Nelson Mandela, Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US president Bill Clinton came together in Westminster on Tuesday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Rhodes Trust. The three statesmen were also launching the new Mandela Rhodes Foundation, which will fund desperately needed development programmes in Africa.
Around 1,800 Rhodes scholars, including former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke and former NATO commander General Wesley Clark, gathered in the medieval surroundings of Westminster Hall in Parliament for the event.
Mr Mandela told the audience the new foundation "would contribute to a better life for the people of South Africa and the African continent", while Tony Blair said it was his government's "proudest achievement" to pledge £1 billion in aid to Africa.
Bill Clinton, who is probably the world's most famous Rhodes scholar, meanwhile said the trust had given him "two of the best years of my life". "Rhodes' vision reached beyond his own mortality," he told the gathered dignitaries. "Most of us who come here as Rhodes scholars have been enriched, enlarged and changed."
The trust was originally set up at the bequest of philanthropist Cecil Rhodes, who founded Rhodesia. The scholarships at Oxford University are aimed at high-achieving students with leadership potential.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
