Malala Yousafzai will become the youngest speaker for Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has announced that Pakistani Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai will deliver the 21st Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in December, becoming the youngest person ever to speak at the prestigious forum.

Pakistan’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai will deliver the 21st Nelson Mandela annual lecture on December 5 in Johannesburg.

Taking to X — formerly known as Twitter — the NMF acting Chief Executive Verne Harris said: “Scheduled for 5 December 2023, this lecture holds special significance as it coincides with the tenth anniversary of Madiba’s passing.”

Mandela, who died in 2013 aged 95, became South Africa’s first black president in 1994. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for his efforts to promote racial reconciliation in his racially scarred nation.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation is a non-profit organization founded by Mandela in 1999 to promote freedom and equality for all. Previous speakers at the annual lecture include United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, among others.

“Malala embodies the type of leadership we believe the world needs across all levels of society. In the face of current global challenges, which can seem daunting, she stands as an inspiring symbol of hope for a just and equitable future,” Nelson Mandela Foundation acting CE, Verne Harris, said.