South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his gratitude and praised Mahatma Gandhi’s role in South Africa’s history, especially in the fight against apartheid in the country. He highlighted Mahatma Gandhi’s advocacy of passive resistance in his speech at the BRICS Summit. President Ramaphosa also spoke about Gandhian principles that inspired the mobilisation of citizens against apartheid and eventually led to its defeat.

In his address on Wednesday at the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg, he said, “We would like to thank you as South Africa, particularly for reminding us of the journey that Mahatma Gandhi started here in South Africa and what he imparted to our forebears in South Africa on the modes of struggle”, PTI reported.

President Ramaphosa said that Mahatma Gandhi was strong in resistance and he taught us passive resistance which he perfected and we escalated to various acts of boycotts against the apartheid system.

“Through that, we were able to encourage citizen activism in organisations that were involved in our struggle, like the African National Congress and others,” he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in South Africa on a three-day visit on August 22 to attend the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg.

In addition to Ramaphosa’s mention of Gandhi's contribution, PM Modi also referred to the fact that the summit was taking place at a location close to where Gandhi had established Tolstoy Farm. It was a vibrant self-sufficient commune that he established as a lawyer in Johannesburg while he was in South Africa.

Besides this, South African President Ramaphosa also congratulated India on its success of the lunar mission Chandrayaan-3’s landing on the Moon. As per the PTI report, he said, “We congratulate you. This for us as the BRICS family is a momentous occasion and we rejoice with you and join you in the joy of this great achievement.”

BRICS 2023 Summit is the 15th ongoing annual summit which is an international conference attended by the heads of the state or heads of the government of the block. The BRICS nations include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This marks the first in-person summit of BRICS since 2019 after the Covid-19 pandemic.

(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)