US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Nelson Mandela at his rural homestead where South Africa’s first black President is living out retirement far from the public eye.
Madiba’s smile is a trademark
Her private lunch with the Nobel Peace Prize winner, the first event of her South African visit, is an honour that few receive as Mr Mandela’s health has become more fragile with age.
Mr Mandela did not speak but smiled as he and his wife Graca Machel posed for a picture with Mrs Clinton inside his home in the village of Qunu, in the rural Eastern Cape province.
“That’s a beautiful smile!” Mrs Clinton said.
“Madiba’s smile is a trademark,” Machel added, using Mr Mandela’s clan name.
Mr Mandela was elected President in South Africa’s first all-race elections in 1994, after spending 27 years as a political prisoner under the segregationist apartheid regime.
Mrs Clinton’s husband, Bill Clinton, was the US President when Mr Mandela took office. Their two families developed close ties, with Mr Clinton paying a visit to Qunu last month on the eve of Mr Mandela’s 94th birthday.
“Madiba not only represents all that there is great in the world, but is someone who to the secretary is a close friend... somebody who she has learned a lot from,” a US official said ahead of the top US diplomat’s meeting.
As the town is long accustomed to high-profile international guests, Mrs Clinton’s motorcade attracted little attention as it rolled through.
Mrs Clinton last met Mr Mandela almost exactly three years ago at his Johannesburg home, when she praised the influence that he had on her own life.
“It of course inspires in me an even greater admiration for his public work but an even greater affection for the man,” she said after viewing the mementoes in his home in August 2009.
She also hailed the “discipline that he brought to a life filled with so many great achievements, not only for him personally but for South Africa and the world”.
After meeting Mr Mandela, Mrs Clinton flew to Johannesburg to address a gathering of American and South African business leaders, including representatives of top companies such as Boeing, Chevron, FedEx and Walmart.
“Looking across Africa, we see enormous economic growth even as the global economy continues to struggle. Seven of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies are in this region,” Mrs Clinton said.
“These emerging markets present enormous opportunity for American trade and investment.”
Yesterday the US Export Import Bank was set to sign a €1.6 billion deal to support South Africa’s ambitious plans for renewable energy.
Mrs Clinton is set to leave South Africa tomorrow for Nigeria and then Benin. She is also expected in Ghana for the state funeral of late President John Atta Mills, before heading to Istanbul for talks on the crisis in Syria.