A file picture dated 13 February 1990 of Former South African President Nelson Mandela, right, giving the clenched fist salute as he stands with his wife Winnie Mandela during his 'Welcome Home Rally' in Soweto, South Africa. Picture: EPA / STR
Today, though, Madiba’s star is waning in a South Africa beset by the health and financial impacts of the Covid-19 catastrophe and growing racism in society. To more radical elements, Mandela is even regarded as a “sellout” because he supposedly did not do enough to eradicate “white privilege”.
Tomorrow is Mandela Day, his birthday. And it is worth using the opportunity to stake stock of ourselves, both as individuals and as a country. We don’t come out well on either assessment. We fight among ourselves, we are greedy and we are angry.
Madiba was just the opposite. He was a man who believed in the innate goodness of all people, even as he so opposed the race-based government that he went to prison for 27 years. He believed that people of all races should, and could, work together to build a nation.
Tomorrow, people are being asked to give just 67 minutes of their time (one for each of the years Mandela fought for the struggle) to make someone’s life a little better. It’s not a lot to ask.
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