2014 Tutu Fellow Sello Hatang rang the Opening Bell on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday 23 September at 9:30 AM.
Sello, who is the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, rang the bell to honor the legacy of former President Nelson Mandela, who had also rung the NYSE bell twenty years previously and was welcomed by the NYSE.
After the bell, Sello sat down for an interview about the work of the foundation and some of the ambitious goals it has.
Sello said in the interview at the NYSE that when Mandela had rung the bell he had emphasized that democracies should serve their people and that a country's economy should be one in which people are employed and not disaffected or alienated. Sello said that South Africa's economy is not lifting up enough people and that his ringing of the bell was a reminder that the dream that Madiba had had back then had not yet been fulfilled. We must soldier on in this cause, he said.
Sello explained the work that the foundation continued to do, including Mandela Day work - an international UN humanitarian day - and also other initiatives. This year, as a climate change initiative, the foundation will try to plant a million trees in South Africa.
Sello has worked as the spokesperson for the South African Human Rights Commission. He was also the director of the SA History Archive (SAHA) at Wits University. Sello serves on the boards of SAHA and the Open Democracy Advice Centre, and is a founding member and member of the advisory council of the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC).
You can see the moment when Sello rang the bell at the NYSE’s twitter page as well as his interview about the foundation and Mandela ringing the bell 10 years prior.
Sello at the NYSE
Nelson Mandela at the NYSE in 2002
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