Three peace laureates and a mountain
16 September 2011
Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and former president FW de Klerk have pledged their support for Table Mountain – Nelson Mandela's "mountain of hope" – in the race to be named one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature.
South Africa's flat-topped wonder has already been voted one of the final 28 sites for the New 7 Wonders of Nature campaign, a contest which aims to attract more than 1-billion votes across the globe.
And with less than two months to garner support for Table Mountain – voting closes on 11 November 2011 – the Vote for Table Mountain Supporting Committee is proud to welcome two of South Africa's most famous faces to the list of ambassadors calling on all South Africans to vote.
'Mountain of hope'
They add their support to a third Nobel Peace Prize winner, Nelson Mandela, who called Table Mountain a "mountain of hope" in 1998.
At the opening of the Table Mountain National Park in 1998, Mandela, then President of South Africa, said: "During the many years of incarceration on Robben Island we often looked across Table Bay at the magnificent silhouette of Table Mountain. To us on Robben Island, Table Mountain was a beacon of hope. It represented the mainland to which we knew we would one day return.
"To the people of South Africa, the Table Mountain Range represents a great deal more than the rocky remains of millennia of sediment," Mandela said. "It is of immense ecological, cultural, religious and economic significance not only to the Western Cape Region, but also to the rest of the country."
God 'did something special here'
Tutu urged South Africans to "help us take our rightful place among the New 7 Wonders of Nature," adding: "I really can understand how, when God created all that there is, He said, 'I think I've got to do something special here'. And so God produced this fantastic gateway in the South – Table Mountain - our mountain, what a wonder!"
De Klerk, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Mandela, said: "Table Mountain is the defining visual icon of Cape Town and South Africa. It has been the backdrop to the unfolding of South African history. Its imposing stature makes one forget that Table Mountain has more plant species than all of the United Kingdom, hence its declared status as a World Heritage Site.
"But Table Mountain does not belong only to the Western Cape," De Klerk said. "As a National Park it belongs to all of us in this country. As a World Heritage site, it belongs to the International Community.
"Elections seldom unite a country: occasions do," De Klerk said. "Last year the Soccer World Cup united us as a country. The Rugby World Cup [is uniting] us behind our Springbok team. But now we have an election that can unite us again. Vote for Table Mountain as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature. I just did. Your turn now."
Source: Vote for Table Mountain Supporting Committee
