Remembrance Day: Hill-Lewis says world has learned nothing from World War I and II
The Cape Town mayor was speaking at Sunday's remembrance ceremony, honouring South African soldiers who died during WW1 and WW2.
Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis honours Remembrance Day, 10 November 2024, along with Jacob Human, the only known living WWII veteran in South Africa. Picture: X/@geordinhl
CAPE TOWN - Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says the world has learned nothing from the two world wars which claimed the lives of many young people.
Hill-Lewis was speaking at Sunday's remembrance ceremony, honouring South African soldiers who died during WW1 and WW2.
The event was held at the Cenotaph, a war memorial located in the Cape Town CBD.
Hill-Lewis said more than 7,000 of the 250,000 young South African men who enlisted to fight in the world wars never returned home.
READ: City of Cape Town remembers SA's World War I and II soldiers
He said it was worrying that this pattern seemed to be continuing in the 21st century.
"And in many other conflicts throughout the African continent and the world innocent lives are being lost and the entire communities destroyed by the senseless cruelty of war, and the risk of the escalation of these conflicts grows ever more concerning and pressing by the day," he said.
Today we observe Remembrance Sunday in memory of all of the brave Capetonians who gave their lives to oppose tyranny and secure freedom on the battlefields of World War I and II.
— Geordin Hill-Lewis (@geordinhl) November 10, 2024
We were honoured to be joined by Mr Jacob Human, who is (to the best of our knowledge) the only… pic.twitter.com/80F9kF2zDp