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- 24 April 2002 (Creation)
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Cream coloured certificate in black text. Includes purple and gold seal of The University of Ghana at the top. Housed in a blue cylinder. Taken out of cylinder for preservation.
Certificate reads:
University of Ghana
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela
Doctor of Laws, honoris causa
Citation
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, Nobel Laureate, Freedom Fighter, Attorney, Statesman, and Peace Maker: Educated at the then University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand, sOuth Africa, you were imprisoned from 1962-1990 because of your political activism against apartheid, having already served as a provincial president of the African National Congress (ANC) and also as a national First Deputy President.
While in prison on Robben Island, your leadership qualities were recognized by the ANC as well as by the apartheid government. You played a key role in a series of negotiation meetings which contributed to the unbanning of the ANC and all other political organizations, the lifting of the State of Emergency, the release of political prisoners and the return of political exiles.
The deprivations of prison life did not lead you to abandon your sense of selflessness. During the negotiation talks, you impresssed it upon the apartheid government to unconditionally release your colleague ANC prisoners before your own release.
As the embodiment of the struggle for justice, peace, freedom, goodness and love in South Africa, you were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Mr de Klerk in 1993.
Your election and inaguration ceremony as the first president of post-apartheid South Africa are epochal. In spite of your huge popularity, you, unlike most African leaders, stepped down voluntarily and honorably as president after only one term in office.
You continue to play a leading role in the search for lasting peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in Brundi and in Rwanda. In you, the human race may have taken one more step forward in the search of universalized ethical sensibilities. You have become the first true universal black moral leader in your own life time.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, in recognition of your rare achievements, the University of Ghana is privileged to confer on you the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa.
Signed Nana Wereko Ampem (Chancellor), Ishmael E. Yamson (Chairman of Council), Ivan Addae-Mensah (Vice-Chancellor), A.T. Konu (Registrar)
Johannesburg, Wednesday, April 24, 2002