Revised edition of Mandela
-------
Excerpt from Revised edition of Mandela,
published by Random House Struik 2012

Buy the book... Click here

  “Mandela loves few things more than to tell his grandchildren and great-grandchildren stories about his childhood, and the lessons he learnt as a boy. One of these was a lesson he applied as a political leader too: ‘When you want to get a herd to move in a certain direction you stand at the back with a stick. Then a few of the more energetic cattle move to the front and the rest follow. That is how a leader should do his work.’

He tried to instil in his grandchildren and children the words he wrote to Winnie Mandela from Robben Island in 1975: ‘Honesty, sincerity, simplicity, humility, pure generosity, absence of vanity, readiness to serve others – qualities which are within easy reach of every soul – are the foundation of one’s spiritual life.’ He would tell his family that thinking well of people sometimes makes them behave better than they would otherwise, and he would impress his own belief in the essential goodness of the human heart even when political governance in South Africa began lending to disappointment.

Mandela summed up the situation when he noted: ‘The new conditions create temptations of self-interest and personal enrichment. Corruption, opportunism and self-serving careerism have no place in the organisation Walter Sisulu led and helped build.’ Mandela’s warnings about deepening poverty and the spread of disease have oft been ignored.

He often stressed his belief in the value of a collective in decision making – the importance of the people governing as Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln intended – but collectives are not always wise. And, if he no longer captained the team, Mandela had to anticipate that his criticisms would remain just that – they might give hope to citizens but do little to change policy.”