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Falling on deaf ears

ONLY a trickle of peacetime leaders can lay claim to commanding as much love and respect from all over the world in their lifetime as the iconic Nelson Mandela, who died last week and will be buried this coming Sunday.

His memorial service on Tuesday this week in Johannesburg bears testimony to this, as it was attended by leaders from all over the world - some of whom hated each other’s guts.

They were all under one roof, with enemies being forced to greet each other while others crossed each other’s path for the first time.

US President Barack Obama shook hands with Cuban President Raul Castro. British Premier David Cameron and former premier Tony Blair were under one roof with their nemesis, Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.

This can only happen at functions organised for Mandela. The same thing happened during his inauguration as the first president of a democratic and non-racial South Africa in 1994.

The reason world leaders have so much respect for Mandela is that he changed not just the power relations in this country, but also taught the world about the importance of freedom.

His zeal for freedom launched a global revolution, prompting other world leaders to claim to espouse it (freedom) while failing to tolerate it in their backyards.

The lifeblood of Mandela was to resist the old way of doing things and put his money down for freedom.

Additionally, Mandela’s willingness to stand up to tyranny helped bring peace in East Timor’s struggles with Indonesia.

Mandela’s peace-making eminence also got him involved in Libya’s standoff with the world over the 1988 Lockerbie bombing.

Thanks to him, the other ANC head honchos managed to change their economic views, believing that some parts of economic activity should best be left to the private sector.

Neither he nor his heirs would dream of going back to the days of nationalisation, which was central to the exiled ANC’s economic policy.

But today, the pendulum has swung perilously away from the principles Mandela embraced.

Stories of corruption abound in South Africa, much more so than during his reign and that of his successor, Thabo Mbeki.

This week President Jacob Zuma was embarrassingly booed at Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesburg. I was shocked and did not like what I saw and heard. Zuma surely does not deserve such humiliation.

But there was a corruption story that was playing itself out during this all-important gathering, only many guests and people were not aware of it.

South Africa woke up the following morning to learn that Thamsanqa Jantjies, the sign language interpreter at the function, who stood next to some of the most important leaders on the rostrum, was allegedly an impostor who did not know what he was doing.

The reason I blame this entirely on corruption is that in government these days they do not look at a person who can perform the best job. But they look for people they know, like and are inextricably linked to.

Jantjies could have been recommended by someone connected to the government - the organisers of the function - who knows Jantjies and most probably wants him to earn easy, quick money.

I am afraid the booing will continue as long as things like this happen. The government and the ANC must be warned about this.

 - Fin24

*Mzwandile Jacks is a freelance journalist. Opinions expressed are his own.

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