A few more thoughts on Mandela

Thomas Friedman wrote a great piece in the New York Times titled Why Mandela was Unique. In it, he writes that one of Mandela's greatest strengths was his willingness to tell his base that they were wrong. In today's politics, pandering to the base is a given. Political adversaries are objects of scorn and derision, not potential allies. The battle is not for the nation, but for that tiny percentage of swing voters who decide an election. US reconciliation with Cuba, for example, is impossible, not because it is a wrong policy, or one that most Americans vehemently oppose. It is impossible because Florida is an important swing state in presidential elections, and a vocal group of anti-Castro activists live in Florida. So while the Cold War is over in most of the world, the people of Cuba continue to suffer under US economic sanctions. No presidential candidate will risk a small shift in electoral results in Florida. And so the morality of continued Cuban sanctions is never seriously examined.

Friedman's piece recounts a scene from the film Invictus. One other scene from that film that Friedman did not refer to summed up political courage and leadership well. Rugby was a favourite sport of white South Africans, and the national team, the Springboks, had come to be seen as a symbol of white South Africa, and by extension, a symbol of Apartheid. After the ANC won the election, and Mandela became president, the black dominated national sports commission decided to change the team's name and colours, to erase that past. Mandela knew that would only serve to divide the nation. He went to the meeting to try to persuade them to allow the Springboks to keep their name and colours. One of his closest political advisors believed that his intervention would be a big mistake.

Brenda Mazibuko: You're risking your political capital, you're risking your future as our leader.

Nelson Mandela: The day I am afraid to do that is the day I am no longer fit to lead.

Can you imagine any of our political leaders today saying that, and meaning it?