President Barack Obama to speak at the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture

On the 18th of of July people around the globe will be celebrating the Nelson Mandela Day. The centennial of Madiba’s birth will be accompanied by the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture that will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The lecture’s theme titled ‘Renewing the Mandela Legacy and Promoting Active Citizenship in a Changing World’ will focus on creating conditions for bridging divides, working across ideological lines, and resisting oppression and inequality, the Mandela Foundation stated.

Read: Is Mandela’s legacy being questioned by Mugabe’s attack?

Barack Obama, former U.S. President is set to deliver the lecture. Over 4,000 people are expected to attend the lecture which will take place on the 17th of July.

The coffin of South African former president Nelson Mandela is escorted as it arrives for the funeral ceremony in Qunu on December 15, 2013. Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, died in Johannesburg on December 5 at age 95. AFP PHOTO / PEDRO UGARTE / AFP PHOTO / PEDRO UGARTE

Previous speakers include global thought leaders and change makers, including: Presidents Bill Clinton, Thabo Mbeki, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Mary Robinson and Michelle Bachelet; UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed; Nobel Laureates Kofi Annan, Wangari Maathai, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and Muhammad Yunus; Professors Ariel Dorfman, Thomas Piketty and Ismail Serageldin; and philanthropists Bill Gates and Mo Ibrahim.

Read: The fight for the soul of Nelson Mandela

The Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture is a unique platform to drive debate on critical social issues in South Africa and around the world.

President Obama’s last visit to South Africa in 2013 was met with protests led by various bodies such as the Congress of South African trade Unions (COSATU). Many protested against Guantanamo Bay, Palestine and the U.S. foreign policies.