It’s up to each one of us to keep Mandela alive!

In December South Africa and indeed the world received the news of the death of the father of our nation, Nelson Mandela with shock. I doubt that there will be a similar outpouring of emotion for another international figure in our lifetime as there was for Mandela. There is not much that I can say, that hasn’t already been said, about this historic man which changed the course of South Africa’s history by negotiating a new political order in South Africa with the power of peace, understanding and peaceful negotiations. This doesn’t make it easy for us to accept that this great man no longer shares the air we breathe. However, it is up to each one of us to emulate what he did and keep his legacy alive. This is tested most when we are in difficult situations where reaching a middle ground is difficult to reach. Mandela himself didn’t get it right the first time right. In negotiations leading up to the formation of the democratic South Africa, talks between his team and the government at the time collapsed a number of times. Codesa (Convention for a Democratic South Africa), the multi-party forum that was negotiating how a new government would look like collapsed in 1992. In that same year Codesa II was started and it too collapsed. Mandela refused to give up despite many in his team wanting to rather take up arms and look at alternative means of negotiations. Mandela understood the importance of patience and timing. He was proven right when another attempt at negotiations, the Multiparty Negotiating Forum finally ratified an interim constitution in 1993 which formed the bases of the 1994 elections and indeed our democracy today. Mandela saw the entire marathon and its finish line and didn’t focus on the hurdles that were in the way; in fact they seemed to make him even more determined. This is a powerful lesson that we can all use and implement in all aspects of our lives. Thank you Madiba for this lesson you have given us. Your memory is as alive as ever.