A Legacy For Mandela

A great man has died. He leaves behind a playbook on how to live a life.  But somehow, I feel that few of us would be smart enough to follow what is written therein. Anyway, by and large, it is wholly unimportant whether we do or not. Our personal lives may end in a shambles or we might succeed in wrecking the life chances of those nearest and dearest to us. But in the grand scale of things that matters not a fig.

But when we consider those who have the power of life and death over millions of their fellow citizens, I shudder at the potential they have for continuing to cause distress and suffering far and wide. Mandela’s playbook is one that the majority of African leaders refuse to read (or, more likely, are not literate enough to grasp) so that half a century after independence from European colonialism, African countries continue to languish at the bottom of all tables of human development.

Much eulogizing is coming from all quarters including from Africa itself. I have no desire to be a party-pooper, but many African leaders would be well advised to cut out their sanctimonious nonsense, and instead, commit themselves to delivering the good government that the continent has lacked these long fifty years. That would be a legacy worthy of the man.

Tell Fren Tru

Tears & Cheers

Spring has been unusually late this year, so the strategy of hibernating in the tropics during the northern winter has not been wholly successful. Instead, we walked right into a barrage of chilling winds, sleet, snow and rain.

            But now, at last, thankfully, Nature is showing signs of reverting to its usual rhythm. The sun shines and warms the air to a pleasing 18C. Not before time. Time too, evidently, for a lady of iron to die in a stylish venue. Can’t imagine how or why she should have chosen to die at the Ritz Hotel in downtown London except, perhaps, that it was a final act of provocation towards the proletariat with whom she had those epic fights during her heyday.

            Even without her dying where she did, the old battle lines are still as fresh as they were thirty years ago, and some with appropriately long memories are showing little respect for the dead. One has often heard it said that “people will dance in the streets” when some controversial character (usually a family member) or the other dies, but it must be highly unusual to actually witness a literal execution. There was always the possibility, I suppose.

            These local wars are of course interesting, but where I was taken aback was to hear that Mrs Thatcher was a great anti-apartheid warrior who fought tirelessly to have the ANC unbanned, and for Nelson Mandela to be freed from prison so that he could lead his nation to a better place. 

             In 1996, the Independent newspaper reminded us of Mrs Thatcher and her party's attitude to justice in apartheid South Africa. It was not pretty:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/from-terrorist-to-tea-with-the-queen-1327902.html#

         

            So, I can’t imagine what the conversation would go like when, in the fullness of time, Mandela and Thatcher shall meet.

Tell Fren Tru