Celebrate Mandela by solving current problems

Editor | Tuesday February 16, 2010 00:00

It was a watershed moment for the people of South Africa as well as for people of African origin anywhere and anti-racists and democrats around the world. Mandela's image, fist raised in the air, thousands of people looking on, will remain etched in our minds forever and indicated one of the brightest moments in the history of this continent.

It was with that single image that it was possible to once and for all see the new era for this region. The era of freedom and democratic rule, and the death, once and for all, of white supremacy. This is worth remembering because it is only when armed with the weapons of our past experiences that we can competently face the future.  We therefore take this moment to recognise the special role that Mandela played in the history of this continent and its Diaspora. Mandela thus, has come to serve as a symbol of the irrepressible ability of the human spirit. The fight for human dignity is not open to negotiation.

However, Mandela inherited a country in bad shape. The South African people, though excited, faced the spectre of further division.  Government coffers had been bled dry by an over-spending government seeking to buy local and global support for its waning racist agenda.  However, the even more pressing challenge was the expectations from black people who had suffered the indignities of apartheid. Jobs, housing, health services, infrastructure needs and generally better life was required. Mandela and later Thabo Mbeki grappled with these issues without much success. Zuma is faced with even more challenges now that the post-apartheid excitement has dissipated.

The majority of black South Africans are yet to see the fruits of liberation in their lives. Although transformation continues to be lauded, most average South Africans seem to possess a different view.  Just last week various riots erupted as a result of lack of service delivery. We think the leadership of South Africa should take the opportunity to not celebrate Mandela's legacy but to ponder these challenges. We therefore call upon Zuma to seriously deal with poverty, lack of access to education, health services and other basic needs, crime, racism and the rest. By solving these problems Zuma would be giving Mandela's legacy the recognition it deserves.

                                                              Today's thought'It is said that no-one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones'.

- Nelson Mandela  (South African Statesman First democratically elected State President of South Africa (1994), 1993 Nobel Prize for Peace, b.1918)