SA-Egypt friendship reigns supreme
Egypt celebrated its 67th National Day in Pretoria yesterday at an event attended by ambassadors from Arab countries and other dignitaries.
Ambassador Sherif Issa broke from tradition with an anecdotal speech which highlighted the deep friendship between Egypt and South Africa through stories of late former president Nelson Mandela.
He said Egypt had the honour to receive Madiba three times. The first was in 1962 when he travelled from South Africa to South Sudan from where he flew to Egypt and met then president Abdel Nasser.
This was part of the efforts to raise support among African leaders for the anti-apartheid struggle, and Madiba’s shoes which, after two months of walking, were destroyed. Issa said the story went that he asked to buy new shoes, which he did.
Then, on his second visit, which came in 1990 after his release from prison, Egypt was the first country he visited as a free man. Mandela wanted to pay his respects to Nasser and give thanks to Egypt for its efforts in securing his release. At the Abdel Nasser Mosque, as is tradition, he took off his shoes, but afterwards he could not find them among the thousands of pairs there.
Read the full story on: IOL.