million in support of the Nelson Mandela Foundation Annual Lecture. The lecture will be delivered by Liberian President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state on Saturday.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation, through its Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialogue, contributes to the making of a just society by promoting the vision and work of its founder and convening dialogue around critical issues.
SAP South Africa is a long standing donor of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, having donated R1 million a year for the past five years to the Foundation’s Dialogue for Justice programme, including the annual lecture.
“It’s a great privilege for SAP to be able to contribute to the extension of Nelson Mandela’s legacy by enabling the Foundation to have luminaries such as President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf contribute to the global dialogue on justice and freedom – especially now, as the world honours Mr. Mandela’s 90th birthday,” said SAP AG senior vice president for global communication, Dr Herbert Heitmann. “It’s a significant day for any person but, in Mr. Mandela’s case, it’s a powerful reminder that we need leaders everywhere to continue his fight for justice with the same determination and compassion that he brought to it.
“In that context, President Johnson-Sirleaf’s lecture holds special significance, because she has endured prison, exile, and personal danger in order to make her vision of a democratic, prosperous Liberia a reality, she will not let the world forget what freedom really is.”
SAP increased its support of the Foundation by also handing over a cheque for 20 000 Euros for a community development project in Kliptown. SAP and the Foundation will explore the possibility of establishing a community technology centre that will be run along lines already tested by SAP in other parts of the country.
Other world figures that have delivered the Nelson Mandela Foundation Annual Lecture over the past five years were former US President Bill Clinton, Retired Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Dr Wangari Maathai,Kenyan Nobel peace prize winner, President Thabo Mbeki, and former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan.
About SAP
SAP is the world’s leading provider of business software (*), offering applications and services that enable companies of all sizes and in more than 25 industries to become best-run businesses. With more than 47,800 customers (excludes customers from the acquisition of Business Objects) in over 120 countries, the company is listed on several exchanges, including the Frankfurt stock exchange and NYSE, under the symbol “SAP.” (For more information, visit www.sap.com)
(*) SAP defines business software as comprising enterprise resource planning and related applications.
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Lerato Moeletsi, Ogilvy Public Relations, lerato.moeletsi@ogilvypr.co.za +27 11 709 6843,
Faye Epstein, Ogilvy Public Relations, faye.epstein@ogilvypr.co.za, +27 11 709 9609
