Service held to mark 2nd death anniversary of Nelson Mandela

An inter-faith service was held Sunday at St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town to commemorate the life of former South African president and democracy icon Nelson Mandela, who died on Dec 5, 2013, at the age of 95.

Sunday’s service was attended by Emeritus Archbishop Desmond Tutu and members of the public.

Meanwhile, George Bizos, who served as Mandela's lawyer during the struggle against apartheid, said attacks on Madiba's legacy smacked of ignorance.

This follows comments by Julius Malema, the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), revolutionary socialist political party, that Mandela abandoned parts of the Freedom Charter after surrounding himself with rich White men on his release from prison in the early 1990s.

Bizos said Mandela was definitely not a sell-out.

“I’m disappointed that there are people who doubt his legacy. The thing is that they are ignorant. And I appeal to good-intentioned people in the country to respect his legacy. We have avoided a civil war which would have made this country unliveable for most of us.”