South Africa will replace its current banknotes with a new series bearing the image of Nelson Mandela, the country's iconic freedom fighter and first black president.
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"It is a befitting tribute to a man who became a symbol of his country's struggle for freedom, human rights and democracy," South Africa's president Jacob Zuma said Saturday as he unveiled the new notes.
The new notes will be introduced by the end of 2012 and will gradually replace the current series of bills that bears the images of Africa's "big five" prized game animals, said South African Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus.
South Africa issues notes in denominations of 10 ($1.30), 20, 50, 100 and 200 rand, and each will now bear the same image, of Mr. Mandela smiling and gazing into the distance.
Saturday marked the anniversary of Mr. Mandela's release from prison in 1990, at the outset of a process of negotiation with the white-controlled government that culminated in South Africa's first free elections and Mandela's election in 1994.
"We've come a long way," said Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, himself an important figure in the African National Congress' freedom struggle, who recalled he was in a secret ANC meeting the day Mr. Mandela was released from prison.
"What the bank note does is institutionalize this memory for many generations to come."
SOURCE: The Wall Street Journal
Patrick McGroarty
