The writer is Senior Vice-President of Search for Common Ground and author of the book Watching the Wind
At the age of 44, Mandela was imprisoned in a six by nine feet cell on Robben Island by the apartheid regime. He was 71 when he was released on February 2, 1990 and I waited all day with 80,000 other people in the hot sun in Cape Town’s city square. Suddenly, there he was: a tall, strong, smiling, laughing Xhosa man, with dancing eyes. We shouted and sang and danced our adulation and love. He dazzled us with his vision of a future where all South Africans, black and white, would live in equality in their homeland. His warmth and spirit settled in us, seeping into our hearts and bones. The firebrand had come home to his wise elder self, and now he was going to take the rest of us home to the ‘new South Africa’ with him.
As much of North Africa and the Middle East continue to push through the growing pains of the Arab Awakening, Mandela’s truly uncontainable spirit and leadership style can perhaps, help light the path forward for other nations.
He embodied the core elements of great leadership, even as he remained fully human with flaws and shadows. And he illustrated a profound truth, that we are great not despite our failings, but including them. We cannot pretend to be someone other than who we are, and much of the controlling, rigid leadership we see in the world today is armour against fear of personal failure and weakness. Despite his hot temper, he was compassionate and empathetic towards those who imprisoned him.
He was a leader for all South Africans — never swerving from his vision of a rainbow nation — and a courageous problem-solver, with pragmatism built on core values that translated into a deeply held personal and professional ethical framework. His inspiration came from a purpose bigger than himself and his presence, voice and discipline inspired others to be better than they ever imagined.
Who he was as a leader at this time of global upheaval matters. As old certainties are uprooted, the challenge is to create a new world for the benefit of all, not just for ‘my’ group, faction or party. He showed us not only what to do and how to do it, but also who we need to be as leaders — and citizens.
I was recently in Libya, where people hunger for a leader who can unite Libyans through their common humanity. A local leader in Sirte told me wistfully that Mandela had been South Africa’s secret ingredient and he wished they had one too. Next door in Egypt, people long for a leader who is able to save the country from violence and division.
As we consider Mandela’s life and legacy, we might ponder over his favourite poem, “Invictus”, by William Ernest Henley, and the lines that he said sustained him during 27 years in prison: “I am the master of my fate/ I am the captain of my soul.”
Mandela understood that life will throw many things at us and it is up to us how we respond to them. He knew the power of forgiveness and took tea with Betsie Verwoerd, widow of Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid. He learned that love is the greatest power in the universe and invited his prison wardens to his inauguration as the first democratic president of South Africa. He taught us to live with ourselves, and with one another, embracing our common humanity.
I am grateful to have been one of the thousands who stood in his shadow that day in 1990 when he came back to us, and showed how to step into the new democratic future that, together, we would all create.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 12th, 2013.
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We all get inspiration from the great Icons and regard them as models; the question one must always ask which part of the moments or period one finds full of admiration. Mr Mandela was an extremist, a terrorist who undertook arms to oppose the Apartheid regime in his homeland. He was held responsible for unederground sabotage actions against the Government, was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was freed after 27 long years and decided to forgive his former enemies and choose to reconcile with them in the interest of peace and indepenence for the south african people. It is the last act of his political career which is unmatched in human history.
Rex Minor
You are lucky Ms Marks for having seen Nelson Mandela in person . He was , and will always be , a source of inspiration for universal brotherhood and love which transcends differences of colour and creed He showed to the world that man can imbue politics with moral and spiritual values . How desperately we need a man of his vision and stature in our society who changes our worlview which divides people rather than uniting them , promotes hatred rather than love , and sanctifies the delusion that we are the sole bearers of truth and all others should be coerced to accept it . Alienation from others rather than reconciliation has been the main out-come of our way of thinking .