As part of Mandela Day Celebrations - a life-size statue of Nelson Mandela on Tuesday was unveiled at the iconic stadium named after him - the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Executive Mayor Athol Trollip said that as the only city named after Madiba, the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro has a massive responsibility to live up to his expectations and legacy.
He said there's also a strong expectation from local residents for the Municipality to do something extra-ordinary so that this city becomes an example of Nelson Mandela's life.
"We take that very, very seriously. We want citizens to write down the significance of Mandela Day and President Mandela so that we can put it in a book for posterity so that our memory never dims. Those people who have never met him, in years to come, can at least read about what he meant to people of Nelson Mandela Bay during the 67-day campaign.
Trollip said there was a reason why communities, councillors, administrators and religious leaders - basically people from all walks of life - had been invited to the unveiling of the Nelson Mandela Statue at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
"It takes community collaboration to run a city to deal with the issues that challenge us as a society, issues of poverty, issues of unemployment, issues of poor service delivery, so we have to collaborate and the significance of bringing people from all walks of life and all communities, is in essence, what this is all about. It is to say "together we need to do" and as President Mandela says each one of us has the ability to change people's lives so that this is an endeavour that every one of us in this city, together, have a responsibility to make this a great place" he added.
