Mandelas to visit Boston

Mandelas to Boston

Wilmot Max Ramsay, Editor-in-Chief, The UMass Times, UMass/Boston.

     (Mon., Feb. 12, 1990).  The city of Boston awaits with great anticipation the visit to the "hub of the universe" by Nelson Mandela, the South African anti-apartheid leader who has gained world support and respect.  In his address to a packed St. Paul's Church on Tremont Street in downtown Boston last night, Mayor Ray Flynn made the gesture of extending an invitation to Nelson and Winnie Mandela.

     "Boston wants to give them a heroes' welcome," Flynn said in presenting Mandela's daughter, Zenani with a gift for her parents -- a silver Paul Revere bowl.

     Zenani Mandela will journey to her homeland, South Africa, within a few weeks, in order to meet with her parents.  With two Mandela daughters, (the other is Maki, a UMass student at Amherst) living in Massachusetts, it is deeply felt that the Mandelas will accept the invitation and make it to Boston.

     President George H. W. Bush also extended an invitation to the Mandelas to visit the White House.  New York Mayor David Dinkins has also made a similar request to Nelson and Winnie Mandela.