Will we ever see men like Mandela again?

Madam – We just said our goodbyes to a great man, the late former President of this country.

I am not a member of the ANC. I have never voted for them, and I will, as a Bible believing Christian, never vote for them. Yet I will remember him as the best President this country has had since the so-called “liberation”. (With my tongue in my cheek, I will say, even a better president than some of those I lived under in South Africa during the “apartheid” years.)

Mr. Mandela was a President for ALL people of South Africa, who cared for everybody. He was a man worthy of that office. Unlike his successors, he could speak Afrikaans, and could even carry on a conversation in that language.

I read that his personal assistant, who was working in some state department at the time he became president, had to go and deliver some documents to him. When she entered his office, he addressed her in perfect Afrikaans. She got such a fright that she started crying. Mr. Mandela immediately got up, walked around his desk and took her hand in his, comforting her. This is her story. What a GENTLEMAN.

When, on an occasion there was a refusal to sing the “Stem” portion of the National Anthem, he insisted it being sung. What a man!

He was worried about the murder of farmers, and said it should stop, because they put food on our tables. None of the other presidents have said anything in this line up to now. In fact, his immediate successor did away with the only structure that could ensure safety of all the rural areas, saying that police will now do what the commandos did.

What a pathetic disaster. On one occasion a policewoman had to chase a criminal up a hill. She gave up half way. She was too fat to keep up the chase! Now white and black farmers are murdered practically on a weekly basis. It is more dangerous to be a farmer than being a policeman. These are the statistics.

While still farming, I had an agricultural problem. I wrote letter upon letter to the minister concerned, with not even an acknowledgement of receipt of my letters. I wrote a letter to Mr. Mandela, and, not long afterwards, I received a letter from the Presidency stating that the President wished to thank me for bringing the incompetence of his ministers to his attention, and he assured me that he would personally see that my problem is attended to.

Things started to happen, and, chop-chop my problem was sorted out. Not only that. A month later I got another letter from the Presidency stating that the President wished to enquire if my problem had been solved to my satisfaction. What can I say?

With a lump in my throat I can only say: What a MAN. What a PRESIDENT!

The question is: Will we EVER have a President, or even a Mayor of this stature?

Here in Newcastle I am still waiting for a reply, or even an acknowledgement of receipt of a letter to the Electricity department, of which I sent a copy to our Mayor for his information, thinking that he was of Mr. Mandela’s calibre, in March of this year querying the disconnection of power because the account was paid four days after the due date, and that without notice as the law requires.

And after that our Mayor, in response to an SMS, said that a person has to be notified of an impending power cut. Agh! For men of Mr. Mandela’s stature in all positions of leadership! Will we ever see it?

Lourens.