H.E. Seraphim attended on Thursday 10 of July in Pretoria the official memorial service for the late Mr Joseph Mbuku Nhlanhla, the former Minister of Intelligence, and said an opening prayer. Members of the national government and the diplomatic corps were also present.

H.E Seraphim attended on Saturday 12 of July the sixth Nelson Mandela annual lecture held in Kliptown, Soweto. The President of Liberia, Mrs Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, gave a lecture on the resurgent of hope in Africa and the political achievements in the continent. Nelson Mandela and his wife Graça Machel were present at the stage to listen to the first elected woman in Africa. The President of Liberia gave a tribute to Nelson Mandela for having paved the way for a new generation in Africa working for democratisation and peace. She called for a renewal of African spirit that Thabo Mbeki expressed ten years ago in the concept of African Renaissance and stressed that “African Renaissance is in our reach” and “there is no turning back in the irreversible transformation”.

On Sunday morning, 13 of July our Archbishop Seraphim celebrated the holy Liturgy at the Parish of St. Basil, Spring for the annual memorial service of the late fr. Spiridon and the treasurer of the Greek Community late Vasilios from Limnos and he spoke about their contribution for the local community and the Church.

At the afternoon, on Sunday 13 of July, our Archbishop Seraphim participated at the second national consultative conference gala dinner organised by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities (CRL) at the Birchwood Hotel, Boksburg. The theme of the three days conference taken place at the same venue was : “community rights in a transforming South Africa”. H.E. considered the CRL Commission as a milestone in sustaining tolerance and community diversity in our new democracy. He took part in the launch of the CRL in 2004. At the gala dinner, the Deputy Minister, Department of Arts and Culture, Ms N Botha, gave the keynote address. The Archbishop had the opportunity to discuss several issues related to cultural and religious tolerance with the Deputy-Minister, Dr Guma, the Chairperson of the CRL Rights Commission, the commissioners of the CRL. One of the Commissioners is the Official of SAE for Africa and Middle East Mr. Haris Gouvelis.

On Monday, 14 of July, during the radio programme of the Metropolis “Ekklisiastikos Pharos”, our Archbishop Seraphim, H.E. the Ambassador of Cyprus Mr. Antoniou and the President of the Hellenic Cypriot Brotherhood Mr. Nikolaou spoke about the anniversary of the Turkish invation in Cyprus in 1974 and some of the fuctions organized together in South Africa.

On Thursday 17 of July, the Archbishop was invited to the Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt. He expressed his best wishes to the Ambassador who will end in 2008 her diplomatic mission in South Africa. During this event, the Ambassador announced the Presidential visit of Hosni Mubarak in South Africa in 2008.

On sutarday 19 of July our Archbishop Seraphim did the wedding service of Aggeliki and Peter of the family Giannakis from Limnos and Kastellorizo at the Orthodox Church in Pretoria.

On Sunday, 20 of July our Archbishop Seraphim with deacon fr. Kyriakos celebrated the Holy Liturgy at Pretoria and he did the memorial service of the victims of the Turkish invation in Cyprus in 1974 and he spoke about the event.

The following day, on Monday, on July 21 our Archbishop Seraphim with fr. Styrianos did the funeral service of the late Antonios Charalampous from Denia at Pretoria.

At the same day, later in the night at the radio programme of the Metropolis, our Archbishop Seraphim with Mr. Spiridis, Mr. Nikolaou and Mrs. Tzerefou spoke about the problem of Cyprus.