When politicians mourn

More than 100 world leaders descended upon the township of Soweto, South Africa to attend Nelson Mandela’s memorial services, including Mamnoon Hussain representing Pakistan. “The world literally is coming to South Africa,” said Clayson Monyela, the head of public diplomacy in the South African government.

I think it is safe to say that many in the world have been profoundly moved by the man who presided over a historic political and social shift from a segregated, divided country to – at least on paper – a liberal, inclusive Rainbow Nation with a flag and a constitution to prove it.

That said, copious amounts of crocodile tears have been shed in Soweto. Among the attendees were Uhuru Kenyatta (President of Kenya), currently under investigation for alleged crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court; Teodoro Mbasogo, president of Equatorial Guinea, a dictator for more than 40 years whose regime has been ranked as having one of the worst human rights records in the world; and George W Bush, who had in fact put Mandela on the terror watch list until 2008, when Mandela was 90 years old.

All of these men – and many more – stood on stage and waxed lyrical about how a light had been put out; about how there will never be another Mandela; about how the world was worse off, now that ‘Madiba’, as he was known in South Africa, had left us. And for all we know, they might even have meant it. They might be genuinely sad to witness the demise of one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century.

But little does it matter if it does not translate into any meaningful change in their respective countries. There is little evidence to suggest that the vindictiveness will stop – as seen in the chaos engulfing the Central African Republic’s Christian-Muslim riots – and even scant evidence to suggest that politicians will try.

If truth be told, Mandela’s memorial meant nothing more than a photo-op for oppressive regimes and a chance for them to be associated with a man who was nothing like they are.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 13^th, 2013.