Tafelberg Short: Moments with Mandela

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Wilmot James. Tafelberg Short: Moments with Mandela

Moments with Mandela. and the Challenge of his Legacy

An invincible morality

Past imperfect

No time to idle

Fate and error

Into the fray

Mandela’s bequest

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Wilmot James

We all know now the special South African connection to these stirring verses – mirrored in the life and what I think of as the invincible morality of Nelson Mandela, who is memorably portrayed by Morgan Freeman in the Clint Eastwood film named after the poem. Invictus the movie achieved deserving acclaim.

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Reconciliation was, and had to be, a work in progress, but it dissipated after he left office. Nationalists and ethnic entrepreneurs now occupy that space.

It did not take very long for former guerrilla and intelligence chief Jacob Zuma to sully Mandela’s bequest by turning the soft power of moral suasion into the hard power of organised intimidation. Zuma’s leadership appears to have no morality at all. It is about who survives electoral contests and who has power, the basest motivation of the crass politician. It is a betrayal of Mandela’s vision.

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