EDITOR – The euphoria is over, newspapers have sung Madiba’s praises through their invited authors. Crowds sung freedom songs in praise of Madiba, cried, booed, danced and cheered. Perhaps ‘heaven may never be the same.” Nelson Mandela was the iconic dissenting voice of our liberation struggle who stood up to injustice and immorality and struggled to dispense justice and righteousness at the expense of his own life. It is ironical that his death brought together on a single platform, immoral and corrupt leaders of the world, perpetrators of crimes against humanity, some of whom condemned Mandela as a ‘terrorist’ who deserved to be indefinitely jailed.
They sat alongside freedom fighters (so called terrorists) fighting the injustice and oppression in their own lands with whom Mandela unashamedly identified. The gathering provided a once in a life time opportunity to reconcile , it takes more than a “hand shake” to forgive. This is the Magic of Madiba.
The hypocritical speeches of some, was an injustice to a man who they claim inspired them to be moral leaders, to “want to be a better man [or woman]”. On the contrary, Madiba never subscribed to the western notion of “moral leadership” but stood unmoved for Justice, Freedom, Equality and the end of the oppression and domination of the most powerful over the most vulnerable. Some considered President Obama’s Martin – Luther preacher like euology to be the most outstanding oration of the day, and noted that he received the loudest and longest applause compared to President Jacob Zuma. There is something oddly Roman about Obama, and the Romans were good at two things, upholding the law and crucifixion.
The two hour delay and late arrival of President Barak Obama was an insult to the memory of Madiba, the Presidency of the country and its citizens. The loud applause, an expression of the fickleness and forgetfulness of the mob, that Obama, who claims to be inspired by the life of Madiba, sanctions the deaths of innocent men, women and children by drones and imprisons those who dare to dissent. Anyone outside the Roman Empire, were called barbarians. Everyone outside of Obama’s empire is a ‘terrorist.”
Do not stain the memory of the Father of our Nation which such bigotry for this is not what Nelson Mandela represented. He was the unique moral voice of the world and with his passing, moral leadership slides down the slippery slope into the abyss.
Viva Mandela! Viva Madiba!
Aslam Sathar
Essenwood
